Hyundai denies reported approach by GM on brand

SEOUL/SOUTH KOREA: Hyundai Motor Company denied on Thursday a report that General Motors Corp. has approached it about buying one of the troubled US automaker's brands.

The Herald Business newspaper reported Thursday that GM has sent a proposal to Hyundai about a brand purchase, quoting what it said was a high-ranking Hyundai official it did not identify.

The paper also quoted an unnamed industry official as saying that GM has approached Toyota Motor Corp. and other Japanese automakers as well as Hyundai.

``We have not received any offer from GM and are not currently reviewing any plans (to take over a GM brand),'' Hyundai said in a statement.

Park Hae-ho, a spokesman for GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the U.S. automaker's South Korean unit, said his company had no information and was in no position to comment on the report.

Detroit-based GM, which has received $15.4 billion in federal loans, faces a U.S. government deadline of June 1 to restructure or seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

GM has said it wants to sell or get rid of its Saturn, Hummer and Saab brands as it restructures in a bid to return to profitability. The company plans to shed its Pontiac brand.

Hyundai has in the past been named as a possible buyer of Chrysler, Volvo and Jaguar, though has consistently denied such reports.

Hyundai and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. from the world's fifth-biggest automotive group.