GM to close down Hummer as sale fails

DETROIT, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- General Motors Co. said it would close down its Hummer brand after a Chinese buyer said slow regulatory approval had derailed their offer.

The Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd. canceled the deal made in October, which would have saved the brand and about 3,000 jobs, mostly in Louisiana and Indiana, where the iconic tough-guy vehicles are built.

John Smith, GM vice president of corporate planning and alliances, said, "We are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed."

"GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner," he said.

In the past year GM lost a tentative deal to sell Saturn and withdrew from plans to sell its European operations Opel and Vauxhall. This week it closed out a deal selling Swedish brand Saab to Spyker, a Dutch sports car company.

The Hummer brand, where sales have fallen sharply, has "already been pretty much wound down. There's almost no product left," said auto analyst Aaron Bragman at IHS Global Insight.