GM Unable to Complete Sale of Hummer

General Motors has announced that China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. Ltd. was unable to complete its attempted acquisition of the company’s Hummer brand and assets. “As a result, GM will begin the orderly wind-down of the Hummer operations,” the Detroit-based auto maker has stated in a news release.

While the Hummer brand is placed onto a figurative scrap pile, scrap recyclers who had formerly serviced Hummer assembly plants in Mishawaka, Ind., and Shreveport, La., will apparently not see operations resume there. (Hummers had also been assembled at plants in South Africa and Russia to serve overseas markets.)

“One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest Hummer as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac going forward,” remarked GM vice president John Smith in an earlier announcement. “We have since considered a number of possibilities for Hummer along the way, and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed.”

According to Smith, “GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner.”

In its restructuring efforts, GM has retired the Pontiac brand and sold the assets and brand of Sweden-based Saab to a Dutch company. An attempted sale of the Saturn brand to Penske Automotive Group Inc., Bloomfield Hills, Mich., fell through in the fall of 2009.