DETROIT (April 9, 2010)—General Motors Co. is shutting down its Hummer SUV brand for good, taking the last of its four discarded U.S. brands off the market.
GM had said it would consider offers to buy Hummer after a deal to sell the brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery failed to receive Chinese government approval in February. Now GM has decided to move forward with closing the brand, a Hummer spokesman said.
With the brand shutting down, Hummer CEO Jim Taylor has retired, effective immediately, the company official said.
Jim Bunnell, GM general director of network support, broke the news to Hummer dealers on a conference call on April 8, the spokesman said. Bunnell said GM had not found any viable buyer, according to dealers who listened to the call. Hummer has 153 U.S. stores.
GM put Hummer up for sale a year before its June bankruptcy. It has sold Saab and is shutting down Pontiac and Saturn as part of its U.S.-steered rescue.