NEW YORK, USA (AFP) — General Motors has informed its dealers of plans to dismantle Hummer after a deal to sell the hulking brand fell through, a spokesman said Monday.

“We are winding down Hummer,” GM spokesman Nick Richards told AFP.

Letters went out to the 153 Hummer dealers in the US and 247 dealers in other countries last week formally notifying them of the “dissolution of the dealership network”, he added.

GM announced February 24 that a planned sale to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Company had fallen through.

While the automaker is open to offers from other interested parties, it is moving forward on winding down the brand, Richards said.

The deal was first announced in June as the Detroit auto giant underwent a massive bankruptcy restructuring with support from the US and Canadian governments.

The Hummer plant in Shreveport, Louisiana is set to be closed by 2012 at the latest. It will be used to build Chevrolet and GMC vehicles in the meantime, Richards added.

The plant employs some 1,000 hourly and 120 salaried workers.