According to The LA Times: GM said it would now begin “the orderly wind-down of the Hummer operations.” The process is expected to take several months, and the automaker said it would consider any “viable” offers for all or part of the brand. GM went through a similar situation with its Swedish Saab division. After first saying it could not find buyers and that it would close the company, GM sold Saab to Dutch sports-car maker Spyker Cars last month.

The Hummer, with its outsized body and gas-guzzling engines, was a “hedonistic” symbol of a bygone era of U.S. automotive development and it’s “no surprise” that GM could not complete a sale, said Rebecca Lindland, auto industry analyst at IHS Global Insight.

“Realistically, I think this is the right thing to do. It was doubtful that the brand was going to be successful. This was a brand that had its day,” Lindland said. “Closing Hummer simultaneously improves the health of GM, China and the planet. Hummer should rest in pieces,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, a Washington advocacy group that wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

About 3,000 jobs in the U.S. are tied to building and selling Hummers. Under terms of the scuttled deal, assembly plants in Louisiana and Indiana would have continued to produce Hummers under contract for Tengzhong until June 2011, with an optional one-year extension.