DETROIT — A day after it filed for bankruptcy protection, General Motors said Tuesday that it had reached a deal to sell its Hummer brand of large trucks.

G.M. did not disclose the buyer’s name or the price. It said the deal would save about 3,000 jobs in the United »»]]>

Hummer

DETROIT — A day after it filed for bankruptcy protection, General Motors said Tuesday that it had reached a deal to sell its Hummer brand of large trucks.

G.M. did not disclose the buyer’s name or the price. It said the deal would save about 3,000 jobs in the United States, including those at its 153 domestic dealerships, and that Hummer would remain based in the United States.

“Overall, we’re pretty pleased,” a spokesman for Hummer, Nick Richards, said. “If you think about the qualities we’d want in a new owner for the brand, this buyer really met all the criteria. They’ve got a proven track record in international business, and they’ve got a long-term vision for the brand. They’ve got the capital to invest in more efficient vehicles, which is what’s necessary to grow the brand.”

G.M., which is hoping to shed unwanted assets and emerge from bankruptcy in about two months, said it expected the deal to close in the third quarter. The automaker had planned to close Hummer if a buyer could not be found. It is also trying to sell Saturn and Saab this year and plans to eliminate a fourth brand, Pontiac, in 2010.

G.M., with 60 percent government ownership, will keep Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

“Hummer is a strong brand,” Troy Clarke, the president of G.M. North America, said in a statement. “I’m confident that Hummer will thrive globally under its new ownership. And for G.M., this sale continues to accelerate the reinvention of G.M. into a leaner, more focused, and more cost-competitive automaker.”

Once considered the ultimate muscle car, the Hummer became a symbol of what was wrong with G.M. and the American auto industry — big, bulky and gas-guzzling. Sales of Hummers fell 51 percent last year, the worst drop in the industry, and are down 67 percent so far in 2009.

Mr. Richards said the buyer planned to continue selling Hummer’s current lineup as it develops “more efficient” vehicles. The brand would eventually sell trucks fueled by diesel, ethanol and other alternative fuels, he said.

G.M. said it would keep building the Hummer H3 at its plant in Shreveport, La., which is not included in the deal, through at least 2010. Hummer’s larger vehicle, the H2, is made for G.M. by A.M. General, the Mishawaka, Ind., company that first converted the military humvee for civilian use in the 1990s.

The buyer plans to shift additional production of the H3 from a plant in South Africa to Shreveport, Mr. Richards said.

In February, G.M. said it had three bidders for Hummer, which has about 220 dealers globally.

Hummer’s chief executive, James Taylor, said the sale would allow the company to continue to grow and maximize the brand’s potential.
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