This is the third time G.M. has tried to sell one of its unwanted brands and the third time the deal has fallen through. G.M. has shut down their Saturn production, has begun to halts operations at Saab and now the production of Hummer will follow. (Hummer sales plunged 67 percent in 2009.) G.M. is also closing Pontiac and will be focusing on its Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC brands as it works to recover from bankruptcy.

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines, said in a statement that it had withdrawn its bid for Hummer because it was unable to receive approval from the Chinese government, which is trying to put a new emphasis on limiting China’s dependence on imported oil and protecting the environment. A spokesman for Hummer, Nick Richards, said G.M. had no specific timetable for completing its wind-down, leaving open the possibility that G.M. could receive another bid.

Hummer was hoping to see smaller, more fuel-efficient models introduced under Tengzhong that would help the brand “get away from people just thinking it was a big gas hog, as well as saving 3,000 jobs in the United States. The deal would have made Tengzhong the first Chinese company to sell vehicles in North America as it planned to keep Hummer’s operations in the United States.

“Closing Hummer simultaneously improves the health of G.M., China and the planet,” said Daniel Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign at the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. “Hummer should rest in pieces.”