General Motors will begin dismantling its Hummer division after a planned sale to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. fell through—apparently because China’s government did not want a Chinese company to own a brand that has become the poster child for gas guzzling, environmentally unfriendly vehicles. While GM didn’t specify why the deal failed, several reports suggested the sale was torpedoed by Chinese regulators. Hummer, known for its hulking, military-style sport utility vehicles, was one of four brands that GM sold or scrapped from its line-up as part of a massive restructuring last year under bankruptcy protection. Once a hot seller for GM alongside other large SUVs, the Hummer brand came to symbolize everything that was wrong with the carmaker—namely its failure to adjust to a market that increasingly favoured small, fuel-efficient cars—and threatened to become a politically liability for the U.S. government, which is now GM’s biggest shareholder after providing the company with a $50 billion bailout last year.