GM to halt Hummer production on Tuesday

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: General Motors Co. will halt Hummer production next week at its Louisiana plant until sale of the brand to a Chinese company is completed.

Hummer spokesman Nick Richards said on Wednesday it was unclear whether jobs would be affected at the Shreveport plant, which also builds Chevrolet pickup trucks.

The plant is the only one making Hummers. GM agreed last year to sell Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp. The deal was expected to close early this year.

Richards says Hummer production will halt Jan. 19 because there's ``sufficient inventory in the field'' to sustain dealers while the sale goes through the regulatory process.

The plant once employed about 3,000, but layoffs and buyouts have reduced that to about 700.