Just one day after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, US automaker General Motors (GM) has sold its Hummer truck division.

In April GM said it was considering three offers for the off-road brand, which were first built by a company called AM General and currently sell for between $US31,000 and go up to about $US72,000 with options.

While refusing to name the buyer or divulge the selling price, Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, said, “I’m confident that Hummer will thrive globally under its new ownership.”

As part of the deal some GM plants will continue to build the Hummer brand for the new owner, with the Shreveport, La., plant to continue building Hummers until at least 2010.

GM said that the deal is scheduled to be completed by the third quarter of this year and will protect more than 3,000 jobs in manufacturing and engineering, and at dealerships “around the country.”

Hummer is famous for making very large sport-utility vehicles with the military version, the Humvee, in wide use as a general purpose transportation and patrolling vehicle by US armed forces.

GM bought the Hummer brand from AM General in 1999 and went on to sell the H1, H2 and H3 civilian models that became a symbol of ostentatiousness.

In court documents filed on Monday, GM said it expected Hummer to fetch more than $US500 million, despite sales in 2008 slumping 51 percent seeing only 27,485 Hummers sold in the US.

GM will also sell its Saab and Saturn brands by the end of 2009, and plans to discontinue Pontiac by the end of 2010. GM has said it will focus on the Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick brands, which make up more than 80 percent of current sales.