GM finds Hummer no easy sale

Will SUVs ever make a comeback?

For all those out there struggling to sell your gas-guzzling SUVs, trading down to cope with $4 gasoline, rest assured that General Motors Corp. shares your frustration. The automaker has apparently hit some speedbumps in its effort to divest its Hummer unit. India's Economic Times reported Monday that domestic carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. has backed out of the auction, saying it prefers to develop its own, more environmentally-friendly product line. Reuters, meanwhile, says that Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska's Russian Machines and China's Hunan Changfeng Motor Co. have also said they are uninterested.

The reports are a blow to GM, which is hoping to use divestitures to help fund a recovery after losing $15.5 billion in the second quarter. The company put Hummer on the block back in June, part of its plan to refocus its resources on smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.