US auto giant General Motors on Monday said it is making headway in finalizing a deal to sell its Hummer sport-utility vehicle brand to Chinese machinery maker Tengzhong.

"Negotiations continue to progress," GM spokesman Nick Richards told AFP, adding that the finalized deal would be announced "as soon as appropriate."

GM and little-known Tengzhong in early June signed a tentative agreement for the Chinese firm to buy the gas-guzzling Hummer nameplate.

Since then, Richards said, "the parties have been in frequent discussions working closely to finalize a definitive agreement."

The ailing GM, seeking to dispose of non-core assets, had announced the potential Hummer sale before entering a government-orchestrated bankruptcy.

The US auto maker emerged last month from a bankruptcy court-supervised restructuring and is more than 60 percent owned by the US government.

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, based in China's southwestern Sichuan province, specializes in manufacturing heavy machinery equipment for use in road and bridge construction, as well as the energy industry.