US financial news channel Bloomberg reports that General Motors is studying whether to shed its Saab brand.

The channel reports people familiar with the matter as saying Saab, Saturn and Pontiac are under review, while efforts will continue to dispose of Hummer.

Selling or dropping brands would save money and reduce overlap as the US. automaker faces running out of operating cash by the year’s end, said Bloomberg’s sources.

GM’s eight U.S. brands are the most among the domestic automakers, compared with four at Ford and three at Chrysler.

GM put Hummer up for sale in June, and closed the 103-year-old Oldsmobile brand in 2000 because of declining sales.

The carmaker made its initial investment in Sweden’s Saab in 1990 and took full control in 2000.

Chief executive Rick Wagoner is under a tight deadline to come up with a recovery plan that will convince the US government that the handout is worth it.

Congress has scheduled a December 5 hearing on a $25 billion auto-industry rescue demand from GM, Chrysler and Ford, and may vote in the week beginning December 8.