General Motors may sell off its gas-guzzling Hummer people carrier after the car manufacturer acknowledged that higher fuel prices are likely to be permanent.

Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of the car giant, told shareholders yesterday that it would cut total production across General Motors by 500,000 cars because rising oil prices had triggered a structural shift that has drawn Americans away from buying large vehicles.

Mr Wagoner said: “These prices are changing consumer behaviour and changing it rapidly. We don’t believe it’s a spike or a temporary shift. We believe it is, by and large, permanent.”

He also said that he was closing four plants in Wisconsin, Ohio, Ontario and Mexico in the next two years as the Michigan-based company moves towards developing smaller and more fuel-efficient cars. About 10,000 workers will be affected by the closures.

As part of its efficiency drive, General Motors has begun a strategic review of the future of its Hummer sports utility vehicle which could include either a partial or complete sale of the brand.

The Hummer is an iconic American vehicle, marketed as an off road four-wheel drive car that can withstand severe weather conditions. General Motors has boasted that its Hummer can wade or “ford” through 24 inches of rainfall at 5 miles per hour and said the move to manufacture smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles would be a permanent measure. The company is planning to introduce a plug-in electric car to showrooms within two years. The Volt car runs on an electric motor and has a small engine to recharge its batteries.

Detroit’s automakers have been making the shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, but not at a pace that matches consumers’ drive to hybrids and high-mileage models made overseas.

The American car industry has been forced to cope with sliding demand and surging costs over the past few years. Manufacturers such as General Motors and Ford have been trying to reduce their operating costs so that they can compete with their more successful Asian rivals such as the Japanese carmaker Toyota. They have renegotiated pay and pension arrangements with workers, and cut production. In addition, the credit crisis and surging fuel prices have weighed on demand for new cars.

Mr Wagoner said that the GM board had approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and the Chevy Volt electric vehicle in Detroit.

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