A new General Motors has emerged from bankruptcy in a US government-backed plan to rescue the troubled US car giant.
GM transferred its main assets to a new government-supported car company, under a plan financed by the Obama administration and the Canadian government.
Under the plan, the US government will own about 61% of the new company, while the Canadian government and a United Auto Workers union health care trust and bondholders will own the rest.
The fast-track plan, similar to the one used to rescue Chrysler, creates a new car company that will acquire the main producing assets of the car maker, while the old GM will remain under bankruptcy court supervision.
'Today marks a new beginning for General Motors, one that will allow every employee, including me, to get back to the business of designing, building and selling great cars and trucks and serving the needs of our customers,' said Fritz Henderson, GM president and chief executive.
The 'new GM' will be a leaner, smaller company after having shed tens of thousands of workers, eliminated or sold brands, shut scores of factories and rewritten its employee contracts to slash costs.
New GM to keep only four main brands
The new GM will keep four key brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC - and will have a total of just 34 US nameplates by 2010. Several brands owned by the old GM - including Saturn, Hummer, Opel and Pontiac - have been shed or are being sold.
Once the world's largest corporation, General Motors sold more vehicles than any other car maker from 1931 to 2007, after which it lost the crown to Japan's Toyota.
The new GM emerges just weeks after a similar government-backed effort to rescue Chrysler under a plan that gave Italy's Fiat a large stake and operational control.
For GM, the new firm will be unencumbered by the bulk of the massive debt load it built up during years of bleeding balance sheets. GM entered bankruptcy protection on June 1 with liabilities of $172.8 billion and emerged with $48.4 billion.
The US government - which has provided some $50 billion in financing - received a 60.8% stake in the new company. Canada, which provided $9.1 billion in loans, has an 11.7% stake and a United Auto Workers union retiree healthcare trust fund holds 17.5%.
President Obama, whose auto taskforce spearheaded the GM restructuring plan, has said his administration has no intention of nationalising the car maker over the long term and will not be participating in its day-to-day operations.
