General Motors

General Motors Company
legal form	Corporation
ISIN	US37045V1008
founding	1908 / re-establishment in 2009
Seat	Detroit , Michigan , United States
management	Mary Barra ( Chairman & CEO )
Number of employees	164,000
sales	137.2 billion US dollars
Branch	Automotive industry
Website	www.gm.com
As of December 31, 2019

General Motors Building in Detroit; from 1923 to 1996 GM head office

Renaissance Center in Detroit, today's corporate headquarters

GMC logo on the grille of a rusted tow truck

Copy of a General Motors share

The General Motors Company ( GMC ) is a globally operating US automotive group that owns several brands worldwide . The company founded in 2009 with a US / Canadian majority stake as Vehicle Acquisition Holdings LLC took over as NGMCO, INC. with the transfer and purchase agreement of June 26, 2009 finally on July 10, 2009 the assets (called 'GM Asset Sale') of the insolvent General Motors Corporation ( Old GM ). As the new General Motors Company LLC (also New GMC ) it continues the business of the Old GM . The former General Motors Corporation has been operating as Motors Liquidation Company since July 15, 2009 .

From 1931 to 2007 General Motors was the world's largest automobile manufacturer based on sales figures, but fell behind Toyota in 2008. In 2011, GM was briefly the largest automotive company again (based on sales figures) as a result of a natural disaster . In 2013, GM was in second place. In addition to motor vehicles, the group also produces vehicle components. Until 2006 he also offered financial services through his then subsidiary GMAC .

In 2012 General Motors concluded a cooperation with PSA Peugeot Citroën and took a 7% stake in PSA. The aim of the cooperation was to make GM Europe ( Opel / Vauxhall Motors ) more competitive through joint purchasing and the development of joint platforms, for example . In August 2017, Opel and Vauxhall were taken over by Groupe PSA.

With a turnover of 166.4 billion US dollars and a profit of 9.4 billion US dollars, GM is the 40th largest company in the world according to Forbes Global 2000 (as of 2017). The automaker had a total market capitalization of $ 50.8 billion in early 2017.

history

From the foundation to the 21st century

General Motors was founded on September 16, 1908 by William C. Durant and acquired the competitor Buick and Oldsmobile that same year . During the 1920s and 1930s General Motors took over the Yellow Coach company , helped build Greyhound's long-distance bus routes , and replaced long-distance trams with buses . In 1909, GM acquired Cadillac , Cartercar Company , Elmore Manufacturing , Ewing Automobile Company, and Oakland (later Pontiac). Chevrolet was added in 1918 .

GM set up subsidiaries to buy up other companies that manufactured trams and replace the trams used with buses. In 1929 the engine manufacturer Allison Engine Company was acquired . In 1930 GM bought the railway engine manufacturer Winton Engine Company and switched production from electric to diesel engines . With the Flint strike at the turn of 1936/37 the widespread union organization of GM workers began. At the same time, GM publicized its GM Futurliner, designed by chief designer Harley Earl , in the Parade of Progress , a well-known promotional event for the company that showcased advanced technologies.

During the Second World War, General Motors and its subsidiaries supplied both warring parties. This alone comprised a tenth of total American arms production. According to a 1974 report by the American Senate , General Motors (as well as Ford and Chrysler ) expanded into many European countries, including Germany ( Opel ), during the 1920s and 1930s . The companies supplied both the US Army and the Wehrmacht of the German Reich with trucks.

After World War II, General Motors and Ford claimed reparations from the American government because their factories in Germany had been damaged by Allied attacks.

In 1950, General Motors was fined $ 5,000 for a plot of conspiracy (around $ 52,993 based on today's value). The aim of the conspiracy was to buy up and destroy the network of electric trams, so that local public transport should have been dependent on GMC buses. This is the reason why trams are rarely found in the US today.

→ Main article : Great American tram scandal

In 1953 the construction machinery manufacturer Euclid Trucks was bought .

On December 31, 1955, General Motors became the first American company to announce annual sales of more than one billion US dollars.

In 1979 General Motors sold the Frigidaire subsidiary to White Consolidated Industries.

In 1981 GM had sales of approximately $ 60.0 billion and employed 657,000 people.

In 1986 a joint venture was established with Volvo , into which both companies brought their heavy truck businesses in North America.

In 2003, GM had sales of 185.52 billion US dollars, of which 51.63 billion were abroad. 294,000 people were employed worldwide, 104,000 of them outside the United States. After the alliance with Renault / Nissan , favored by Kirk Kerkorian , up to then the largest single shareholder, failed in 2006, the latter sold a large part of his shares. General Motors sold around 9 million vehicles in 2011.

Bankruptcy and Nationalization

In 2007, General Motors had sales of $ 181.1 billion and posted the largest loss in its history at $ 38.7 billion. In its balance sheet, the group had a debt of over 185 billion and over-indebtedness of 37 billion US dollars for 2007. The slump in sales of SUVs , vans and pickups triggered by the drastic rise in gasoline prices and, at the end of 2008, by general reluctance to buy and unobtainable credit for consumers due to the financial crisis , the financially ailing company was forced to take drastic restructuring measures. Since 2008, the group was threatened with bankruptcy, according to its own information, liquidity only lasted until the end of 2008. The takeover talks with competitor Chrysler were therefore discontinued, the Hummer brand was liquidated and the sale or discontinuation of other brands was decided. A recovery plan was to cut 47,000 jobs worldwide, including 26,000 outside the United States. In return, state aid in the billions is to be granted by the US government. The subsidiary Saab filed for bankruptcy in February 2009. The German subsidiary Opel needed state guarantees of 3.3 billion euros.

At the end of February 2009 General Motors published its financial figures for 2008 and suffered the fourth billion-dollar loss in a row. The company drove a loss of 30.9 billion US dollars (24.2 billion euros). Much higher than expected by the experts, the loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 amounted to 9.6 billion US dollars. Because of the crisis in 2008, the company had received government aid amounting to 13.4 billion US dollars; According to the company, however, it would take up to $ 30 billion over the course of 2009 to avoid bankruptcy. In 2008, the value of GM shares fell 87.21%. In published on 5 March 2009 Annual Report GM pointed light of an its auditors check out explicitly that the continuation of the group is at significant risk, and that the risk of bankruptcy for Chapter 7 insist that the liquidation of the company would have resulted. (See also Chapter 11 , Reorganizing Company Finances).

GM initially planned to discontinue the Pontiac brand as part of its restructuring and to concentrate on the core brands GMC , Buick , Cadillac and Chevrolet in North America in order to ensure the continued existence of the group. As a result, the company also wanted to part with Saab , Hummer and Saturn in 2009 . For the first quarter of 2009, GM reported consolidated sales of $ 22.4 billion (year-ago period: 42.4 billion) and a quarterly loss of $ 5.9 billion (previous year: 3.2 billion).

Six top GM managers, including Robert A. Lutz and Carl-Peter Forster , who is Group Vice President responsible for European business, sold all of their shares at the beginning of May 2009. A total of more than 200,000 shares were sold at a unit price of 1.45 to 1.61 US dollars, as GM announced on May 11, 2009 in a mandatory notification to the SEC.

Almost 101 years after the company was founded, General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 1, 2009 . Filing indicated that GM had $ 82.3 billion in assets and $ 172.8 billion in debt as of the reporting date. The bankruptcy was supposed to be settled within three months, but was then completed after 40 days on July 10, 2009. The majority of the group was nationalized: The USA received 60.8% of the shares as part of the emergency nationalization , Canada 11.7% of the shares. 17.5% of the shares were taken over by a fund of the UAW auto workers' union and 10% of the shares were distributed to the creditors. The brands Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC were retained. Other brands were sold. Worldwide over 35,000 employees should be laid off at GM. For the European subsidiary Opel, the takeover by Magna and a Russian partner initially became apparent; however, GM's board of directors decided on November 3rd to keep the European subsidiary.

privatization

16 months after bankruptcy and nationalization, GM returned to the stock exchange in November 2010. Because of the great demand, GM had increased the number of common shares by almost a third to 478 million. The unit price of 33 US dollars resulted in a value of around 16 billion US dollars. In addition, 87 million preferred shares were issued at a price of US $ 50 each. With a total volume of around 23.1 billion, this was the largest IPO of all time. At the beginning of 2012, GM planned an alliance with the French auto company PSA Peugeot-Citroën. As part of the alliance, GM took a 7.0% stake in PSA.

Effects of the state rescue

The US government spent a total of $ 51 billion on bailing out General Motors through nationalization. By December 2013, GM was privatized again through the sale of the state shares, which brought in $ 39 billion for the tax authorities. In total, the state rescue cost $ 12 billion. According to a study by the Center for Automotive Research, the state bailout saved 1.2 million jobs and $ 34.9 billion in tax revenue.

Ignition lock debacle

At the beginning of 2014, GM had to recall around 2.6 million cars due to defective ignition locks. The ignition locks jumped in the off position while driving, causing the engine and electronics to shut down, causing the steering, brakes and airbag systems to malfunction. In April 2015, General Motors announced that it would pay compensation for around 80 deaths and 148 non-fatal accidents caused by defective ignition locks. In May 2015, a federal judge ruled that the 2009 bankruptcy proceedings protected GM from claims for damages. Plaintiffs can only sue for the depreciation of their cars (for cases after the bankruptcy has ended).

Group structure

GM worldwide sales 2016 (in thousands)
Rank in GM	country	Sales figures	Market share (in%)
1	United States	3,043	17.3%
2	People's Republic of China (2015)	1,746	7.3%
-	European Union	979	-
3	Brazil	346	17.4%
4th	Mexico	309	19.2%
5	Canada	267	13.7%
6th	United Kingdom	251	9.3%
7th	Germany	245	7.3%
8th	South Korea	183	10.0%
9	Argentina	100	14.2%
10	Italy	95	5.2%
11	Australia	94	8.2%
12	Spain	89	7.8%
13	Colombia (2015)	67	23.7%
14th	France (2015)	64	3.4%
15th	Turkey	55	5.6%
16	Russia	42	3.0%
17th	India	29	1.0%
18th	South Africa	24	4.5%

General Motors was the largest automobile manufacturer in the world by sales for 77 years . Due to the ongoing sales problems, General Motors lost this position in the first quarter of 2008 to its Japanese competitor Toyota and continued to lose ground in the second quarter of 2008. The company is headquartered in Detroit , Michigan . 1 May 2003. Chief Executive Officer and, since June 1, 2000 at the same time Chairman of the Board was Rick Wagoner . He resigned with immediate effect at the end of March 2009 under pressure from the US government . One of his predecessors was Roger B. Smith . Wagoner's successor was Frederick A. Henderson , who, however, resigned after only half a year. For a transition period, Edward Whitacre, Junior took over the management of the company. On August 12, 2010, Whitacre announced that he would be stepping down as CEO of General Motors effective September 1, 2010. He was succeeded by board member Daniel Akerson . Whitacre remained chairman until late 2010 , before Akerson took over the position. Mary Barra has succeeded Akerson as CEO since 2014 . Due to the earthquake disaster in Japan and higher sales, GM was able to become the largest car manufacturer again for one year in 2011.

Brands and holdings

GM owns brands in the United States , China and Australia and manufactures in local plants, with models being sold under different brands in different markets.

As recently as 2000, GM had no fewer than 13 brands, each with its own range of models except Vauxhall. The number of brands has now been reduced to 8 and only four different model ranges are expected in the medium term. The Oldsmobile , Pontiac , Saturn and Hummer brands were discontinued, and Saab , Opel and Vauxhall were sold.

Current brands and markets

No large series vehicles are produced under the General Motors brand itself, only experimental small series such as the General Motors EV1 (GM EV1).

Lower and middle price segment

In the lower price segment, GM operates almost worldwide under the Chevrolet brand . The ranges of the old US brand Chevrolet and the South Korean GM Daewoo (since 2011: GM Korea ) are currently being merged. In South Korea and Vietnam, the Daewoo brand was retained until 2011. With a few exceptions, the vehicles offered by Holden in Australia correspond to the GM Daewoo models.

Chevrolet is the Group's only brand in South America. Some of the models offered there are older developments from various group brands. In China there is also the Baojun brand, which has an even lower price . The Buick brand is offered in the mid-price segment in the USA and China .

Premium segment

As a premium brand, GM relies on the Cadillac brand worldwide .

Special brands

The GMC brand is used in the United States, Canada, China, and the Middle East for SUVs, pickups, and trucks .

In order to differentiate the Corvette more clearly from the other Chevrolet models (here in particular from vehicles from GM Korea ), it was offered as a separate brand in Europe between 2005 and 2011. At the 2010 Geneva Motor Show , Bob Lutz announced that the Corvette would be reintroduced into the Chevrolet model range in Europe. The market launch took place in spring 2011. In Japan, the Corvette - the only GM model offered there - is its own brand.

Participations and joint ventures (current and dissolved)

GM works with Isuzu Motors Ltd. through financial participation and technological cooperation . and Suzuki Motor Corporation together. Development agreements have been concluded with Toyota and BMW . In addition, there are manufacturing joint ventures in the People's Republic of China and Russia with Toyota, Suzuki, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation , AwtoWAS and Renault .

On February 14, 2005, the cooperation with Fiat was discontinued. For a payment of 1.55 billion euros, GM bought itself free of its commitment made in 2000 to fully take over Fiat and sold its existing 10% stake. Other European commitments are being scrutinized because of their lack of profitability. In October 2005, GM sold its 20 percent stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd (owner of the Subaru automotive brand ), and Fuji Heavy ended all existing collaborations.

In 2005, GM discontinued the Daewoo brand outside of South Korea . The vehicles from the (since 2011: former) GM Daewoo plants have since been sold mainly (including in Europe) under the brand name Chevrolet, but in Australia as Holden . The Daewoos brand name was only retained for Uz-DaewooAvto . The General Motors Egypt still produces the Lanos under the Daewoo label. In the meantime, the name Daewoo has also disappeared in (South) Korea and replaced by Chevrolet.

• 

  Saturn S-Series

• 

  Hummer H3

• 

  Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, built in 1958

• 

  4th generation Chevrolet Camaro, manufactured in 1999

• 

  Pontiac Laurentian for the Canadian market, manufactured in 1956

• 

  General Motors Truck 2.5ton 6x6

• 

  Buick LaCrosse, manufactured in 2008

• 

  Oldsmobile Alero (1998-2004), sold in Europe as Chevrolet Alero

Other business areas and brands

The GM Group uses other company names in addition to the classic automobile brands. Some of these are directly related to automobile production. For example, financial services are offered as part of sales financing . In addition, the GM Group is active in industries that are not related to vehicle production.

GM spare parts and accessories are sold under the brand names GM, GM Goodwrench and ACDelco , and engines and transmissions are sold under the GM Powertrain brand.

Companies not directly assigned to the auto business are:

• Ally Financial : Financial services and a. everything to do with automobiles, such as financing and insurance;
• OnStar : telematics systems for motor vehicles and commercial vehicles;
• Hughes Electronics : Satellite service provider.

As part of the redevelopment course in spring 2006, 51 percent of GMAC Financial Services was sold to a consortium led by the hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management together with 78 percent of the real estate division GMAC Commercial Holding for a further USD 8.8 billion -Dollars sold to a group of investors.

Former brands

Historic vehicle brands

General Motors has discontinued brands repeatedly throughout its history. Mostly these were brands that were only used for a few years, but with Oldsmobile , Pontiac and Bedford it also met traditional brands .

William Durant bought a number of car brands between 1908 and 1910 from which he formed the group. Quite a few were subsequently hired, some during the time he was excluded from GM (1910–1915). These brands included B. Cartercar , Elmore , Marquette Motor Company , Peninsular , Rainier , Welch , Welch-Detroit and the taxi maker Ewing . In 1913 William C. Durant (who had to leave GM for the first time in 1910) founded the Republic Motor Company in Tarrytown , New York as a holding company to finance the purchase of the former Maxwell-Briscoe and Little Motor Car Company plants in Flint, Michigan ) . This became Chevrolet. Republic automobiles were never built in Tarrytown . 1917 GM acquired the tractor Farmer Samson Sieve-Grip Tractor Company in Stockton (California) and put it in the following year with the Janesville Machine Company in Janesville (Wisconsin) together. The expectation that Samson would be able to compete with the successful Fordson from Ford was not fulfilled, in 1923 Samson was given up.

In the 1920s, Yellow Coach and, for a short time, the small car manufacturer Scripps-Booth were added. In 1920 GM acquired the facilities of the Inter-State Automobile Company to manufacture the Sheridan there . This was the last brand to be introduced by Durant; after his departure it was sold to his new Durant Corporation in 1921 . In addition, General Motors expanded its range of brands in order to place a sister brand ("Companion Marque)" between each of the five existing vehicle brands. The aim was to reduce the price differences between the individual group brands and to broaden the range. For this purpose, they were priced below the corresponding "parent brand". Of course, they benefited from this through synergies in the technology and marketing areas. Only Chevrolet did not receive such a second brand.

The first appeared in 1926 Pontiac as a subsidiary brand of Oakland (1907-1931). The name goes back to a historic Indian chief, but also refers to a forerunner company from Oakland (1906-08). The success of Pontiac led to the discontinuation of the more expensive Oakland in 1931. Shortly thereafter, Cadillac brought out its second brand with the LaSalle (1927–1940). 1,929 were for model year 1930 two more launches: The Marquette by Buick , was reminded by the GM pioneer brand in 1912, and the Viking of Oldsmobile . Unfortunately, the launch of these two brands coincided with the onset of the economic crisis that broke out as a result of the November 1929 stock market crash. Both brands failed and were discontinued after only one model year. Their products were continued as "entry-level models" by Buick and Oldsmobile.

Thus, after the Second World War there were again five core brands (plus the commercial vehicle manufacturer GMC ).

Other brands were created in order to be able to offer vehicles in certain markets. Some of these were even cars that were produced by other manufacturers. Examples are Geo , Asüna , Passport or Beaumont for the USA or Canada and Ranger in South Africa.

Hiring and Sales in the 21st Century

• Geo - This brand was founded in 1988 and was owned by Chevrolet. Geo models have been marketed as Chevrolet since 1998 . Geo were often built in cooperation with Asian manufacturers.
• Oldsmobile - Production of the traditional US brand was discontinued on April 29, 2004 due to insufficient demand.
• Pontiac - This American brand was discontinued at the end of 2009 without replacement.
• Hummer - After failed sales negotiations with the Chinese group Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company , production of the American off-road vehicle brand was discontinued starting in March 2010 without replacement.
• Saturn - The purely American brand was discontinued in October 2010. Vehicle production ended on October 1, 2009.
• Saab - The Swedish automaker was sold to the Dutch automaker Spyker Cars on February 23, 2010 . On December 19, 2011, he filed for bankruptcy.
• Opel - the German car manufacturer was taken over by the French Groupe PSA together with its British sister company Vauxhall in 2017 .
• Vauxhall - the English company was sold together with Opel to the French Groupe PSA in March 2017.

Timeline of current and former vehicle brands

General Motors automotive brands timeline since 1897
brand	1890			1900										10s										20s										30s										40s										50s										60s										70s										80s										90s										2000										2010
Buick
McLaughlin													McLaughlin									McLaughlin-Buick
Marquette
Oldsmobile	Olds											Oldsmobile
Viking
Cadillac
LaSalle
Oakland
Pontiac
Cartercar
Elmore
Rainier
Chevrolet
Scripps Booth
Acadian
Beaumont
Saturn
Geo
Passport
Asuna
Corvette
lobster
GMC					Rapid											GMC truck																																																																GMC
						Reliance
Yellow Coach
Opel
Vauxhall
Bedford
lotus
Saab
ranger
Holden
Daewoo																																																																																Saehan						Daewoo
Alpheon
 Automobile brand of an independent company before takeover by GM, possibly already active in other areas beforehand  Automobile brand of a company that is majority owned by GM  GM automobile brand GM automobile brand, mainly with vehicles through badge engineering or on the platform of other GM brands or GM alliance partners  Automobile brand sold

See also

• General Motors of Canada
• Ignacio Lopez : formerly a manager at GM and then at VW
• Alfred P. Sloan : longtime GM manager, founder of the brand hierarchy
• Roger Smith

literature

• Henry Ashby Turner: General Motors and the Nazis. The struggle for Opel. Econ Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-430-19206-4 .
• Beverly Rae Kimes (ed.); Henry Austin Clark, Jr.: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 2nd Edition. Krause Publications, 1989, ISBN 0-87341-111-0 .
• Axel Madsen: The Deal Maker: How William C. Durant made General Motors. John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-39523-4 .
• Alfred P. Sloan: My Years With General Motors. Doubleday & Co., Garden City NY 1964. (1990, ISBN 0-385-04235-3 )
  • German: My years with General Motors. 2nd Edition. Verlag Moderne Industrie, Munich 1965, DNB 454734875
• Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Published by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions, Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X .
• Piet Olyslager: American Cars of the 1930s. The Olyslager Auto Library, 1971. (1977, ISBN 0-7232-1266-X )
• Piet Olyslager: American Cars of the 1940s. The Olyslager Auto Library, 1972. (1973, ISBN 0-7232-1465-4 )
• Piet Olyslager: American Cars of the 1950s. The Olyslager Auto Library, 1973. (1978, ISBN 0-7232-1707-6 )
• Tad Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1920-1939. Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-026-8 .
• Tad Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1940-1965. Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-057-8 .
• Tad Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1966-1980. Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-102-7 .
• Tad Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1981-1990. Motorbooks International, ISBN 0-87938-428-X .
• Tad Burness: American Car Spotter's Guide, 1920-1939. Motorbooks International.

Web links

 Wikinews: Portal: General Motors  - in the news

• Official website of General Motors (English)
• General Motors commissioned film (1964, Condor Films)
• History of General Motors ( Memento of February 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
• Senate report on participation of GM in World War II (English)
• Broke three years ago, today the world market leader with profits of billions: A look at General Motors' balance sheet. In: brand eins. 5/2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Corporate Officers
2. ↑ ^{a b} [1]
3. ↑ 60% state share, report by Agence France-Presse , April 21, 2010.
4. ↑ SEC Info: Amended and Restated Master Sale and Purchase Agreement, dated June 26, 2009 (English). Retrieved August 1, 2010. The sellers were: General Motors Corporation, Saturn LLC., Saturn Distribution Corporation and Chevrolet-Saturn of Harlem, Inc. The buyers were: NGMCO, INC., At The United States Department of the Treasury. (P. 96)
5. ↑ faqs.org: Motors Liquidation Co 8-K For 6/25/10 EX-99.1. Monthly Operating Report for the month ended May 31, 2010 . Pp. 7 and 8. Accessed August 1, 2010.
6. ↑ GM website: SEC Filings: Report of unscheduled material events or corporate event, July 16, 2009 (PDF; 211 kB). Retrieved August 1, 2010.
7. ↑ bloomberg.com: Company Overview of Motors Liquidation Company (English). Retrieved August 1, 2010.
8. ↑ http://www.oica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ranking-2011-final2.pdf
9. ↑ http://www.oica.net/wp-content/uploads//ranking-2013s-2.pdf
10. ^ Cooperation between General Motors and Peugeot-Citroën: Opel hopes for an alliance of unequal partners - SZ, March 1, 2012
11. ↑ PSA: The Opel takeover is perfect. In: Handelsblatt . August 1, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Michael Dobbs: Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration at www.washingtonpost.com
13. ↑ Hitler's carmaker: How General Motors helped mobilize the Third Reich on internalcombustionbook.com , December 1, 2006.
14. ↑ Stephen Leahy: Time Expired ( Memento of March 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ Bradford Snell: StreetCar Conspiracy - How General Motors Deliberately Destroyed Public Transit
16. ↑ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - April 6, 1979
17. ^ Eugene Register-Guard - June 26, 1997
18. ↑ Who makes the biggest sales in the automotive industry? Retrieved November 29, 2012.
19. ↑ Press release General Motors Corp., February 12, 2008 ( Memento of May 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) preliminary figures for 2007.
20. ↑ GM 2007 balance sheet ( Memento from December 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
21. ↑ Press release General Motors Corp., February 12, 2008 ( Memento of May 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Severance payment plan for 74,000 GM employees
22. ↑ General Motors offers severance pay to 74,000 employees. on: Spiegel Online. February 12, 2008.
23. ↑ Handelsblatt
24. ↑ GM could face bankruptcy
25. ↑ Merrill Lynch thinks GM bankruptcy is possible
26. ↑ Last Hummer rolls off line at Shreveport GM plant . KSLA. August 25, 2010. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved on August 25, 2010.
27. ↑ GM wants to cut 47,000 jobs and calls for a huge aid package . Mirror online. February 18, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
28. ↑ European GM daughters struggle for survival from February 19, 2009.
29. ^ Opel goes the money from Süddeutsche Zeitung from February 20, 2009.
30. ↑ General Motors: $ 30.9 billion annual loss at faz.net, February 26, 2009 (accessed February 26, 2009)
31. ↑ heute.de:GM makes almost 31 billion lousy  ( page no longer accessible , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
32. ↑ ftd.de:GM-Aktienkurs ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
33. ↑ General Motors Corp., Annual Report 2008 (Form 10-K) (PDF)
34. ↑ Automobilwoche breaking news February 27, 2009
35. ↑ SEC mandatory notification dated May 8, 2009 "10-Q report"
36. ↑ SEC mandatory notification of May 11, 2009 "Statement of changes in beneficial ownership of securities" ( Memento of May 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
37. ↑ GM files for bankruptcy for reorganization
38. ↑ tagesschau.de: "GM goes into bankruptcy" , as of June 1, 2009.
39. ↑ tagesschau.de: “GM rescues itself in Obama's arms” , as of July 10, 2009.
40. ↑ Tagesschau : General Motors discovers the value of Opel from November 4, 2009.
41. ↑ Obama speaks of a major milestone: GM celebrates stock market comeback on n-tv.de , November 18, 2010.
42. ^ USA today, Government sells last of its GM shares , December 10, 2013
43. ↑ Spiegel, GM admits at least 56 fatalities , February 2015
44. ↑ Orf.at, General Motors Compensates for Around 80 Deaths , April 2015
45. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/generalmotors-105.html ( Memento from April 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
46. ↑ focus2move
47. ↑ Toyota is the world's largest automaker
48. ↑ Claus Tigges and Roland Lindner: Obama tightened auto course: GM boss Wagoner resigns. faz.net, March 30, 2009, accessed May 10, 2015 . 
49. ^ Spiegel Online : The technocrat takes power from December 2, 2009.
50. ↑ AFP : General Motors redeveloper Ed Whitacre resigns from August 12, 2010.
51. ↑ GM Announces CEO Succession Process press release August 12, 2010.
52. ↑ Handelsblatt: Hedge fund wins GM-Perle ( Memento from December 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
53. ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog. 1996, p. 771 (Inter-State).
54. ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog. 1996, p. 1346 (Sheridan).
55. ↑ MID: Out for cult brand: GM lets Hummer die. In: Focus Online . February 25, 2010, accessed October 14, 2018 . 
56. ↑ gxf / apn: Takeover: Saab is now owned by Spyker. In: Focus Online . February 23, 2010, accessed October 14, 2018 . 
57. ↑ Auto industry: Saab files for insolvency handelsblatt.de, December 19, 2011.
58. ↑ beb: PSA buys Opel: Peugeot manufacturer takes over GM brand for 1.3 billion euros. In: Focus Online . March 6, 2017, accessed October 14, 2018 .