In pictures: General Motors

General Motors was founded by William Durant on 16 September 1908. GM initially held only the Buick Motor Company but by 1929 it had acquired several others including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland (today known as Pontiac), and Germany's Opel.

GM continued to expand in the 1920s and 1930s with the strategy "a car for every purse and purpose". The Buick Y Job was the first concept car, leading the way for other carmakers to develop concept cars to gauge public opinion.

Workers in the GM plant in Flint, Michigan began a sit-down strike in December 1936, organised by the newly-formed United Auto Workers union. The strike ended on 11 February 1937 when GM formally recognised the UAW.

A man polishes his 1958 Cadillac Eldorado

In the 1950s GM was not only the biggest carmaker in the US but it was the biggest company of any kind in the country. Its luxury brand Cadillac grew in popularity with its distinctive tailfins.

In 1964 GM introduced the Pontiac GTO "muscle car", which led the way to the legendary Pontiac Firebird. However, as GM struggles in the current recession it has announced plans to phase out the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010.

GM launched its first sports car with the Chevrolet Corvette in 1953. Thousands of people gathered in Nashville, Tennessee in June 2003 to celebrate the car's 50th anniversary.

In 1995 GM sold more than three million vehicles outside North America for the first time, and entered into its first joint venture agreement in China. It began regular production of the Chevrolet Blazer sports utility vehicle in Jinbei, China in May 2001.

In the 1990s, GM made a push into the sports utility vehicles (SUV) market, but in 2008 rising fuel prices led to sales of SUVs dropping 30%. GM has now agreed to sell its gas-guzzling Hummer brand to China's Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery.

In June 2009, GM chief executive Fritz Henderson finally had to tell reporters that the carmaker would be seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It emerged 40 days later, 61% owned by the US government.