General Motors is a car and truck manufacturer established in 1908 and headquartered in Detroit (Michigan), USA. In 2009 industrial group is the third largest producer of automobiles after the German Toyota and Volkswagen. At 1 May 2009, GM has 326,999 employees and assembly plants in 33 countries. With few exceptions, General Motors models sold under numerous brands. In 2005 GM sold 9.17 million vehicles globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Oldsmobile (now dissolved), Pontiac (it will disappear in 2010), Saab (sold to Koenigsegg) , Saturn (sold to Penske) Opel and Vauxhall (sold to Magna Corporation). GM operates a finance company, GMAC Financial Services, which provides financing and insurance for automobiles, residential and commercial. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the provider of information services and vehicle safety.

Due to the global economic crisis, in 2009 the company filed for bankruptcy. For its restructuring, created a new company under the name General Motors Company '. The new General Motors now owns most important assets of the old GM, who happened to be called General Motors Corporation (GM Liquidation Company to its liquidation.

General Motors was founded in 1908 in Flint, Michigan, as a joint venture for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant, and acquired Oldsmobile that year. The next year, Durant took over Cadillac, Elmore, and Oakland. In 1909, GM acquired the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessor of GMC Truck. A Rapid became the first truck to conquer Pikes Peak in 1909. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 for the company's bankers, because of the large debt assumed with acquisitions.

Durant left the firm and helped establish the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1912 with brothers Gaston and Louis Chevrolet. He returned to head GM in 1915, funded by Pierre S. du Pont. Chevrolet General Motors entered into in 1916. Du Pont Durant took the leadership in 1920, and various Du Pont interests were heavily involved in the ownership until 1950.

GM overtook Ford Motor Company in the 1920s under the leadership of Alfred Sloan. While Ford continued to refine the manufacturing process to reduce costs, Sloan was inventing new ways to manage a complex global organization, while paying special attention to consumer demands. Car buyers no longer wanted the cheapest base model and they wanted style, power and prestige, which GM offered them. With funding from consumers, the comfortable monthly payments enabled more people to buy GM cars, while Ford is morally opposed to credit. During the 1920 and 1930, GM bought the bus company Yellow Coach, helped create Greyhound bus lines. They replaced intercity rail with buses, and established subsidiary companies to buy companies replaced trams and rail-based services with buses too. GM formed United Cities Motor Transit in 1932.

General Motors produced large quantities of weapons, vehicles and even aircraft during World War II and also had extensive interests in Nazi Germany. [1] During the war, U.S. auto companies were concerned that the Nazis nationalized U.S. factories in Germany . In the spring of 1939, the Nazis had taken over daily at U.S. factories in Germany, but decided to nationalize.

William P. GM Knudson served as director of production for the U.S. wartime to President Franklin Roosevelt referred to Detroit as the "Arsenal of Democracy". Today, Detroit is the headquarters of the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) of the United States Army.