General Motors - then and now

1922: William 'Billy' Durant, original founder of General Motors and in 1922, Durant Motors, stands proudly by the Durant Star Photograph: Corbis

1936: Assuming the role of inspector, GM president Alfred P. Sloan looks over the new 1937 Buick models rolling off the assembly plant with Buick president Harlow H. Curtice Photograph: Corbis

1937: The United Auto Workers staged the first successful sit-down strike, forcing General Motors to come to terms Photograph: Corbis

1937: Mrs. Gerenda Johnson, wife of one of the General Motors sit-down strikers, leads the march of strikers' wives past the Chevrolet small parts plant Photograph: Corbis

1940: Executives of General Motors and some of the 75 members of the final assembly line crew, pictured during a ceremony marking the completion of the 25 millionth car turned out by the company Photograph: Corbis

1950s: Factory workers tend to Buick automobiles on the assembly line at the company's assembly plant Photograph: Philip Gendreau/Corbis

1952: C E Wilson, the president of General Motors USA since 1941, with engineering graduates at General Motors Institute Photograph: Keystone/Corbis

1953: A young American apprentice being taught a trade in a GM factory Photograph: Keystone/Hulton Archive

1953: The very first Corvettes roll off the assembly line at the Chevrolet plant. The Corvette was the first consumer car with an all-fibreglass body Photograph: Corbis

1964: Workers at the Ellesmere Port factory see the first Vauxhall car come off the production line at the factory in Merseyside Photograph: PA Archive

1970s: Autoworkers wearing protective masks at a General Motors factory Photograph: Owen Franken/Corbis

1973: Car assembly line at the Oldsmobile factory which was bought in 1908 by General Motors Photograph: JP Laffont/Corbis

1988: The GM auto manufacturing plant at Flint, Michigan, which was shut down in the 1980s Photograph: Bob Krist/Corbis

1998: United Auto Workers on strike against General Motors at their metal fabricating plant, effectively shutting it down Photograph: Najlah Feanny-Hicks/Corbis

2004: A Brazilian worker assembling a car for export, at a General Motors production plant, in Sao Caetano do Sul Photograph: Mauricio Lima/AFP

2006: New 2007 GM 3.6L V-6 VVT Engine await shipping at the GM Powertrain Flint South Plant Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

2006: General Motors Pontiac G-6 cars are lined up for to be placed on railroad cars at the Orion assembly plant Photograph: Jeff Haynes/AFP

2007: United Auto Workers member Amos Hornsby, a 30 year employee of General Motors, strikes in front of the General Motors Flint Truck Assembly Plant. The UAW called a nationwide strike against GM, its first in 31 years Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

2008: A Chevrolet Bel Air is displayed at the General Motors headquarters Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

2008: Hundreds of new cars of US carmaker General Motors remain at the GM car park, in the car pool of Sao Bernardo do Campo in Brazil Photograph: Mauricio Lima/AFP

2008: Only a few cars are parked in a lot near a closed automotive factory Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

2009: The General Motors world headquarters building is shown in Detroit, Michigan. The Obama administration demanded the resignation of GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner as a condition of the administrations ongoing bailout plan for the struggling GM and Chrysler car companies Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty

28 May 2009: Hesse state premier Roland Koch (fifth right), German economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (fourth right ) and finance minister Peer Steinbrueck (third right) answer journalists in Berlin after a key meeting on the future of GM-owned carmaker Opel Photograph: Steffi Loos/AFP/Getty Images

May 2009: 'Who will save Opel?', reads the sign at a car factory in Bochum, Germany Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

May 2009: Astra cars being assembled at the General Motors's owned Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, north-west England. The crisis at the Detroit-based motor manufacturer has raised fears that Vauxhall's 5,500 UK workers at its factories in Luton and Ellesmere Port could lose their jobs Photograph: Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images