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During the recession of 1990-91, General Motors had suffered more than its rivals, posting giant losses and undergoing a management shakeup. As it recovered, it faced a stiff challenge from its crosstown rival, the Ford Motor Company, whose financial strength after the downturn caused some analysts to wonder whether Ford would one day unseat G.M. as the biggest American car company.

That did not happen. But while G.M. was fending off Ford, another automaker was looming ever closer in its rearview mirror: Toyota. In the first half of 2007, Toyota sold more cars than G.M. By the end of the year, G.M. had managed to regain its No.1 position, but not by much. The difference, about 3,000 vehicles, was roughly the number of pickups that G.M. sold each day in the United States.

Tougher competition was only one of G.M.'s problems. In 2005, it stunned the auto world by losing $10.4 billion. It embarked on a reorganization plan that included plant closings and the elimination of 30,000 jobs. G.M. maintained that its turnaround program was showing results, but in the second quarter of 2008, it reported a loss of $15.5 billion (which followed a $3.3 billion first-quarter loss) and announced additional job cuts.

As the price of gasoline at the pump topped $4 a gallon, G.M. and its rivals were surprised by a dramatic shift toward smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and away from the pickups and sport utility vehicles that served as G.M.'s mainstay. The company cut its fourth-quarter 2007 production by 10 percent, and by July 2008, overall United States sales had fallen 20 percent. G.M. announced plans to idle plants to address the shrinking demand for pickups and S.U.V.'s. At the same time, it was adding shifts to try to make enough small cars.

By November, G.M. had lost more than $18 billion for the year. It briefly contemplated a merger with Chrysler, whose sales had fallen farther than any other automaker since it was acquired in 2007 by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. But G.M.'s leadership abandoned the idea when their company's financial deterioration accelerated as a nationwide credit crunch took hold in the fall. Without government assistance, top officials said, the company would run out of the cash it needed to operate early in 2009.

On Dec. 20, 2008, the Bush administration made a bailout loan to G.M. of $4 billion available Dec. 29, $5.4 billion on Jan. 16, 2009, and $4 billion on Feb. 17.

On March 29, with the deadline for government action on the company's revival plan looming, the Obama administration abruptly forced Rick Wagoner, the company's chief executive, to resign. The next day Mr. Obama announced that G.M. had failed to meet the conditions laid out for further taxpayer assistance. He said that he would give the company 60 days to complete deals with bondholders and unions, and would keep it afloat during that time, but asserted that it would be forced into bankruptcy if agreement had not been reached by then.

On May 21, G.M. announced that it had reached a deal with the U.A.W., as required by the government. Its terms were not announced, but

The company filed for bankruptcy on June 1. A little over a month later, it completed the legal paperwork needed to put the company's most desirable assets, including brands like Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC, into the new company - now named Vehicle Acquisition Company but soon to be renamed the General Motors Company.

The government owns 60 percent of the company, and has pledged to provide at least $30 billion more on top of the $20 billion handed to the company already. Canada took a 12 percent share, and the U.A.W. holds up to 20 percent.

Mr. Obama made clear that he envisions a much smaller, retooled G.M. that can make money even if new car sales remain at a sluggish 10 million a year in the United States and even if G.M., once the giant of the industry, drops below its current 20 percent market share in this country. Whether the government's investment will ever be recovered is still an open question, although the president said he was optimistic, and that Washington really had no choice.

The company will also have to shed 21,000 union workers and close 12 to 20 factories, steps that most analysts thought could never be pushed through by a Democratic president allied with organized labor.

Forty percent of the company's 6,000 dealers will close, the workers' union will be forced to finance half of its $20 billion health care fund with stock of uncertain value in the restructured G.M. and bondholders, including many retirees, will be forced to take stock worth 10 cents for every dollar they lent the company. The company set in motion plans to close many of its best known brands, like Pontiac and Saturn.

By the spring of 2010 the entire automotive industry was on the rebound, and G.M. said it expected to return to profitability for the year. By the summer, G.M, which had already repaid a $6.7 billion loan, was talking about going public in the fourth quarter, a move that would give the government a way to slowly sell its majority stake in the company's stock. The first models of the all-electric Volt also began rolling off the production line.

Big changes were seen in the company's management structure. Edward E. Whitacre Jr., a former AT&T chief, replaced dozens of top officials with outsiders and younger executives, and drove the company to make decisions faster. Those efforts are likely to be accelerated under Daniel F. Akerson, who was named to succeed Mr. Whitacre as chief executive.

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