17 years ago, America watched the collapse of its automotive giant
- Published on 25/11/2025 14:57
On November 25, 2008, General Motors experienced one of the darkest days in its modern history.
On that day, amid a global financial turmoil, the Detroit giant General Motors (GM) unveiled an emergency plan that would precipitate an unprecedented shift for an American automaker. On that day, GM officially acknowledged that it could no longer meet its obligations without massive federal assistance. This sequence of events would leave a lasting mark on the global automotive industry.
At the time, GM was still the world’s largest automaker, but its strength was merely a facade. The group was accumulating losses, burdened by a sprawling structure, numerous and costly brands, and a dwindling American market. The financial crisis of 2008 acted as an accelerator: sales plummeted, cash reserves evaporated, and investors withdrew. On November 25, the plan presented to Congress detailed the extent of the shipwreck. It highlighted a colossal debt, a cash flow on the brink of drying up, and an immediate need for several tens of billions of dollars to avoid collapse.
America was no longer untouchable
The announcement had the effect of an earthquake. GM, the emblem of the American industrial dream, acknowledged that it could no longer navigate alone. The federal government would need to intervene. This would happen a few months later when the automaker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, initiating the most spectacular restructuring ever seen in modern automotive history. Brands would be eliminated, factories closed, thousands of jobs sacrificed. A forced, yet vital reinvention.
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In hindsight, November 25 stands out as the moment when General Motors ceased to be untouchable. It symbolizes the end of an industrial model inherited from the post-war era, too heavy, too slow, too vulnerable to crises. Paradoxically, it was from this near-bankruptcy that the new generation GM was born, more compact, more rational, and ready to tackle market transformations. It was in this fall that its rebirth was shaped.
READ ALSO: 114 years ago, Louis Chevrolet wrote his American dream
This page is translated from the original post "Il y a 17 ans, l’Amérique voyait s’effondrer son géant automobile" in French.
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