The new GM will keep four key brands - Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC - and will have a total of just 34 US nameplates by 2010. Several brands owned by the old GM, including Saturn, Hummer, Opel and Pontiac, have been shed or are being sold. Once the world's largest corporation, General Motors sold more vehicles than any other automaker from 1931 through 2007, after which it lost the crown to Japan's Toyota. The new GM emerges just weeks after a similar government-backed effort to rescue number three US automaker Chrysler under a plan that gave Italian automaker Fiat a large stake and operational control. GM entered bankruptcy protection on June 1 with liabilities of $US172.8 billion ($222 billion) and emerged with $US48.4 billion in debt. - AFP