Businessweek

GM: 3 Decades To Bankruptcy

The formerly unthinkable has happened: General Motors, once the world's most powerful corporation, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to reorganize as a smaller, more viable company. In the mid-1960s, GM made half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. and employed more workers than any other company in the nation. But by the late 1970s, the forces that would bring down the industrial giant were already in play: legacy labor costs, competition from foreign automakers, and rising fuel prices. Here's an interactive look at GM's decline since its production peak in 1978.

Data sources: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, GM, Toyota, Detroit News, state of Michigan, Wall Street Journal, Ward’s AutoInfoBank, IHS Global Insight, Google Finance, Hoover’s, SEC filings, Motor Intelligence, Energy Information Administration

• By John Tozzi
• Produced By Austin Cornelio