The New Hot Wheels

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters-Landov

The Most Fuel Efficient Cars - 2010

The electric car has traveled a long and bumpy road. Remember the EV1, which General Motors rolled out in the mid-’90s and literally scrapped a few years later? Well, the electric car has been resuscitated—and is here to stay. You can thank Uncle Sam for that: the government mandated that carmakers cut tailpipe emissions by 5 percent each year from 2012 to 2016, and boost fuel economy fleetwide by an average of seven miles per gallon. In other words, auto companies can’t wiggle out of it this time.

And so, this month early adopters will begin plugging in a new generation of electric wheels and thumbing their noses as they zoom by the corner gas station. These babies aren’t just for vegans who compost and watch reruns of An Inconvenient Truth. Anyone who grumbles at $3.25-a-gallon gas will be impressed by the fuel cost: as little as $1.50 to $2.75 to fully juice up an electric car, depending on the size of the battery. You may still have to pay at the pump: some electrics are hybrids that switch to gasoline once the battery runs low. But for most city driving, you can get around on a single charge. You’ll also need to install a dedicated 240-volt charger in your garage, which can cost a couple of thousand bucks. (The one exception is the Chevy Volt, which plugs into a simple 120-volt outlet but requires 10 hours to fully charge.) Because electric cars aren’t for everyone, automakers are offering a dizzying array of other ecofriendly cars that don’t run on electricity but still give great gas mileage and green cred. There are clean diesel-powered vehicles that have nothing in common with the smoke-belching monsters of the ’70s. And almost every car company has come out with its own hybrid to give the Toyota Prius a run for its money. In fact, there are so many green choices for 2011, it’s hard to figure out which way to turn. To help you navigate the terrain, we’ve picked the top performers in each category.”

Courtesy of Nissan

Plug-Ins

Nissan Leaf
This fully electric plug-in would be right at home in the Jetsons' garage. It charges completely in seven hours with a 240-volt connection. And it's seriously cool inside, with animated displays and fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles. A $349 monthly lease makes the car's $25,780 price (after a $7,500 federal tax credit) competitive with non-electrics.

Courtesy of General Motors

Chevy Volt
Worried you'll run out of juice in the middle of the expressway? Then choose the Volt, which pairs a 40-mile electric motor with a gas engine. Named Motor Trend Car of the Year, it's spunky and powers up on a standard 120-volt outlet. The lease is a steal at $2,500 down and $350 a month for 36 months, with a retail price of $33,500 after the federal tax credit.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters-Landov

Honda Fit EV
The all-electric version of Honda's sporty Fit isn't available until 2012, but it promises to be a formidable competitor to the Nissan Leaf, with a 100-mile-range motor, seating for five, and a spacious hatchback. Using technology from Honda's CR-Z sport hybrid, the motor can operate in econ, normal, or sport mode to either maximize energy efficiency or boost power.

Courtesy of Toyota

Hybrids

Toyota Prius
Still the mack daddy, the Prius remains the fuel-economy leader for gas hybrids, with 51mpg city, 48mpg highway. And given there's so much competition in the hybrid market, drivers no longer have to pay a premium: you can get into one for $23,050. A hybrid plug-in version will arrive in two years, but will its 13-mile electric range be too little, too late?

Craig Ruttle / Bloomberg-Getty Images

Ford Fusion
This hybrid offers generous mileage--41mpg city, 36mpg highway--coupled with all-wheel drive, midsize roominess, and interior creature comforts. Seats are made of 85 percent recycled materials. Unlike some other hybrids that operate on electric at parking-lot speeds, the Fusion is capable of maintaining 47mph powered solely by the electric motor.

Courtesy of Volkswagen

Volkswagen Touareg
Even tree-huggers like to haul boats and trailers from time to time. But the gas required can be guilt-inducing. What's a recreation lover to do? If you have $60,565 lying around, the Touareg may be your answer. It's heavy-duty but swanky, with 18-inch wheels, a rearview camera, and bi-xenon headlights, and it uses about 4mpg less fuel than its gas equivalent.

Diesels

Courtesy of Volkswagen

Volkswagen Golf TDI
This hatch turbo is hot with 20- and 30-somethings. It looks slick, is small enough to park in tight city spaces, and offers sporty Teutonic handling for a $23,435 price that's lower than other German brands. It's powered by a fuel--efficient 2.0-liter, four-cylinder diesel engine that gets 30mpg city, 42mpg highway. It's an excellent choice for drivers who have to endure a long daily commute but want a sports-car feel.

Courtesy of Audi

Audi A3 TDI
Using the same platform and engine as the VW Golf (Audi is VW's luxury brand), this car gets equally impressive mileage, but comes with posh upgrades like standard leather seating for just $30,250. If the A3 is too small for you, wait for Audi's hybrid versions of its midsize A6, full-size A8, and Q5 SUV in 2011 and 2012. Audi will also release a plug-in hybrid in 2014.

Courtesy of BMW

BMW 3 Series
We've ranked the 335d third only because it's pricey: $44,150. This diesel gets 36mpg highway and about 580 miles to the tankload. And with an in-line six-cylinder, 265hp engine that produces a massive 425 foot-pounds of torque, power is at the ready. Stay tuned for next summer's release of an all-electric 1 Series, a sprightly four-seat sport coupe with a 100-mile range.

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U.S. to Require Rear-View Video on Cars

The Obama administration moved Friday to effectively require all passenger cars and buses to be equipped with rear-view video cameras to help prevent fatalities caused when drivers back over a child hidden in the blind spot behind a vehicle.

The technology, already offered in some models in the U.S., involves a small camera attached to the back of a car that sends a live video feed to a display mounted in the dashboard or rear-view mirror. It is designed to give drivers a broader view as they back out of a parking spot or driveway.

Regulators say they are trying to prevent incidents such as a 2002 crash that killed two-year-old Cameron Gulbransen of New York when his father backed up his car and accidentally drove over the boy in the family driveway. Congress passed legislation in 2008 named after the boy to require the administration to draft new rules on rear-view visibility.

The Transportation Department proposal, which would begin to affect new cars built after September 2012, would expand the required field of view for all cars, pickup trucks, minivans and buses. Regulators said they believe car makers will install rear-mounted video cameras to meet the requirements.

Such technology currently boosts the price of a car by as much as $200. But administration officials said the added cost is justified because the technology could potentially halve the number of deaths and injuries each year attributed to "back over" crashes, currently at about 207 and 15,446, respectively. Such crashes disproportionately affect children and elderly people.

"There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement announcing the new rules.

Car makers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have already begun offering the technology in some models. Ford said Friday that nearly all models under the Ford and Lincoln brands would offer the technology by the end of next year.

The rule could cost the auto industry between $1.9 billion and $2.7 billion a year, according to regulators' estimates, unless auto makers can pass along the expense to consumers. But the industry is reluctant to vigorously oppose a proposal to prevent deadly accidents involving children.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry's main trade group, said it was reviewing the proposed rules. "Given that our top priority is keeping people—especially children—safe in and around autos, the Alliance looks forward to working with regulators to ensure that, in the end, we have enhancements that saves lives and improves safety," read a statement by the group, whose members include General Motors Co., Ford, Chrysler Group LLC and Toyota.

The rules would be phased in starting in 2012 and would apply to all cars manufactured after Sept. 1, 2014.

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Tata Motors' Nano Sales Plunge in November as Customers Lack Loan Options

Tata Motors Ltd.’s sales of Nano plunged 85 percent in November to 509 units, the lowest since the car’s debut last year, as customers faced difficulty in accessing loans to purchase the world’s cheapest car.

Tata Motors is hiring more sales people at dealerships and working with banks to help buyers get loans, the automaker said in an e-mail response to Bloomberg News today.

Chief Executive Officer Carl-Peter Forster said last month that that a lack of financing options available to buyers was causing a slump in Nano sales. Banks are reluctant to lend to many low-income customers on concern that they may default, while instances of some Nanos catching fire may have also deterred buyers, said Mahantesh Sabarad, a Mumbai-based analyst with Fortune Equity Brokers (India) Ltd.

“The product has had a difficult time in terms of its perception ever since those fire incidents came in,” Sabarad said. “A lot of people bought the car in the initial sales period for its novelty factor and didn’t go for loans.”

The automaker, also the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, increased the price of the Nano by 9,000 rupees ($198) in October, after raising as much as 4 percent in July. Sales of the car had begun at prices ranging from 123,360 rupees to 172,360 rupees in New Delhi.

“The profile of such customers who are desirous of the Tata Nano is that of a two-wheeler purchaser or those who do not own any personal mobility at all,” Ashmita Pillay, a corporate communications manager at Tata Motors, wrote in the e-mail. “Many of them do not know driving.”

Record Every Month

Demand for the Nano has declined since July’s dispatch of 9,000 cars while car sales in India, Asia’s second-fastest growing major economy, rose to a record every month since then through October.

Tata Motors sold more than 70,000 Nanos since deliveries began in July last year. The company selected the first 100,000 customers through a lottery from the 206,703 orders it got in the initial sales period in April the same year.

Total sales at Tata, also India’s biggest truckmaker, rose 1 percent to 54,622 vehicles in November, the company said in a statement today.

Tata Motors rose 4.2 percent to 1,286.75 rupees at the 3:30 p.m. close of trading in Mumbai today. The benchmark Sensitive Index of the Bombay Stock Exchange gained 1.7 percent.

Additional Protection

The company said last month it would retrofit Nano cars with additional protection in the exhaust and electrical systems after some of them caught fire earlier this year. Investigations concluded that the reasons for the fire were ‘specific’ to the cars involved in the incident, Tata said.

The automaker opened a new factory for the 624-CC Nano in the western Indian state of Gujarat in June. The plant with a capacity to build 250,000 cars a year is fully operational, Tata Motors said last month.

Tata Motors currently sells the car in 12 Indian states as it worked through the initial orders and ramped up production. The company had to abandon a near-complete factory in West Bengal in 2008 because of farmers’ protests over land acquisition.

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Fleets likely to drive early demand for electric cars

To Willy Morales, the little Leaf electric car sitting on the Nissan stand at this year’s Los Angeles auto show “looks like the future.”

It's “like the stuff I used to see on the Jetsons,” he said, referring to the futuristic cartoon series he loved to watch as a child.

But while Morales admits being impressed by the idea of never having to buy gasoline again, he’s far more concerned about the idea of running out of power one night with his kids in the back seat. And he isn’t alone. So-called “range anxiety” is unquestionably the biggest obstacle automakers like Nissan face as they begin to roll out a new generation of battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs.
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Still, initial consumer interest in the Nissan Leaf has been strong. And General Motors reports solid demand for the new Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid that soon will hits showrooms in select U.S. markets. But George Peterson, head of the consulting firm AutoPacific, fears this initial demand reflects “greenies and early adopters.”

“Once those buyers have gotten what they want, we don’t expect sales to remain very strong,” he said.

A recent study by J.D. Power and Associates suggests that even by 2020, hybrids, plug-ins and pure electric vehicles like Nissan’s Leaf will likely account for no more than 7.3 percent of the global automotive market.

But senior J.D. Power analyst Dave Sargent said the one thing that could help kick-start the nascent market for electric propulsion — short of “a dramatic and sustained increase in gasoline prices” — is demand from corporations for electric vehicles in their fleets.

That means customers like Jeff Immelt, chairman of General Electric, which operates one of the world’s largest motor vehicle fleets. Over the next several years GE plans to convert half its vehicle fleet to battery power, including 15,000 Chevy Volts and perhaps 15,000 electric vehicles from other makers.

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2011 Honda Fit Receives More Standard Features; VSA Added to All Models

Accommodating, versatile and fuel-efficient five-door now includes standard VSA, USB, cruise control and remote entry on all models

TORRANCE, Calif. – 11/29/2010 – The Honda Fit offers even more value for the 2011 model year in its already versatile, fun-to-drive and fuel-efficient five-door package.  New for 2011, all models include Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) as standard equipment, along with more comfort and convenience features.

New features on the 2011 Honda Fit (base model) include cruise control, remote entry, a USB audio interface and VSA.  The Fit Sport (non-navigation) also gains VSA for 2011, along with carpeted floor mats.  The Fit Sport with Navigation (previously equipped with VSA as standard equipment) receives carpeted floor mats as standard equipment.  Four new colors become available – Alabaster Silver Metallic, Polished Metal Metallic, Celestial Blue Metallic and Vortex Blue Pearl – and replace similar colors from the previous model year.

Compact on the outside yet spacious inside, 2011 Honda Fit stands apart from other entry-level vehicles with its multi-functional interior and emphasis on quality and refinement.  The exclusive 60/40 split rear Magic Seat® offers multiple seating and cargo-carrying configurations – tall object mode, long object mode and utility mode – in addition to the standard five-passenger mode.

The exterior design provides excellent outward visibility and contributes to the vehicle’s aggressive, sporty stance.  The 1.5-liter, i-VTEC® 4-cylinder engine is tuned to deliver a rewarding combination of power and fuel economy.  A five-speed manual transmission is standard and a five-speed automatic transmission is available.  Steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters on Fit Sport models equipped with the available automatic transmission allow for manual gear selection.

Compact on the outside with an overall length of 161.6 inches, the interior provides an impressive passenger volume of 90.8 cubic feet for its class and a rear cargo volume of 20.6 cubic feet.  The rear Magic Seat provides convenient one-motion dive-down functionality and can fold flat into the floor to create a rear cargo volume of 57.3 cubic feet.

Safety highlights include the Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure, standard VSA, anti-lock brakes and more.  Dual-stage, multiple-threshold front airbags, dual front-side airbags with passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS) and side-curtain airbags are standard equipment on all models.

The engine produces 117 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 106 lb-ft. of torque at 4,800 rpm.  2011 Honda Fit equipped with the available automatic transmission has an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 28/35/31 miles per gallon .   2011 Honda Fit Sport with the available automatic transmission has an EPA city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 27/33/30 miles per gallon¹.  All manual transmission-equipped models have an EPA city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 27/33/29 miles per gallon.¹

The front MacPherson strut suspension and torsion beam rear suspension settings are tuned to provide a sporty, refined and dynamic driving experience. Fifteen- and 16-inch wheels (Fit and Fit Sport, respectively) feature 175/65 R15 84S (Fit) and 185/55 R16 83H (Fit Sport) tires. The standard anti-lock braking system (ABS) with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) uses 10.3-inch ventilated discs in the front and 7.9-inch drums in the rear.

2011 Honda Fit comes with standard amenities such as air conditioning, cruise control, remote entry, an AM/FM/CD audio system with four speakers, USB audio interface², auxiliary audio input jack, MP3/WMA playback capability, Radio Data System (RDS), power windows, power mirrors and power door locks.  The Fit Sport adds or replaces: carpeted floor mats, alloy wheels, an underbody aero kit, rear roofline spoiler, fog lights and a security system.

2011 Honda Fit Sport audio system provides six speakers.  The Fit Sport is available with the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System™ with Voice Recognition³, featuring a 6.5-inch screen and more than seven million points of interest.

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Honda Sets All-Time October Record for Auto Production in Asia and China

Production in Japan for the month of October 2010 experienced a year-on-year decrease for the first time in ten months (since December 2009).

Production in regions outside of Japan experienced a year-on-year increase for the 12th consecutive month (since November 2009). This includes record production in Asia and China for the month of October.

Worldwide production experienced a year-on-year increase for the 11th consecutive month (since December 2009).

<Japan Domestic Market Sales>
Total Japan domestic market auto sales for the month of October 2010 experienced a year-on-year decrease for the second consecutive month (since September 2010).

New vehicle registrations experienced a year-on-year decrease for the second consecutive month (since September 2010).

Sales of mini-vehicles experienced a year-on-year decrease for the first time in seven months (since March 2010).

<Vehicle registrations - excluding mini-vehicles>
Fit was the industry’s second best-selling car among new vehicle registrations for the month of October 2010 with sales of 14,034 units. Freed was the industry’s fourth best-selling car with sales of 6,747 units. Step WGN was the industry’s ninth best-selling car with sales of 4,681 units.

<Mini-vehicles - under 660cc>
Zest was the industry’s tenth best-selling car in the mini-vehicle category for the month of October 2010, with sales of 2,118 units.

<Exports from Japan>
Total exports from Japan in October 2010 experienced a year-on-year decrease for the first time in eight months (since February 2010).

PRODUCTION, SALES and EXPORTS

Worldwide Production

		October		Year-to-Date Total (Jan. - Oct. 2010)
		Units	vs.'09	Units	vs.'09
	Japan	80,378	-0.8%	821,339	+22.7%
	Outside of Japan	225,028	+2.2%	2,216,532	+26.3%
Worldwide Total		305,406	+1.4%	3,037,871	+25.3%

Production Outside of Japan

		October		Year-to-Date Total (Jan. - Oct. 2010)
		Units	vs.'09	Units	vs.'09
	North America	111,015	+0.1%	1,090,988	+29.8%
	(USA)	84,189	+3.4%	804,693	+37.0%
	Europe	12,416	+12.0%	116,033	+109.7%
	Asia	87,770	+2.0%	879,493	+20.5%
	(China)	55,507	+4.4%	551,146	+14.7%
	Others	13,827	+15.0%	130,018	+0.2%
Overseas Total		225,028	+2.2%	2,216,532	+26.3%

Japan Domestic Market Sales

Vehicle type		October		Year-to-Date Total (Jan. - Oct. 2010)
		Units	vs.'09	Units	vs.'09
	Registrations	30,418	-30.0%	425,342	+17.4%
	Mini-Vehicles	7,327	-26.0%	138,562	+4.2%
Honda Brand Total		37,745	-29.2%	563,904	+13.9%

Export from Japan

		October		Year-to-Date Total (Jan. - Oct. 2010)
		Units	vs.'09	Units	vs.'09
	North America	15,308	+6.8%	160,604	+23.8%
	(USA)	15,116	+9.3%	150,489	+24.2%
	Europe	3,002	-0.9%	35,005	-37.8%
	Asia	879	-28.5%	11,826	+20.6%
	Others	3,473	-16.5%	39,358	+49.1%
Total		22,662	-0.4%	246,793	+11.1%

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Toyota trials winter weather tyre programme

Having the right tyres on your car when the weather turns treacherous provides more than just peace of mind, it makes a real contribution to road safety. With this in mind, Toyota has launched a trial winter weather tyre programme to help motorists be best prepared for the kind of Arctic conditions Britain has suffered over the past few years.

The pilot scheme is targeting owners of some of Toyota’s most popular models: Auris, Avensis and Corolla, plus the Dyna and Hiace light commercials. Two Toyota centres are handling fitting, Currie Motors in West London and Ron Brooks Toyota in the East Midlands.

The rubber compound used in winter weather tyres is specially formulated to maintain performance at low temperatures, ensuring braking and the operation of active safety systems, such as traction control, are not compromised. In some countries, such as Germany, they are a legal requirement during the winter months.

Steve Settle, Toyota Customer Services Director, said: “Safety is of prime importance and, following the severe winters we’ve experienced recently, there is a much greater awareness of the benefits of fitting winter weather tyres.

“We have launched our trial programme to give Toyota owners the chance to gain the right advice and professional assistance to fit appropriate tyres to their vehicle. Although this is a pilot scheme, we will be monitoring its progress closely and there is the potential for it to be expanded to other models and to centres in other regions in the future.”

Furthermore, all Toyota centres are currently offering a free winter vehicle check, which includes a safety report, checks on lights, wipers and tyre condition, screenwash and oil top-up and a visual assessment of brake condition. The offer is available until 31 December with the bonus of a free car care kit worth £35 on presentation of a voucher downloadable from Toyota’s customer web site at toyota.co.uk.

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Toyota Australia designers tap into Asia

TOYOTA’S Australian design house is negotiating another regional design job as it continues to tap into the world number-one car-maker’s products in the burgeoning Asian market.

Melbourne-based Toyota Style Australia has been meeting with company representatives from Thailand and Malaysia about the still-secret design task, which would follow a similar job of regional importance undertaken in recent months by the local design team of more than 20.

From top: Toyota Etios hatch, Toyota Etios sedan, Toyota Aurion.

Toyota Motor Thailand is emerging as an increasingly important production hub for Toyota, with the Japanese giant set to expand the number of models and export destinations for the Thai operation.

Among these models is a new low-cost car, thought to be a version of the Indian-built Etios sub-compact that is about to go on sale in India in December before being introduced into production in Thailand, China and Brazil.

TSA manager Paul Beranger told GoAuto at the recent Sydney motor show that his team was keeping busy on regional design tasks.

“We have some people coming down from Malaysia and Thailand soon to discuss a project for them,” he said.

Back in December, Mr Beranger revealed that TSA was working on regional product on behalf of Toyota Japan that would not even be sold in Australia.

TSA is the smallest of three design centres run by multi-national car companies in Australia. The others – GM Holden’s centre in Port Melbourne and Ford’s operation in Cambellfield – have been working on projects of global importance, including GM’s Cruze hatch and Ford’s T6 Ranger.

Much of TSA’s work involves advising head office on Australian design requirements for models sold here, with some local enhancement for cars produced at Toyota Australia’s Altona factory.

TSA stylists made a major contribution to the current Toyota Aurion, with TSA’s lead designer Nick Hogios working at the ‘home room’ for that car in Toyota’s Japanese studios.

However, the new-generation Aurion is exclusively the province of Toyota Japan due to its importance to major markets such as China.

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General Motors shares jump on Wall Street return

NEW YORK — General Motors stock began trading on Wall Street again Thursday, signaling the rebirth of an American corporate icon that collapsed into bankruptcy and was rescued with a $50 billion infusion from taxpayers.

The stock rose sharply in its first minutes of buying and selling, going for nearly $36 per share — almost $3 more than the price GM set for the initial public offering. The stock pulled back slightly by early afternoon and closed at $34.19. It had traded for less than a dollar when the old company filed for bankruptcy last year.

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, a crowd eight deep jostled around the company's trading post, adorned with its familiar blue-square logo with an underlined "GM." CEO Dan Akerson rang the opening bell as raucous cheers went up and the sound of a Chevrolet Camaro's revving engine echoed through the room.

The government hopes that the stock offering will be the first step toward ultimately breaking even on the bailout. For that to happen, the government needs to sell its remaining GM holdings for an average of roughly $50 a share over the next several years.

Ron Bloom, the Obama administration's senior adviser for the auto industry, refused to predict whether taxpayers would get all the money back.

"We're obviously eager to get the rest of it back as much as we can," he said Thursday.

The GM IPO could wind up as the largest in history. Earlier this week, GM raised the high end of its initial price range from $29 to $33 and increased the number of shares it was offering from 365 million to 478 million common shares because investor demand was so high. Counting preferred stock issued by the company, the deal's value could top $23 billion.

At midday, 264 million GM shares had been traded, more than half the number sold in the IPO.

Such volume is not unusual following a high-profile offering. It's a sign that big institutional investors such as mutual and hedge funds are taking profits and smaller investors who were shut out of the IPO are now buying, said David Whiston, an auto equity analyst with Morningstar Inc.

"Often the way the world is, the Wall Street institutions get in at the lower price and the Main Street investor gets in at the higher price," he said.

The increased selling price, though, means the market is judging the GM rescue as a success, Bloom said.

"Almost $20 billion in private capital voted that they wanted to be part of General Motors. So we do think this is a good day," he said.

In the initial offering, the government reduced its ownership stake from 61 percent to about 36 percent. The federal treasury sold 358 million shares of the resurrected GM — which is smaller, profitable and cleansed of most of its debt. If bankers exercise options to buy and resell more shares, the government will wind up selling more than 400 million shares, reducing the stake to 33 percent of GM.

"There's a lot of work to do, but today is the beginning of the new company," said Mark Reuss, GM's North American president.

The reduced government stake should help repair the company's image, which had been tarnished by accepting the bailout money, Akerson told reporters.

"They have taken their ownership down by roughly half," he said. "I would say that the average taxpayer in the United States would look at this particular transaction as very positive."

The stock offering is the latest in a series of head-spinning developments over the past two years for the American corporate icon.

In September 2008, to mark its 100th birthday, GM celebrated in the grand three-story atrium on the ground floor of its Detroit headquarters.

Two months later, then-CEO Rick Wagoner found himself in front of members of Congress, begging for money to keep GM alive. Four months after that, he was ousted by President Barack Obama.

By June 2009, GM had filed for bankruptcy. It emerged with 92 percent of its debt erased, but the company was mostly owned by the government and saddled with a damaging nickname: "Government Motors." The value of its old stock was wiped out, along with $27 billion in bond value.

Now GM is a publicly traded company again with the familiar stock symbol "GM." Obama on Wednesday said GM's IPO marks a major milestone not only in the turnaround of the company, but of the U.S. auto industry.

Most of the new stock will go to institutional investors, not to everyday investors, following a Wall Street system that rewards investment banks' big customers. GM set aside 5 percent of its new stock for employees, retirees and car dealers to buy at the offering price. The company has not revealed how many people took the offer.

Early Thursday, GM's main joint venture partner in China, SAIC Motor Corp., said it has bought a nearly 1 percent stake in GM, buying shares being offered in the IPO at a cost of nearly $500 million. SAIC, based in Shanghai and run by the state, said the share purchase is meant to enhance its cooperation with GM in China, the world's biggest auto market.

Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said there was high interest from sovereign wealth funds, which are pools of money from reserves of foreign governments. In the end, 90 percent or more of the shares were sold in North America, he said.

About $4 billion worth of shares went to smaller retail investors, the most of any IPO in history, Liddell said. But many retail investors are high net worth clients of Wall Street brokerage houses.

Hedge and mutual funds are now among the company's larger shareholders, GM said.

Senior Obama administration officials said Wednesday that the Treasury Department sought a balance between getting a return for taxpayers and exiting government ownership as soon as practical.

The government has agreed that it will not sell shares outside the IPO for six months after the sale. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they would assess their options for selling the government's stake further.

In the stock offering, the government made $11.8 billion by selling 358 million shares at $33 apiece. It stands to make $13.6 billion if bankers exercise options for 54 million more.

The government would still have about 500 million shares, a one-third stake. It would have to sell those shares over the next two to three years at about $53 a share for taxpayers to come out even.

The government's strategy in retaining shares is to wait for GM's finances to improve and push the stock price up the next couple of years.

The total bailout was $50 billion. GM has already paid or agreed to pay back $9.5 billion. That comes from cash and preferred stock held by the government.

Reuss said he knows there's pressure to keep performing well and boost the stock price.

"I can't control share prices," he said. "I'll just go right back to designing and building and selling the world's best vehicles. That's what we can control."

The GM debut comes when auto stocks are performing well generally. The stock of GM's crosstown rival, Ford, has risen steadily this year, from about $10 in January to about $16.50 as the GM IPO approached. The stock traded for a dollar in November 2008. Ford never took bailout money.

As for GM, whether bankruptcy fixed the company remains a question, but it is far healthier in its new form. The company closed 14 of its 47 plants, shuttered or sold its Hummer, Saturn, Saab and Pontiac brands, and slashed its debt from about $46 billion to about $8 billion.

Union retiree health care costs are now the United Auto Workers' responsibility, and a controversial jobs program that paid idled workers almost a full salary has been scaled back dramatically.

GM employs 209,000 people in the United States today, down from 324,000 in 2004. Before bankruptcy, GM lost about $4,000 per car. Now it makes about $2,000 each.

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BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics

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Nine 2011 Vehicles That Still Lack Stability Control

If you could check the box for a safety feature that's been shown to dramatically decrease the chances of an accident, you would, right?

That's the case with electronic stability control (ESC); it's been shown to reduce accidents, fatal crashes, and rollovers, and with economies of scale doesn't cost as much as you might think. NHTSA had estimated that its mandate for stability control to be standard by 2012 will cost an average of $111 per vehicle but save nearly 10,000 fatalities annually—along with, potentially, hundreds of thousands of injuries and accidents. Including related components, some automakers have placed the total cost of ESC to be $400 or more.

The idea behind electronic stability control is simple: the brakes are applied individually at one or more of the wheels to help restore a traction and/or a vehicle imbalance in an extreme maneuver—perhaps allowing you to avoid an accident.

But while stability control systems for some SUVs and luxury vehicles are already into their second or third generations of this technology, some of the least expensive models on the market still haven't received the lifesaving technology.

The need is especially dire for small cars because of their weight disadvantage in multiple-vehicle accidents.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), electronic stability control was standard on 85 percent of all vehicles for the 2010 model year—including 100 percent of SUVs but 88 percent of cars and just 62 percent of pickups.

Automakers have just over the past couple of years moved quickly to get stability control into compact pickups. The 2011 Chevrolet Colorado, 2011 GMC Canyon, and 2011 Ford Ranger all now come with it standard, and larger pickups have all come with it for several model years.

What remains for 2011—aside from a few wildcards like the four-cylinder Nissan Frontier and the Mazda RX-8—is a surprisingly long list of cheap, small cars that still don't get the feature, or don't have it standard.

A number of the smallest, least-expensive cars, including the 2011 Ford Fiesta, 2011 Toyota Yaris, 2011 Scion xB, 2011 Kia Soul and 2011 Mazda2, now include standard stability control, while a class up, vehicles such as the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Kia Forte, Hyundai Elantra, and Mitsubishi Lancer all have it standard.

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