DETROIT --- In his 43 years as a General Motors Corp. factory worker, Roger Ezell has seen recessions, gasoline price spikes, sales slumps and multibillion dollar losses.
Each time, he says, the giant automaker has survived to make billions in later years.
But as GM celebrated its 100th anniversary Tuesday, the company, once the nation's largest employer, faces a crisis like no other in its history.
GM has lost $57.5 billion in the past 18 months, including $15.5 billion in the second quarter. It's burning more than $1 billion a month in cash, has more than $32 billion in long-term debt, and a slumping U.S. market has forced it to close factories and shed workers.
In July, it suspended its dividend for the first time in 86 years, and the company has been in perpetual restructuring since at least 2002.
"We've seen them down further than what they are, and they got back up," said Mr. Ezell, 63, who passed up several early retirement offers to keep working at a factory near Pontiac that makes the Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6 midsize sedans. "I believe in GM. There's no doubt in my mind."
Yet industry analysts wonder whether GM can make it if consumers continue to shun trucks and sport utility vehicles for small, fuel-efficient cars.
One analyst even mentioned bankruptcy protection for the company that developed the first fully automatic transmission, the first V-8 engine, the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle and even the first mechanical heart-lung machine.
For all its warts, GM can point to progress, especially on the expense side of the ledger. A historic contract reached last year with the United Auto Workers will save the company about $3 billion per year, mainly by shifting $46.7 billion in retiree health care expenses from GM's books to a UAW-administered trust in 2010. But the company has to sink more than $33 billion into the trust.
GM also has trimmed its U.S. work force and closed factories. In 2006 it had 113,000 U.S. hourly employees, but that is now down to about 55,000. Its U.S. salaried work force dropped from 44,000 in 2000 to about 32,000 last year.
While it's shrinking in North America, GM's global sales are up 19 percent in the past decade with increases in emerging markets such as China, Russia, India and Brazil.
"We've got a very, very good business model now," Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said in a recent interview. "We've driven a lot of efficiency and productivity into our North American operations. We've brought down our break-even points."
Critics say GM, since Rick Wagoner became CEO in 2000, hasn't adjusted quickly enough to its dwindling U.S. market share, which has fallen to about 23 percent this year from a peak of nearly 51 percent in 1962.
GM's roots date to Sept. 16, 1908, when Billy Durant started the company with the Buick nameplate. Oldsmobile was added the same year, with Cadillac, GMC and what is now Pontiac in 1909. Durant started Chevrolet in 1911, and Saturn, Hummer and Saab were added as the company grew.
Although it shed Oldsmobile after the 2004 model year, GM still has too many brands and models that overlap, aid analyst Kevin Tynan of New York-based Argus Research Corp.
Mr. Tynan suggests paring the company back to Chevrolet as a mainstream brand, GMC for trucks, Cadillac for luxury buyers -- and getting rid of the rest.
"What you'd have is radically different General Motors than we've known in these past 100 years," he said. "There's definitely buyers for your product globally, domestically," Mr. Tynan said. "Why can't we just build fewer and be profitable on all of it?"
TOP 10
General Motors Corp. has sold nearly a half-billion vehicles around the globe. The top sellers:
1. Chevrolet Impala, 14 million-plus
2. Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, 12 million-plus
3. Opel/Vauxhall Astra/Kadett, 12 million-plus
4. Oldsmobile Cutlass, 11.9 million
5. Opel/Vauxhall Vectra, 6.5 million
6. Chevrolet Cavalier, 6.2 million
7. Buick LeSabre, 6 million
8. Chevrolet Camaro, 4.8 million
9. Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Vectra, 4.4 million
10. Pontiac Grand Am, 4 million
Source: General Motors Corp.
TIMELINE
SEPT. 16, 1908: General Motors Co. is founded by William C. Durant.
1909: GM sells 25,000 cars and trucks.
1910: Mr. Durant brings the Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Cadillac, Champion ignition, AC spark plug and other companies into GM. Sales rise 60 percent, but earnings lag. Durant is ousted by bankers as company sinks into debt.
1911: Electric self-starter first appears on a Cadillac.
1916: GM incorporated as General Motors Corp. Durant, after founding company that builds Chevrolets, regains control.
1917-19: GM shifts most truck production to war effort.
1920: Durant resigns, later files personal bankruptcy and dies running bowling alleys.
1920S: GM creates product policy aiming Buick, Pontiac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Cadillac at five different groups of buyers.
1921: GM accounts for 12 percent of U.S. car market.
1923: Alfred P. Sloan named president and chief executive.
1925: GM acquires Vauxhall Motors Ltd. of Great Britain.
1929: GM acquires Adam Opel AG of Germany.
1937: Violent sit-down strikes by GM hourly workers in Flint, Mich., shake the company and lead to United Auto Workers representation.
1941: GM market share grows to 41 percent.
1942: Civilian auto production halted and plants turned to war effort.
1945-46: Workers strike for 113 days.
1948: First automobile tail fins appear, on the Cadillac.
1949: After purchase of National City Lines of Los Angeles, GM is accused of buying streetcar companies since 1920s and replacing them with bus systems. GM is convicted just once, of conspiracy in the case.
1953: Air conditioning first offered, on a Cadillac.
1954: GM's U.S. market share reaches 54 percent. Company makes 50 millionth car.
1955: GM introduces Chevrolet V-8 engine.
1956: Sloan retires as chairman.
1960: Reacting to invasion of small European cars, GM introduces Chevrolet Corvair. Car later is attacked by Ralph Nader, who wrote book Unsafe at Any Speed, which leads to congressional auto safety hearings.
1964: Pontiac introduces the GTO, credited as the first of the muscle cars.
1966: Oldsmobile introduces the Toronado, the first modern front-wheel-drive U.S. car.
1979: GM's U.S. employment peaks at 618,365, making it the largest private employer in the country. Worldwide employment is 853,000. Decade features sales decline, recession, Arab oil embargo and gains by Japanese automakers.
1980: Roger B. Smith named chairman. GM loses more than $750 million as car and truck sales plunge 26 percent.
1981: GM consolidates truck, bus and van operations. Auto workers bash Japanese cars with sledge hammers. Company earns $333.4 million on $62.7 billion in revenue.
1983: GM and Toyota Motor Corp. form joint venture to build cars at a GM-owned plant in Fremont, Calif. Smith announces Saturn project to fight Japanese cars. GM makes $3.7 billion.
1984: GM overhauls North American organization; acquires Electronic Data Systems Corp., owned by Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, for $2.5 billion. Earnings rise to $4.5 billion on revenue of $84.9 billion.
1985: Company forms new Saturn Corp. subsidiary. GM acquires Hughes Aircraft Co. for $5 billion. GM makes $4 billion.
1986: GM announces plans to close 11 U.S. plants. Employment grows to 877,000 as earnings fall to $3.9 billion. After infighting, Mr. Perot resigns from board and gets $700 million in severance.
1987: GM and UAW reach contract prohibiting closure of a plant unless its product sales fall. Earnings rise to $3.6 billion.
1988: Earnings rise to $4.6 billion and revenue hits $123.6 billion. Employment drops to 766,000.
1989: Complying with federal regulations, GM equips 15 percent of fleet with driver's air bags, blames devices for boosting car prices. Profits fall to $4.2 billion.
1990: GM and Saab-Scania AB of Sweden form joint venture to make cars in Europe. Smith retires as chairman, succeeded by President Robert Stempel. GM launches Saturn, takes $2.1 billion charge for four plant closings, and profits fall to $102 million as auto sales plummet.
1991: Company loses industry record $4.45 billion. Mr. Stempel announces GM will close 21 plants over the next few years and eliminate 9,000 salaried and 15,000 hourly jobs in 1992, in addition to layoffs at shuttered plants.
1992: Board strips some of Mr. Stempel's authority. He later resigns, saying rumors about his future compromised his ability to lead. Jack Smith gets title of chief executive officer and outside director John Smale is named chairman.
1996: GM spins off Electronic Data Systems as a separate company.
1997: GM sells defense electronics business of Hughes Electronics to Raytheon and merges Hughes' auto parts business with Delphi Automotive Systems (now Delphi Corp.).
1998: Strikes at two Michigan parts plants shut down most North American production.
1999: Delphi is spun off as a separate company. GM purchases rights to the Hummer brand from AM General.
2000: President Rick Wagoner replaces Smith as CEO. GM cuts 10 percent of white-collar employment.
2002: GM spends $251 million on 42 percent stake in South Korea's bankrupt Daewoo Motor and names it GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. Stake later increased to 51 percent.
2003: GM sells defense unit to General Dynamics Corp. for $1.1 billion and sells 20 percent stake in Hughes Electronics to News Corp. for $3.1 billion.
2004: Last model year for Oldsmobile.
2006: About 47,600 GM and Delphi hourly workers take buyout or early retirement. GM investor Kirk Kerkorian suggests alliance with Nissan and Renault, which GM's board rejects; Mr. Kerkorian sells much of his stake. GM sells 51 percent stake in GMAC Financial Services to group led by Cerberus Capital Management for $14 billion.
2007: GM loses $38.7 billion, including $39 billion third-quarter charge for unused tax credits. It's the largest annual loss in auto industry history. GM reaches historic contract with United Auto Workers that shifts billions in retiree health care expenses to union-administered trust. Company agrees to pay $33.7 billion into trust. Contract also lets company to pay some new hires $14 per hour. U.S. market share is 23.7 percent. GM sells Allison Transmission to The Carlyle Group and Onex Corp. for $5.6 billion.
2008: Gas prices hit $4 per gallon and truck sales plummet. GM announces plan to close four pickup and sport utility vehicle factories, plans to shed 8,350 jobs. GM announces new small car, plans for $15 billion in savings, with $10 billion in cost-cutting and $5 billion from asset sales and borrowing. Hummer brand put up for sale. Worldwide employment stands at about 266,000.
Sources: Associated Press, Hoover's, General Motors Corp.
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