DETROIT (Michigan) - A NEW General Motors emerged from bankruptcy on Friday under a government-backed plan to rescue the troubled US auto giant, the company announced.

The automaker transferred its main assets to a new government-supported car company, under a plan financed by the administration of President Barack Obama and the Canadian government.

Under the plan, the US government will own about 61 per cent of the new auto company, while the Canadian government and a United Auto Workers union health care trust and bondholders will own the rest.

The fast-track plan, similar to the one used to rescue Chrysler, creates a new auto company that will acquire the main producing assets of the automaker, while the old GM will remain under bankruptcy court supervision.

'Today marks a new beginning for General Motors, one that will allow every employee, including me, to get back to the business of designing, building and selling great cars and trucks and serving the needs of our customers,' said Mr Fritz Henderson, GM president and chief executive.

The 'new GM' will be a leaner, smaller company after having shed tens of thousands of workers, eliminated or sold storied brands, shuttered scores of factories and rewritten its labor contracts to slash costs.

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.

'One thing we have learned from the last 100 days is that GM can move quickly and decisively,' said Mr Henderson.

'Today, we take the intensity, decisiveness and speed of the past several months and transfer it from the triage of the bankruptcy process to the creation and operation of a new General Motors.' -- AFP