For an icon of America, a sudden reversal

It transformed Detroit into a symbol of the industrial prowess of the United States. It built iconic cars, like Cadillacs, that became synonymous with luxury.

And now it is filing for bankruptcy protection, something that would have been unfathomable even a few months ago, much less decades ago, when it was a dominant force in the US economy.

Rarely has a company fallen so far and so fast as General Motors.

"I never ever could have believed that one day this thing would go that way," said Jim Wangers, a retired GM executive who was part of the team that developed the Pontiac GTO and the author of "Glory Days," about Pontiac's heyday in the muscle-car era of the 1960s. "We were so successful."

Founded in 1908, GM ruled the car industry for more than half a century, promising "a car for every purse and purpose."

The expression "What's good for General Motors is good for the country" entered the lexicon, even though it was a slight misquote of Charles E. Wilson, GM's president in the early 1950s.

But then GM began a long and slow process of undermining itself. Its strengths, like the rigid structure that provided discipline early on, became weaknesses, and it lost its ability for reading the market it helped create, as Japanese automakers lured away even its most loyal buyers.

Only eight months ago, Rick Wagoner, then its chief executive, stood before employees to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary. "We're a company that's ready to lead for 100 years to come," Wagoner said.

Instead of leading, GM will be following other failed companies on a well-worn path into bankruptcy court.

GM factories sprang up all around the country, from Massachusetts to California, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. They churned out family cars, pickup trucks, and memorable muscle cars that were rolling displays of American DNA.

A GM plant was a ticket to prosperity for the communities lucky enough to land one. GM put Spring Hill, Tenn., on the map when it picked the town outside Nashville for its Saturn plant in 1985.

Now city officials around the country, including those in Spring Hill, nervously await phone calls to tell them if their plants will be among the 14 GM is expected to close.

But even after its deep cuts, GM can still claim it’s the country's largest automaker.

For GM, that simple fact - its sheer size - was long used as a trump card to end debates. If the critics were so right about all that was wrong with GM, why did so many people buy its cars?

The company did have vast numbers of loyal buyers, but GM lost them through a series of strategic and cultural missteps starting in the 1960s.

It bungled efforts in the 1980s to cut costs by sharing the underpinnings of its cars across different brands, blurring their distinctiveness.

GM gave in to union demands in 1990 and created the Jobs Bank, paying workers even when plants were not running, forcing it to build cars and trucks it could not sell without big incentives.

Its finance staff wrestled with product developers and marketers, causing GM to fall victim to a practice called "launch and leave" - putting vehicles on the market, then failing to support them with advertising. When they didn't sell, the finance staff would push to abandon them as just another failed effort, including the EV1 electric vehicle.

Now GM's brand lineup is being halved, with the company deciding to jettison divisions like Pontiac.

"Nobody gave any respect to this thing called image, because it wasn't in the business plan," said Wangers. "It was all about, 'when is this going to earn a profit?' "