General Motors completed a major step in its turnaround on Friday and closed the sale of its good assets to a new, government-backed carmaker, at a speed unimagined by auto and bankruptcy experts even six months ago.

GM’s sale of its desirable assets, including brands like Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC, to the new company — now named Vehicle Acquisition Company but soon to be renamed the General Motors Company — is meant to shed decades of buckling

liabilities.

The federal government will hold nearly 61 per cent of the new company, with the Canadian government, a health care trust for the United Auto Workers union and bondholders owning the balance.

The new company will be much smaller, with brands like Saturn, Hummer, Opel and Pontiac in the process of being sold or closed. It will have a smaller sales network, with thousands of dealers having been cut during the reorganisation.

Muscle Car to the Rescue

DETROIT: Believe it or not, GM has a hit car on its hands. GM’s new Chevrolet Camaro muscle car is winning over consumers looking for a little excitement in a bland landscape of look-alike sedans and watered-down sport utilities. And with GM emerging as a newly constituted company, the Camaro will play a starring role in the company’s coming-out party and news conference at GM’s Detroit headquarters.