DETROIT (AFP) Once the biggest corporation in the world, steady growth overseas was unable to rescue General Motors from spiralling losses in the United States.

Founded in 1908, GM sold more vehicles than any other automaker from 1931 until 2008, when it was overtaken by Japan's Toyota.

The largest of the Detroit Three automakers, GM has seen its US market share fall from a peak of 54 percent in the 1954 to just 22 percent in 2008.

It nonetheless sold a whopping 8.35 million vehicles in 2008 despite a collapse in global auto sales amid a credit crunch and widening economic downturn.

GM last made a profit in 2004, earning 2.8 billion dollars, and has been operating under ever-deepening restructuring plans ever since. It lost nearly 88 billion dollars from 2005 through the first quarter of 2009.

Global employment levels reached more than 850,000 in 1978, of which more than 600,000 were in the United States, making GM the nation's largest private employer.

By 2005 it had already shrunk to 335,000 people and further cuts this year will bring it below 200,000 worldwide.

GM's unionized workforce has taken the most dramatic hit. GM employed 440,000 hourly workers in the United States in 1981.

By 2000, that had dropped to 133,000 and the automaker ended 2008 with just 62,000.

The latest restructuring plan calls for the unionized workforce to shrink to 38,000 by 2011: less than a tenth of what it was two decades earlier.

Once studied in business schools for the success of its brands, which operated as separate divisions aimed to satisfy different segments of the market, GM is shedding most of its marks -- including Sweden's Saab, Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn. It will concentrate on Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and GMC.

The latest restructuring plan will shrink GM's US dealer network by 40 percent and will cut its US plants from 47 to 31.

GM workers across Europe (2008)

-- Germany: 25,000 employees at four main sites producing Opel brands such as the Astra, Corsa and Vectra. A major research and development centre is also located in Germany.

-- Spain: 7,000 employees in Barcelona and Zaragoza.

-- Britain: 4,700 employees at Vauxhall, mainly at Ellesmere Port and Luton.

-- Sweden: 4,000 employees at Saab.

-- Poland: 3,500 employees at an Opel plant at Gliwice.

-- Belgium: 2,500 employees producing Astras in Antwerp.

-- Italy: 1,800 employees.

-- Austria: 1,600 employees.

-- France: 1,500 employees.