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For most of the 20th century - the American century - General Motors was the car-manufacturing giant, the king of the most important industry in the world, and it led the way to a new breed of massive multinational corporations.

Chevrolet in its heyday was the bedrock of GM. It gave us cool cars such as the Camaro and the Corvette, which defined speed and luxury. From 1931 to 2008, GM was the world's largest carmaker before being topped by Toyota.

However, just on Monday, GM filed for protection under the bankruptcy law - becoming the largest industrial bankruptcy in US history. The company that had been the icon of the United States' economic might and the symbol of American innovation, motion and ascendancy is now humbled.

On the same day, President Barack Obama stepped up and announced what amounted to the nationalisation of the company. The US Treasury Department will provide GM with US$50 billion (Bt1.7 trillion) in financing and will receive about 70 per cent in equity of a structured, and a "new" - as in "New" York - GM. The president said such a move by the government was warranted, as it would give GM a chance to "rise again" and become a symbol of American innovation, resilience and success once more.

Bondholders and United Automobile Workers Union also made financial concessions in exchange for a certain percentage of equity in the new GM. When we see a concerted effort as unusual as this between two incompatible concerns, we know the depth of the problem GM found itself in.

The notion of being too large to fail no longer holds. GM's demise, to many, was unthinkable. GM CEO Rick Wagoner insisted just a few months ago, that bankruptcy was "not an option". He was forced out in April by the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, GM has been removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Index of the 30 largest US firms. Its stock, which traded as high as $87 back in 1999, stood at less than a dollar at the end of last month. There were jokes that if you had the actual stock certificates of GM, you could sell them on eBay for a lot more as a collector's item.

GM's bankruptcy will send a ripple effect through the industry's supply chains, and auxiliary businesses as well as job markets will be adversely affected. However, it is hoped that the restructuring and sale of bankruptcy assets will be effectively executed within three months so the pain is minimised. Already, there's a new upbeat commercial advertising GM, with its current CEO Fritz Henderson emphasising all the positive elements of this otherwise tragic tale.

Only time will tell if the GM Federal bailout is a magic wand or a poison pill that finishes off this very ill patient. However, it is understandable why the US government had to do what it did. Charles Erwin Wilson, a former GM CEO, during his Senate confirmation to become the secretary of defence under former president Dwight Eisenhower, stated that in his opinion "what is good for the country is good for General Motors, and vice versa". People can pull a Monday-night quarterbacking as much as they want, but given the state GM is in and the current global economic and financial downturn, government intervention was probably the best option possible.

In hindsight, GM's bankruptcy has been looming for several years. There were numerous stumbles that should have sent powerful warning signals to its executives to rectify the situation in order to prevent this spectacular fall. Unfortunately, it's either that they did not heed the signs or it's the company's dysfunctional corporate culture that favoured expediency over efficiency. This culture led to far too many missteps that GM took and prevented it from getting the reform it needed.When Alfred P Sloan Jr was GM's CEO between 1923 and 1946, he outlined the company's business focus on meeting consumers' demand. He wanted GM to make a car "for every purse and every purpose". Somehow, the company's focus on consumer demand and satisfaction got lost over the years, starting from 1960s. For the last two decades, GM has been making cars that fewer and fewer people want to buy. The company's market share in the US went from a peak at 51 per cent in 1962 before steadily declining to just 17.9 per cent in the North American market and 8.9 per cent in Europe this year.

One may contend that the current economic problems of the United States and the rest of the world should be blamed for GM's downfall. That may be partially true, but the real culprits are likely to be two factors: a rigid and outdated corporate culture that is unable to adapt to the rapidly changing car-market conditions and the inability of the management to deal effectively with its workers' union and the benefits issue. The last nail on the coffin for GM was the $4-a-gallon petrol price tag that sent GM gas-guzzlers to the junkyard.

Under the current bankruptcy plan, most shareholders are typically wiped out. The value of GM cars is likely to fall faster because dealers need to move the metal. But as Obama contended, the reward could be the emergence of a smaller, leaner and stronger company. Many critics would beg to disagree, but it is too early to foretell what will transpire.

In a symbolic way, the demise of GM reflects the decline of the American economic might and epitomises all that is wrong with its corporate culture and modes of production. A retooled and restructured GM may be able to produce a new Chevrolet that the market wants. After all, change has always been what America is about.

When all is said and done, the story of GM is a cautionary tale of the fin de siècle, and perhaps the dawn of a new one, not only for the company itself, but for the US and its economic domination.

Meanwhile, as Don McLean sang about the decline of music after the deaths in 1959 of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson:

Bye-bye Miss American Pie,

Drove my Chevy to the levee

But the levee was dry,

And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

Singin' 'This'll be the day that I die…