General Motors: 10 Milestones on the Road to Bankruptcy

1989: The acquisition of Saab eventually cost GM $3 billion and never earned a penny. GM has always had a reputation for being a company run by a powerful bureaucracy. But in the case of Saab, GM's management failed to come up with a convincing rationale for buying the tiny Swedish automaker. It also failed to come up with an effective plan to make Saab profitable. Instead, Saab wound up bumping into GM's new Saturn brand — and also Cadillac, which was unable to grow into a global brand with broad appeal. GM, however, hung on to Saab until the very end of 2008 when it faced bankruptcy. Saab's own future is now very much in doubt.

See pictures of the Mini's long life.