General Motors has just reported their largest profit ever at $7.6 billion. This is two years after the company received a financial bail-out from the federal government and emerged from bankruptcy. At 103 years old, General Motors became leaner under new management and has been cutting costs.

The three Detroit automaker companies have announced strong sales in the past year, especially due to increased consumption in December. GM posted a 4.5% gain in December, which gave them a 13% rise in sales for the year. Ford posted the best December sales in five years, which led to an 11% sales gain for the year. Chrysler posted the largest gain as December sales rose 37% and full year sales rose 26%. If these increases in market share hold up against Toyota, then it would be the first time since 1988 that all three Detroit companies posted market share gains at the same time. [CNN]

General Motors Company is recalling 4,783 of the current year Chevrolet Sonic subcompact cars in the U.S. and Canada over possible missing front brake pads. GM said that they do not know of any crashes or injuries due to the issue. Between 20 and 30 of the recalled cars were sold without one of their brake pads. Of the total recalled cars, 4,296 were sold to U.S. customers and 577 to Canadians. The issue was discovered during a warranty service on a rental Sonic. Customers that are eligible for the recall will be informed by mid-January. [MSNBC]

General Motors subsidiary OnStar has helped find about 58,000 stolen GM vehicles so far, but this past week they helped save a Chrysler 300. The standalone OnStar FMV system went for sale for non-GM cars this past year. Jean Franklin of Gresham, Oregon bought a 2006 Chrysler 300 on December 16th. Her car was stolen two days after. She reported the theft to the police and the OnStar device was activated shortly after. About an hour later, the thief was caught. [Jalopnik]

General Motors is planning on building at least 60,000 Volt cars in 2012. GM CEO and Chairman Dan Akerson said that the manufacturing cost will be coming down as their full-scale production will start to ramp up. GM is currently playing catch-up to the Nissan LEAF vehicle, which has about 20,000 buyers already and is planning to build 250,000 electric-vehicles by 2016. GM believes that 10% of their sales will be from alternative fuel technologies in 2020. When GM starts to sell the Holden Volt next year, it will cost $50,000-$60,000. In related news, GM is currently in the midst of having the Volt battery redesigned as the result of a recall.

General Motors is recalling about 20,000 Cadillac SRX crossover vehicles in China and the U.S. because of transmission defects. General Motors’ Chinese joint venture Shanghai GM is recalling 9,862 of the SRX in China. GM is recalling 8,789 of the SRX in the U.S. The vehicles that were recalled are from between 2010 and 2011. The vehicles were built at GM’s Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico.

“We have reviewed Saab’s proposed changes regarding the sale of the company. Nothing in the proposal changes GM’s position. We are unable to support the transaction,” stated General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) spokesman Jim Cain. Earlier today GM said that they do not support a proposed deal of its former Swedish unit Saab to be sold to a Chinese consortium of companies. What this might mean is that the Saab brand may be faded out completely.

Last month, Pulse2.com wrote about how General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) was being investigated by the government after lithium ion batteries caught on fire in the Chevrolet Volt. GM offered loaner vehicles to Chevrolet Volt owners while the investigation took place. Now GM is saying that European deliveries of Open-branded Volts (Ampera) will be delayed pending the investigation.