The company wants to apply MTV’s research and programming strategy to Chevrolet, which makes up 70% of G.M.’s U.S. sales.  The partnership is intended to transform things like the look of Chevrolet cars, the dealership structure, the dashboard technology, and the test drive.  Mark L. Reuss, president of General Motors North America, said, “It was the early days after bankruptcy, and we said, ‘What are we really going to do differently in the next five or 10 years?’”

Social media options like Facebook and Twitter allow teenagers and 20-somethings to make connections without wheels and high gas prices and environmental concerns are not encouraging them to desire private vehicles.  In a survey of 3,000 consumers born from 1981 to 2000, not one car brand ranked in the top 10.  Mr. Martin said, “They think of a car as a giant bummer.  Think about your dashboard.  It’s filled with nothing but bad news.”

Car cultures still endure in suburban and rural areas, but vehicles are losing popularity with younger people.  According to the Federal Highway Administration, 46.3% of potential drivers 19 years old and younger had drivers’ licenses in 2008, compared with 64% in 1998.  Drivers ages 21 to 30 drove 12% fewer miles in 2009 compared to 1995.

Cars used to stand at the center of youth culture and wheels provided the ultimate access to freedom and independence.  Gone are the days of the drive-in movie theater, cherry red Camaros, and Volkswagen Beetles splashed with bumper stickers and peace signs.  According to the research firm Gartner, today’s drivers aged 18 to 24 said they would choose Internet access over owning a car at a rate of 46%.

GM benefited from having its sales rise and having its vehicles command higher prices.  The annual profit figures were higher than GM’s previous record of $6.7 billion, earned in 1997.  Revenue increased 11% to $150.3 billion.  Nearly all of GM’s profits for the year came from North America.  GM reportedly earned $7.2 billion in North America for 2011, a 26% percent increase over the previous year.

GM’s chief executive, Daniel F. Akerson, said that the year was “another step in the right direction” but expressed disappointment in the company’s performance in Europe.  In a conference call with analysts and reporters, Mr. Akerson said, “Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do in some areas and we’re taking the necessary corrective actions to get the ball over the goal line.”

Losses in the company’s European division depressed its fourth-quarter earnings.  The company lost $747 million in Europe in 2011, with $562 million of the losses occurring during the fourth quarter.  GM’s chief financial officer, Daniel Ammann, said, “GME has to become profitable even in a challenging economic environment.  Just like in the United States a couple years ago, we will need to show improvement in both revenue and cost to be successful.”  He declined to reveal what specific actions GM would take.

GM earned $0.39 a share in the fourth quarter, excluding one-time items like debt reduction and an investment in Ally Financial, its former financing arm.  The company cleared much of its debt in bankruptcy two years ago.  The figure was below analysts’ expectations of $0.41 a share.  The fourth quarter was the eighth consecutive quarter of profits for the automaker.

During 2011, G.M.’s sales grew in every region of the world.  The company sold 9,025,942 vehicles last year, an increase of 7.6% over its 2010 figures.  Volkswagen, G.M.’s closest competitor, saw a sales increase of 14% to 8,156,000 vehicles.  Toyota fell to third place with an estimated 6% decrease to around 7,900,000 vehicles.

G.M. held the title of world’s largest automaker for more than 70 years before Toyota claimed it in 2008.  Toyota’s sales have been hampered by major natural disasters that interrupted the company’s supply chains and manufacturing bases.  Toyota has only been recently able to return production to normal levels.

The executives at G.M. have been careful to avoid publicly celebrating amid Toyota’s struggles.  G.M.’s chief executive, Daniel F. Akerson, said in an interview last year, “I want to win in the marketplace, but I want to win against a healthy and vibrant Toyota and Honda.  Next year, we’ll put the gloves back on, and I’m sure they’ll go right back at us and we’ll go back at them.”  The company’s global sales figures were buried deep at the bottom of an announcement about its Chevrolet brand.  The company sold a record 4.76 million Chevrolet cars and trucks last year.

Mr. Akerson said G.M. was focusing on increasing profits and margins, but acknowledged that rising sales are a positive indicator of the progress of the company.  He said, “We’re not going to achieve the financial goals that we want to achieve and have declining market share or declining numbers of units sold.  What’s most important for our owners, our shareholders, is that we produce margins and profits and cash flow.”

General Motors does not believe the Volt poses any greater risk to drivers than a conventional automobile, having spent almost 300,000 hours testing the car to ensure it is safe.  General Motors and NHTSA both crashed a Volt and could not replicate the fire.  The NHTSA also sent a team of investigators to North Carolina to probe a fire in a residential garage where a Volt was charging, with that investigation still pending.  LG Chem Ltd., South Korea’s biggest chemical maker, supplies Volt batteries.

General Motors and other car manufacturers have engineered electric vehicles using lithium batteries to withstand serious accidents because the element lithium is flammable.  Lithium batteries could catch on fire if the battery case and some of the internal cells that store electricity are pierced by steel or another ferrous metal, which could cause a chemical reaction that raises the temperature.  Sandy Munro, president of Munro and Associates, said in a phone interview, “Lithium burns really hot.  But it doesn’t happen often. You have to do something pretty dramatic to make it catch fire.”

Greg Martin, a spokesman for General Motors, said that there are safety procedures for handling the Volt and its battery after an accident and had those procedures been followed, there would not have been a fire.  “There are safety protocols for conventional cars,” Martin said. “As we develop new technology, we need to ensure that safety protocols match the technology.”

The NHTSA gave the Volt its top crash-test safety rating this year, following a “good” rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in April.  NHTSA said in an e-mailed statement, “As manufacturers continue to develop vehicles of any kind — electric, gasoline, or diesel — it is critical that they take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of drivers and first responders both during and after a crash.  Based on the available data, NHTSA does not believe the Volt or other electric vehicles are at a greater risk of fire than gasoline-powered vehicles. In fact, all vehicles — both electric and gasoline-powered — have some risk of fire in the event of a serious crash.”

The new contract was the first one approved by the union, which is also negotiating with Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Group.  The contract sets guidelines for the pay and benefits of more than 112,000 auto workers across the nation and influences pay at foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., auto parts supply companies, and other businesses in the manufacturing industry.

Under the deal, most workers will get $5,000 signing bonuses, profit-sharing checks, and other payments that total $11,500 or more during the next four years.  The contract also compensates workers for meeting quality standards.  At least 5,100 new jobs are expected to be added by the company and entry-level workers who make a base wage of around $15.78 per hour will get raises of 22%.

Benefits for the company are included in the deal as well.  The contract calls for lowering labor costs to one-third of 2007 levels and will hold pension costs flat for the first time in nearly 60 years.  The automaker will save millions in future years because the deal allows the company to stop paying for factory workers’ legal services.  General Motors will also have a chance to retire older workers and replace them with new hires that cost less.

The pressure is on Ford and Chrysler to reach agreements with the union now.  Optimism is high at Ford that a deal will be reached by the end of the week and negotiations with Chrysler are continuing to make progress, according to spokesmen knowledgeable of the proceedings.