Less than three years after emerging from a humiliating bankruptcy, General Motors (GM) has reported a record $7.6-billion profit for 2011, the largest annual profit in the US auto giant's 103-year-history.

After again regaining the title of the ''world's largest automaker'' in 2011, GM reported earnings  of more than $2 billion in each of the three previous quarters and a total of $7.6-billion for 2011 - up from the $4.6 billion it earned in 2010.

It said overall global sales volume rose 7.6 per cent to 9 million for the year, while revenue rose 10.8 per cent to $150.8 billion. Although sales are still below pre-recession levels, GM's 2011 earning results beat its previous record of $6.7 billion in 1997.

GM, headed by CEO Dan Akerson, showed the results of the changes made during the bankruptcy process, when the Detroit-based auto maker was forced to close plants, shed weaker brands and reduce the number of dealers, which allowed the company to become leaner, nimble and more profitable than its hey-days.

Nearly all of its 2011 profit came from North America, where GM earned $7.2 billion, while it lost $747 million in Europe, of which, $562 million was lost during the fourth quarter alone, as economic conditions in Europe worsened.

''In our first full year as a public company, we grew the top and bottom lines, advanced our global market share and made strategic investments in our brands around the world,'' said Akerson.

''We will build on these results as we bring more new cars, crossovers and trucks to market, and make GM a far more efficient global team.  This includes reducing our break-even level in Europe and South America and driving higher revenues around the world.''

GM said that it would continue with its restructuring plan for Europe, where it has been losing money every year for more than a decade and move ''rapidly and decisively'' to reduce its break-even point in Europe and not simply wait for the economy to improve.

The car maker had cut costs by $500 million during the fourth quarter from advertising, engineering and economies of scale from global operations and said that it will reinvest in new products and technologies. GM will increase capital expenditures to $8 billion this year from $6.2 billion last year.

GM will pay profit-sharing bonuses of as much as $7,000 to $47,500 to union members under a pact negotiated last year. 

The US government got most of the proceeds from GM's record initial public offering in November 2010, but it still holds about a third of the company's shares, which are trading $33 below its IPO price.

GM was the world's largest automaker for 77 consecutive years from 1931 through 2007 before Toyota surpassed it in 2008. The automaker was bleeding about $100 billion in the years before its 2009 bankruptcy, which saw it being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and temporarily removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

It received $49.5 billion aid from the US government and has since repaid $24.1 billion, which includes proceeds from its IPO.