In the largest industrial bankruptcy ever seen in U.S. history, General Motors Corp., the top U.S. automaker and once the world's largest corporation, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday.

The Detroit-based company, for decades a symbol of American manufacturing supremacy, corporate culture and even lifestyle, filed a Chapter 11 petition to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York early Monday morning.

The collapse of the century-old auto giant came at a time when the United States is experiencing the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.

GM court filing will not affect its overseas operations, including the GM joint venture in China, which said in an overnight statement to Xinhua that the impact "will be minimal to our China business including our operations and sales."