Far from being a celebration, General Motors' 100th year in business is turning out to be one of the most wrenching in its long history. The Detroit-based company lost its spot as the world's biggest carmaker Toyotalast month, after hanging on to it by the narrowest of margins last year. It also faces the massive task of shifting its focus from the big sports-utility vehicles and pick-up trucks that have dominated its North American product line-up - and its profits - for the past 15 years. Instead, as Rick Wagoner, chief executive, made clear at yesterday's annual meeting, GM's future lies in smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles and in fast-growing emerging economies, notably China, Russia, India and Brazil. In the US, soaring petrol prices, which reached a record $3.98 a gallon on Tuesday, "are changing consumer behaviour, and rapidly", Mr Wagoner said. GM announced plans yesterday to shut four SUV and pick-up truck plants in the US, Canada and Mexico. The closures will shrink North American capacity from 4.2m to 3.7m vehicles a year. In an especially telling sign of the times, the carmaker is considering selling Hummer, the epitome of the gas-guzzler era, as part of a top-to-toe review of the brand. "Certainly, people will look at it," said one London investment banker, "but there would be caution given the trends in large vehicles at the moment." Other analysts said the carmaker could downsize future Hummer models, keeping their brawny styling but delivering greater fuel efficiency. At the other end of the spectrum, GM unveiled plans yesterday to develop a Chevrolet compact car in the US, marking the first application on its home turf of the global small-car platform already used for models in Europe and South Korea. Production is due to start in mid-2010. The board has approved production funding for the Chevy Volt, GM's muchheralded plug-in electric car. It said the production version of the Volt would be unveiled soon and was likely to be on sale by 2010. As a result of the production cutbacks, the proportion of cars in GM's North American output is expected to grow from 50 to 60 per cent within the next three years. Eighteen of its next 19 US vehicle launches will be cars and crossover vehicles, which look like SUVs but are built on car platforms. Even as it cuts back in North America, GM is growing abroad. "If we want to succeed in the future, we must take full advantage of emerging markets," Mr Wagoner told shareholders. "And that is exactly what we plan to do," he went on to stress. Emerging economies' share of global vehicle sales has climbed from 20 to 38 per cent over the past decade, and the carmaker is due to open plants in Russia, India and Mexico this year. Few would fault the rationale for the shift in emphasis. SUVs and pick-ups slumped to an estimated 22.3 per cent of total US retail sales last month from 37 per cent as recently as late 2006. The company has posted losses for the past three years in a row, including a huge $38.7bn deficit in 2007. In April it reported a first-quarter loss of $589m. The problem for GM - and its rivals - is that SUVs and pick-ups are their biggest money-spinners. Maintaining profit margins could be even more challenging than shifting the vehicle line-up. 14 mpg to get around the city The Humvee was originally known as the HMMWV, which stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle. The military vehicle was adopted for civilian use in 1992. The brand name was sold on to General Motors in 1998 by AM General. Hummer H3 vital statistics Base price: $31,340 Weight: 3 tonnes Fuel efficiency: 14 miles per gallon in city driving Performance: 0-60 mph in 9.7 seconds US sales: 56,000 units sold in 2007, a 22 per cent decline year on year Sources: FT research; EPA Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008a