The strike at General Motors is now behind it.

The longest US car company strike in over a decade cost the company $2.9 billion and closed 34 factories, and also disrupted plants in Canada and Mexico. Workers voted at the end of October to approve a new deal with the company.

As the firm starts to turn out cars again, it’s time perhaps to remind ourselves what GM – and its workers, executives, inventors, everyone – has done for the automotive world.

Encompassing famous marques such as Cadillac, Chevrolet and Buick, as well as long being one of the largest car firms, it’s also been one of the most innovative. The first genuine conglomerate in the car world, it got to take its expensively acquired innovations and spread them far and wide across its brands, often to great effect.

We’re going to take a look at all the technologies, approaches and techniques that GM has championed, and (where relevant) were first pioneered on a production car, all of which have made the automotive world a better place, in one way or other. Join us to see how GM changed the car world for the better:

Slideshow story – please click right-hand arrow above to continue