NEW YORK (Fortune) -- With General Motors poised to enter Chapter 11 reorganization, the question arises: What will the bankrupt company look like and how will it be different?

The answer to the second part is "a lot." The answer to the first is nobody knows for sure, but it may not be pretty.

At the outset, let's establish one fact: assuming an entity called "General Motors" does emerge from bankruptcy, it will be a different company than the one that went in. Only the good bits will come out: Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC and the plants needed to make the parts and assemble the cars and trucks.

The bad bits -- Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Opel and other legacy operations -- will be left behind in another company. New GM could emerge from bankruptcy in 60 days to 90 days; old GM could be stuck there for several years.

New GM could just as well be called "Government Motors," because the U.S. is going to own 72.5% of it. That may not be a good thing. Remember East Germany's Trabant and other vehicles built by the government-owned companies in the old Soviet Union?

http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/29/news/companies/gm_fuzzy.fortune/index.htm