It was a virtual guarantee that General Motors would start trading above its IPO price ($33/share); given that this company is purely a political entity at this point, it would have been disastrous for the IPO to crash on the initial day in the marketplace.
Given the fact that GM has not really solved any of its fundamental business problems (high costs, inferior products) it will be able to successfully use its government-held ownership to bend rules toward its favour.
Suffice to say, I would avoid this company by a long mile.