New York  - The re-started General Motors said late Friday it planned to return to the stock market by July 10, 2010, a year after it emerged from bankruptcy.

The biggest US auto producer, now majority-owned by the US government, named the target date in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

It said it would make reasonable best efforts" to sell 3.5 billion shares by that date.

Some of the proceeds of the sale would be used to repay part of the 50 billion dollars GM owes the US government and the 15 billion dollars owed to the Canadian government.

The US Treasury owns 60.8 per cent of GM; the Canadian and Ontario governments own 11.7 per cent. The other stakes are 17.5 per cent for a trust for United Auto Workers retiree medical bills and 10 per cent for Motors Liquidation Co, as the remnants of the old GM are now known.

GM lost 88 billion dollars since 2004. Once the world's largest carmaker, it has since been overtaken by Toyota. (dpa)