MARQUETTE -- On Thursday, the bell at the New York Stock Exchange rang in a new era for General Motors, which re-emerged on Wall Street as a publicly traded company.

"The U.S. Government owns the majority of GM and now after this IPO, it's back in the hands of the public," said Daniel LaBar of Northstar Investment.

Their initial public offering launched as one of the largest in history, at $33 a share, and it's expected to eventually bring in over $20 billion.

It's hard to believe that it was just a little over a year ago that GM had to be bailed out by the government and had to drop brands like Pontiac to make ends meet.  Now the government will go from owning 60 percent of the company to 30 percent.

Jim Grundstrom, the owner of Frei Chevrolet in Marquette, attributes the success of the new stock to GM's product, which he says is better than ever.

"I think the improvement in General Motors, from a dealer's perspective, is absolutely dramatic," said Grundstrom.  "The automobiles coming out of the corporation are world class.  We have every reason to believe that we are going to compete with every auto manufacturer in the world."

GM has the awards to prove it.  This week, the Chevy Volt was named Motor Trend Magazine's Car of the Year.  On Thursday, the plug in, energy efficient car was also named Green Car of the Year at the Los Angeles Auto Show, but will the automaker's dramatic success last?  Grundstrom believes it will.

"I think we are going to earn our way back into the minds of consumers.  Our car line-up is becoming wonderfully strong," Grundstrom added.

Only time will tell what will happen to the company, but as of now, it's fair to say that things are looking up for GM.