neral Motors vehicles are seen at a car dealership in Toronto Dec. 12, 2008. General Motors Corp. major auto maker in the U.S., collected a loan of 4 billion dollars from the U.S. Treasury Department on the eve of the new year, reports from Detroit said Thursday.

CHICAGO, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- General Motors Corp. major auto maker in the U.S., collected a loan of 4 billion dollars from the U.S. Treasury Department on the eve of the new year, reports from Detroit said Thursday.

The cash infusion will prevent the automaker's imminent financial collapse after a dramatic sales decline and cash crunch this year.

The automakers in Detroit are to receive another loan of 5.4 billion dollars by Jan. 16 and possibly another loan of 4 billion U.S. dollars on Feb. 17.

The loans serve as major lifelines to two of Detroit's Big Three automakers, both on the brink of failure, and for a U.S. industry that has lost more than 100 billion U.S. dollars since 2004, trimmed tens of thousands of jobs and closed numerous plants. In exchange, GM and Chrysler must execute drastic restructuring plans or face bankruptcy.

GM had faced the possibility of collapse as early as the first week of this month, when large supplier bills will come due, while Chrysler warned it could have collapsed early this year.