So now you know why GM went into bankruptcy last summer - they were giving away thousands of vehicles to the Vancouver Olympic Committee.

Since 2005 GM Canada has given over 6,000 new vehicles to the committee. Today about 4,600 of them, 2009 and 2010 models, are driving on roads in the Greater Vancouver Area. During the olympics they'll be used to shuttle athletes, VIPs and olympic staff.

So what are they driving?

750 vehicles are hybrids - Malibu, Tahoe, Yukon, Sierra and Silverado. As we mentioned earlier this year GM will also be providing eight hydrogen fuel-cell Chevrolet Equinoxs.Two pre-production Chevrolet Volts will also be on display.

Interestingly enough, when the olympics conclude 3,300 American-spec models will be resold south of our border.

"We probably couldn't absorb them, and if we tried to we would probably have some serious depreciation or deterioration of the price," Tom Laurie, GM Canada's manager of Olympic partnership told CTV.ca "You just can't take that many cars back in a marketplace like this that fast.

So what did this cost General Motors? How about a whopping $53 million!!

[Source: CTV.ca]