The year that is ending tomorrow night has certainly been a strange one for investors: while the Standard & Poor’s 500 will end flat, stock prices of the automotive industry have experienced a great fall.

After all that’s happened this year with the Euro debt crisis and the U.S. avoiding one at the 11th hour, this was more or less to be expected.

What is surprising though is that the worst performer in terms of stock price is the car company that has regained the number one position globally and rolled out many new competitive products. And yes, we are talking about General Motors, which saw its share price drop by 46 percent!

Despite GM’s amazing recovery after the 2009 bailout, the fact that the U.S. government is still a major stakeholder is a negative factor, since investors prefer to wait until the Treasury decides to sell – at which point, the price will most likely go down.

Furthermore, the brand’s exposure in Europe, which has more than its share of problems, and GM’s loss-making operations in the Old Continent contribute to the low share price, which, if you’re willing to invest, looks quite attractive.

Like GM, Ford’s European operations have harmed its stock price that is down 37 percent. It is in better shape than GM, however, since all three major credit rating agencies are expected to upgrade Ford to investment-grade status, making it less expensive to borrow money and allowing many funds to invest in the company, thus increasing its share price.

The funny thing is that the two main U.S. carmakers that posted increased sales this year saw their shares fall far more than overseas competitors like Toyota and Honda, which were hit by more than one catastrophe.

In theory, the March earthquake and tsunami along with the October Thai floods, which seriously curtailed production, as well as the strength of the yen that made manufacturing cars in Japan unprofitable, should have hurt them the most.

Yet, while both Toyota (-27.1 percent) and Honda (-21.5 percent) lost some of their shares’ value in 2011, it wasn’t as bad as their U.S. counterparts.

Story References: The Motley Fool / S&P Capital IQ

Company – % Return in 2011

Tenneco – (29.7)

Tata Motors – (31.0)

Dana Holding – (31.1)

Autoliv (34.1)

Visteon – (34.9)

Magna International – (35.9)

Ford – (37.3)

TRW Automotive – (40.0)

Cooper Tire & Rubber – (41.7)

General Motors – (46.1)