General Motors (GM) needs $18 billion from the government and taxpayers and wants the American people to know why.

In an open letter titled “GM’s Commitment to the American People” which ran in Automotive News, a trade journal ready by industry executives, lobbyists and other insiders, the beleaguered car maker candidly acknowledged it has disappointed U.S. consumers and pledged to do better. It said recent strides to improve the company have been hurt by the economic downturn, which is why it needs the loans.

“We are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” said GM in the missive. “Just like you, we have been severely impacted by events outside our control. Despite moving quickly to reduce our planned spending by over $20 billion, GM finds itself precariously and frighteningly close to running out of cash.”

Still GM acknowledged that while the economy is hurting the car company, it has made missteps it only has itself to blame.

“At times we violated your trust by letting our quality fall below industry standards and our designs become lackluster,” wrote GM. “We have proliferated our brands and dealer network to the point where we lost adequate focus on our core U.S. market.” What’s more GM said it wrongly focused on pick-ups and SUVs over other brands and as a result “paid dearly.”

Indeed last week GM reported that sales fell 41% in the month of November.

According to GM, the Detroit, Michigan car maker has overcome its “quality gap,” its newest designs are getting accolades and nearly all of its new products are cars or crossovers instead of pick ups and SUVs.

GM, which last week made its case to Congress as to why it should get the loans, is taking its case to the American people. With bailout fatigue running high, it’s not clear if politicians will be willing to anger their constituents and back a massive rescue plan for the car makers.

In its open letter, the company reiterated that a collapse of GM and the U.S. auto industry would accelerate the downturn of the U.S. economy and would put millions of jobs at risk. “By lending GM money, you will provide us with a financial bridge until the U.S. economy and auto sales return to modestly healthy levels,” said GM. “This will allow us to keep operating and complete our restructuring.”

GM, which is now committed to making car consumers want to buy, said its restructuring actions should enable the company to start repaying taxpayers in 2011.