General Motors says it is raising the price range for its initial public offering of common stock to $32 to $33 per share. The new price range is about 14% higher than originally expected, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The share and price expansion are the result of strong investor demand for shares in the U.S. auto maker, which now is generating solid profits after shedding costs under a 2009 bankruptcy reorganization.

The new price range indicates the U.S. government, currently owner of a 61 percent stake in GM, should reap at least $8.6 billion from the IPO, about $1.4 billion more than previously expected. After the offering, the government is expected to be left with about a 35% stake in GM that it expects to sell over time.

Earlier this month, GM said it would issue 365 million shares in the IPO, totaling 24 percent of the company's stock. In response to strong demand from investors, the banks organizing the IPO are likely to exercise an overallotment option that could add another 54.8 million shares. GM also plans to sell $4 billion of preferred stock, up from $3 billion.

Separately, the U.S. government is weighing whether to increase the number of shares offered by as much as 20%, or another 84 million shares.

GM was given $49.5 billion by the government and so far has paid back $9.5 billion. The government hopes to recoup the remainder of its investment through future sales of its GM stock.

This week, the U.S. Treasury plans to sell, at a minimum, 263.5 million shares. Canada's federal and provincial governments, which aided in the rescue, will sell at least 30.5 million shares combined while a health care trust run by the United Auto Workers would sell at least 71 million. If the number of shares to be sold are increased, they could come from any combination of the major holders.

If the stock is priced at $32.50, the midpoint of its new price range, the IPO would raise a total of $18.2 billion, assuming 54.8 million shares as part of the over allotment and mandatory convertible shares. Under the original price range, it was expected to raise as much as $15 billion. Increasing the offering by 20 percent would push the amount up by another $2.7 billion.

Electronic trading company Getco LLC will be the designated market maker at the New York Stock Exchange for the IPO. A NYSE Euronext spokesman confirmed Getco was selected from among the exchange's five designated market makers, which are generally responsible for buying and selling shares, smoothing trade imbalances and providing liquidity in return for incentives paid by the exchange.

GM investors will include three or four sovereign-wealth funds that are planning to buy more than $1 billion dollars combined in the IPO. Sovereign wealth funds are set up by governments to invest in businesses. China's largest auto maker, SAIC Motor Corp., is on track to buy around $500 million in GM shares, pending Chinese government approval, people familiar with the matter have said.