General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing its four core automobile brands of Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick. By sales, it was the largest automaker in the United States in 2022, and was the largest in the world for 77 years before losing the top spot to Toyota in 2008.
Hummer is a brand of pickups and SUVs that was first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. Although discontinued in 2010, Hummer returned as a sub-brand of GMC in 2020. In 1998, General Motors (GM) purchased the brand name from AM General and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the military Humvee, as well as the new H2 and H3 models that were based on smaller, civilian-market GM platforms.
Chevrolet is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941), Arthur Chevrolet (1884–1946) and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant (1861–1947) started the company on November 3, 1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918, and propelled himself back to the GM presidency. After Durant's second ousting in 1919, Alfred Sloan, with his maxim "a car for every purse and purpose", would pick the Chevrolet brand to become the volume leader in the General Motors family, selling mainstream vehicles to compete with Henry Ford's Model T in 1919 and overtaking Ford as the best-selling car in the United States by 1929 with the Chevrolet International.
The Saturn Corporation, also known as Saturn LLC, was an American automobile manufacturer, a registered trademark established on January 7, 1985, as a subsidiary of General Motors. The company was an attempt by GM to compete directly with Japanese imports and transplants, initially in the US compact car market.
George Richard "Rick" Wagoner Jr. is an American businessman and former chair and chief executive officer of General Motors. Wagoner resigned as chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the White House. The latter part of Wagoner's tenure as CEO of General Motors found him under heavy criticism as the market valuation of GM went down by more than 90% and the company lost more than US$82 billion. He is a board member of ChargePoint, an electric vehicle infrastructure company.
The Opel Antara is a compact crossover SUV which was marketed by Opel from 2006 to 2015. Based on the Theta platform, the Antara closely shared its underpinnings and powertrains with the Chevrolet Captiva. However, it only offered five seats instead of seven, and features a different exterior and interior design. Sales commenced in November 2006, as the indirect successor to the Isuzu-based Frontera range.
Wilmington Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Wilmington, Delaware. The 3,200,000-square-foot (300,000 m2) factory opened in 1947, and produced cars for GM's Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Opel, Buick and Daewoo brands during its operation. GM closed the plant on July 28, 2009.
General Motors Europe was the European subsidiary of the American automaker General Motors ("GM"). The subsidiary was established by GM in 1986 and operated 14 production and assembly facilities in 9 countries, and employed around 54,500 people. GM's core European brands were Vauxhall and Opel, which both sell much the same range of cars in different markets. GM also owned the Swedish brand Saab until early 2010 and sold Chevrolet models between 2005 and 2015. The U.S. brand Cadillac is imported into Europe in small quantities. In 2009, General Motors (GM) announced to move its European headquarters from Zürich, Switzerland to Rüsselsheim, Germany to strengthen its German subsidiary Opel.
Sonic Automotive is a Fortune 500 company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the fifth largest automotive retailer in the United States as measured by total revenues. The company was founded by O Bruton Smith and completed its initial public offering on the NYSE in 1997.
Penske Automotive Group, Inc., headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is a transportation services company that operates automotive and commercial truck dealerships principally in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, and distributes commercial vehicles, engines, power systems and related parts and services principally in Australia and New Zealand. Additionally, PAG owns 28.9% of Penske Transportation Solutions, a business that manages a fleet of over 400,000 trucks, tractors, and trailers. PAG is a member of the Fortune 500, Russell 1000, and Russell 3000 indexes.
The history of General Motors (GM), one of the world's largest car and truck manufacturers, dates back more than a century and involves a vast scope of industrial activity around the world, mostly focused on motorized transportation and the engineering and manufacturing that make it possible. Founded in 1908 as a holding company in Flint, Michigan, as of 2012 it employed approximately 209,000 people around the world. With global headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, United States, General Motors manufactures cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2008, 8.35 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under various brands. Current auto brands are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Baojun, and Wuling. Former GM automotive brands include LaSalle, McLaughlin, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall, Daewoo, and Holden.
The 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis formed part of the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the resulting Great Recession. The crisis affected European and Asian automobile manufacturers, but it was primarily felt in the American automobile manufacturing industry. The downturn also affected Canada by virtue of the Automotive Products Trade Agreement.
Beginning in the later half of 2008, a global-scale recession adversely affected the economy of the United States. A combination of several years of declining automobile sales and scarce availability of credit led to a more widespread crisis in the United States auto industry in the years of 2008 and 2009.
The 2009 General Motors Chapter 11 sale of the assets of automobile manufacturer General Motors and some of its subsidiaries was implemented through Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code in the United States bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York. The United States government-endorsed sale enabled the NGMCO Inc. to purchase the continuing operational assets of the old GM. Normal operations, including employee compensation, warranties, and other customer services were uninterrupted during the bankruptcy proceedings. Operations outside of the United States were not included in the court filing.
In the United States, the automotive industry began in the 1890s and, as a result of the size of the domestic market and the use of mass production, rapidly evolved into the largest in the world. The United States was the first country in the world to have a mass market for vehicle production and sales and is a pioneer of the automotive industry and mass market production process. During the 20th century, global competitors emerged, especially in the second half of the century primarily across European and Asian markets, such as Germany, France, Italy, Japan and South Korea. The U.S. is currently second among the largest manufacturers in the world by volume.
Motors Liquidation Company (MLC), formerly General Motors Corporation, was the company left to settle past liability claims from Chapter 11 reorganization of American car manufacturer General Motors. It exited bankruptcy on March 31, 2011, only to be carved into four trusts; the first to settle the claims of unsecured creditors, the second to handle environmental response for MLC's remaining assets, a third to handle present and future asbestos-related claims, and a fourth for litigation claims.
In 1926 A.A (Andy) Murray began to sell Star, Essex and Hudson cars from his agricultural implements business in Souris, Manitoba. By 1934 Andy had expanded his operation to include the General Motors line, which was to become one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers. Over the decades the business has continued to grow and has now evolved into a group that consists of 30 Canadian dealerships from coast to coast. Today, The Murray Automotive Group has over 1,500 employees and sells nearly 15,000 vehicles each year. Claire’s sons, Doug, Paul, Dan and Chris are 3rd generation Murray’s in the business. The automotive group continues to expand into the 4th generation.
Carcannon is an automotive inspection and consulting company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with an office in El Segundo, California. Carcannon is credited with producing the first national “Certified Consultation Process” for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company was founded in 2001 by Ron Correa.
Victor Potamkin was an American businessman and car dealership owner known for deep discounting and aggressive advertising.
