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.
Maxwell was an American automobile manufacturer which ran from 1904 to 1925. The present-day successor to the Maxwell company was Chrysler, now Stellantis North America, which acquired the company in 1925.
The Henry Ford Company was an automobile manufacturer active from 1901 to 1902. Named after Henry Ford, it was his second company after the Detroit Automobile Company, which had been founded in 1899. The Henry Ford Company was founded November 1901 from the reorganization of the Detroit Automobile Company. The company, much like the Detroit Automobile Company, was plagued by disputes between Ford and his investors, and Ford left in 1902. Later that year, the company was reorganized as the Cadillac Automobile Company under the suggestion of Henry M. Leland. Cadillac, whose early vehicles were identical in design to those of Ford's later Ford Motor Company except for the engine, would develop a reputation for precision engineering and was acquired by the nascent General Motors (GM) in 1909, becoming GM's luxury marque. Ford would eventually find success with the Ford Motor Company, and is considered one of the primary pioneers of the automobile.
Personal luxury car is a North American car classification describing somewhat sporty, sophisticated mass-market coupés that emphasized comfort over performance. The North American manufacturers most often combined engineering, design, and marketing to develop upscale, distinctive "platform sharing" models that became highly profitable.
William Crapo Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry and co-founder of General Motors and Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple marques – each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines – bound under a unified corporate holding company. Durant, along with Frederic L. Smith, co-founded General Motors, as well as Chevrolet with Louis Chevrolet. He also founded Frigidaire.
Henry Martyn Leland was an American machinist, inventor, engineer, and automotive entrepreneur. He founded the two premier American luxury automotive marques, Cadillac and Lincoln.
The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located within the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant. At the Piquette Avenue Plant, the company created and first produced the Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the United States. Prior to the Model T, several other car models were assembled at the factory. Early experiments using a moving assembly line to make cars were also conducted there. It was also the first factory where more than 100 cars were assembled in one day. While it was headquartered at the Piquette Avenue Plant, Ford Motor Company became the biggest U.S.-based automaker, and it would remain so until the mid-1920s. The factory was used by the company until 1910, when its car production activity was relocated to the new, bigger Highland Park Ford Plant.
Durant Motors Inc. was established in 1921 by former General Motors CEO William "Billy" Durant following his termination by the GM board of directors and the New York bankers who financed GM.
The Oakland Motor Car Company of Pontiac, Michigan, was an American automobile manufacturer and division of General Motors. Purchased by General Motors in 1909, the company continued to produce modestly priced automobiles until 1931 when the brand was dropped in favor of the division's Pontiac make.
Fisher Body was an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan.
The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing 1,649 cubic inches (27 L) and making 400 hp (300 kW) designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both in racing and runabout boats.
Detroit Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Detroit, Michigan on Clark Street, south of Michigan Avenue. It began operations in 1921 and Cadillac bodies were supplied by Fleetwood Metal Body in 1921 after Fisher Body assumed operations. It was the second location that built Cadillacs, when Cadillac originally started out as the Henry Ford Company which was located at the intersection of Cass Avenue and Amsterdam Street. Engine block and cylinder heads were cast at Saginaw Metal Casting Operations then assembled at Tonawanda Engine before delivery to Detroit Assembly for installation.
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, also referred to as Factory Zero and GM Poletown, is a General Motors (GM) automobile assembly plant straddling the border between Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It is located about three miles (five km) from GM's corporate headquarters.
In the late 1920s, American automotive company General Motors (GM) launched four companion makes to supplement its existing lineup of five-passenger car brands, or makes. The companion makes were LaSalle, introduced for the 1927 model year to supplement Cadillac; Marquette, introduced in 1929 for 1930 to supplement Buick; Pontiac, introduced for 1926 to supplement Oakland; and Viking, introduced for 1929 to supplement Oldsmobile. GM's fifth existing brand, Chevrolet, did not receive a companion make. With the exception of Viking, each of the companion makes were slotted below their "parent make" in GM's pricing hierarchy.
Hurst Performance, Inc. of Warminster Township, Pennsylvania, manufactured and marketed products for enhancing the performance of automobiles, most notably muscle cars.
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.
Alexander Young Malcomson was a coal dealer from Detroit, Michigan, who bankrolled Henry Ford's first successful foray into automobile manufacturing: the Ford Motor Company.
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.
The Sheridan was a brand of American automobile manufactured from 1920 to 1921. Manufacture of the car was based in Muncie, Indiana. The Sheridan nameplate has the distinction of being the first automotive brand started from scratch by General Motors. Prior to the Sheridan, General Motors, under William (Billy) Durant, grew its automotive marques Chevrolet, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, by acquiring independent manufacturers and then folding their operations into the GM structure.
The 1950s were pivotal for the American automobile industry. The post-World War II era brought a wide range of new technologies to the automobile consumer, and a host of problems for the independent automobile manufacturers. The industry was maturing in an era of rapid technological change; mass production and the benefits from economies of scale led to innovative designs and greater profits, but stiff competition between the automakers. By the end of the decade, the industry had reshaped itself into the Big Three, Studebaker, and AMC. The age of small independent automakers was nearly over, as most of them either consolidated or went out of business.
