The General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States 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 American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941), Arthur Chevrolet 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.
GMC is a division of American automotive manufacturer General Motors (GM) for trucks and utility vehicles. GMC currently makes SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, and light-duty trucks. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes, transit buses, and medium duty trucks.
The Cadillac CTS is an executive car that was manufactured and marketed by General Motors from 2003 until 2019 across three generations. Historically, it was priced similarly to cars on the compact luxury spectrum; but it has always been sized closely to its mid-size rivals. The third generation competes directly with the mid-size luxury cars. Initially available only as a 4-door sedan on the GM Sigma platform, GM had offered the second generation CTS in three body styles: 4-door sedan, 2-door coupe, and 5-door sport wagon also using the Sigma platform — and the third generation was offered only as a sedan, using a stretched version of the GM Alpha platform.
The General MotorsJ platform, or J-body, is an automobile platform that was used by General Motors for compact cars from the 1982 to 2005 model years. The third generation of compact cars designed by GM, the J-body marked the introduction of front-wheel drive for its compact model lines, replacing the rear-wheel drive H platform. The J-body was marketed as a world car, with GM brands selling versions of the platform in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan; in markets outside of North America, the model line was packaged as a mid-size car.
The H platform, or H-body, refers to two different automobile platforms produced by General Motors. The 1970s H-body was rear-wheel drive and used for the compact Chevrolet Vega and Monza, and their Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac derivatives. The 1980s H-body was a front-wheel drive full-size car platform, and was the basis for GM's second generation downsized full-size cars, which included the Buick LeSabre, Oldsmobile 88, and Pontiac Bonneville.
The General Motors G platform designation was used for three different automobile platforms.
The General Motors A platform was an automobile platform, and was GM's original, and oldest, platform used by all early GM products, beginning with the Chevrolet Superior. From this platform, all North American platforms B, C, and D were developed.
Delta was a General Motors compact front-wheel drive automobile and crossover SUV platform, originally developed by Opel Group. Delta was a successor to the Opel T platform; it also replaced J platform and the Z platform used by the Saturn S-Series. The platform debuted in the 2003 Saturn Ion. Vehicles of this platform generally carry the letter "A" in the fourth character of their VINs.
Epsilon is General Motors' mid-size front-wheel drive automobile platform. The architecture was multi-division project of GM North America, Opel and Saab, and debuted in the 2002 Opel Vectra and 2003 Saab 9-3. Since this platform falls squarely in the center of the worldwide automobile market, GM plans to produce a great many Epsilon vehicles with over a dozen variations. As of 2005, it was GM's highest volume worldwide platform. Even after the dissolution of the GM/Fiat partnership, both companies retain the rights to continue developing Epsilon-derived models.
The T platform, or T-body, can refer to two different automobile platforms produced by General Motors, both used for subcompact cars.
The Buick Enclave is a three-row luxury crossover SUV produced by General Motors since 2007. It was previewed at the 2006 North American International Auto Show, officially as a concept car, making it the first Lambda vehicle to be displayed. The Enclave is partially based on the Buick Centieme concept shown at the 2003 Detroit Auto Show.
The GM Alpha platform currently underpins General Motors' compact to mid-size, front-engine, rear-wheel and four-wheel drive vehicles. Platform basics include MacPherson struts on the front, 5 link independent rear, use of high strength steel and aluminum, and an overall focus on reducing weight. The GM Alpha platform made its debut in the 2013 Cadillac ATS, which entered production in July 2012.
The GM C Platform was a rear wheel drive (RWD) automobile chassis used by General Motors for its full-sized cars from 1925 through 1984. From at least 1941, when the B-body followed suit in adopting the C-body's pioneering lower and wider bodystyle with no running boards, it may be viewed as a larger and more upscale version of the GM B platform. It was also related to the limousine D platform. With the introduction of a severely downsized front-wheel drive new GM C platform in 1985 it was redesignated as GM's D platform and continued in production for a number of Cadillac models through 1996.
Global Emerging Markets, better known in acronym form as GEM, is the name of an automotive platform in use by General Motors for various vehicles sold in markets of the developing world, where many GM vehicles designed for the United States and wealthier parts of China are too expensive for most consumers.
Vehicle Set Strategy, commonly shortened to VSS, is the name applied to a series of four automotive platforms in use by General Motors for their vehicles as part of an effort to consolidate their platform usage for the present and future. Currently, the Buick Encore GX and Chevrolet Trailblazer are the only production vehicles using these platforms, though GM eventually plans to have one of four VSS platforms underpin over 75% of their models, the only exceptions being dedicated EV platforms and the Corvette.
The GM BEV2 platform is an automotive platform made by General Motors designed specifically for small electric vehicles. Multiple divisions of the LG Corporation have been instrumental in construction in addition to GM's contributions to the platform.
The GM BEV3 platform is a dedicated electric vehicle architecture or platform developed by General Motors. It is the third-generation electric vehicle platform by GM, succeeding the BEV2 platform. It is categorized as a skateboard platform.
