General Motors (GM)[2] is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States.[3] The company is most known for owning and manufacturing four automobile brands, 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.[4][5]
General Motors operates manufacturing plants in eight countries.[6] In addition to its four core brands, GM also holds interests in Chinese brands Baojun and Wuling via SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile.[2] GM further owns the BrightDrop delivery vehicle manufacturer,[7] a namesake defense vehicles division which produces military vehicles for the United States government and military,[8] the vehicle safety, security, and information services provider OnStar,[9] the auto parts company ACDelco, a namesake financial lending service, and majority ownership in the self-driving cars enterprise Cruise LLC.
The company originated as a holding company for Buick established on September 16, 1908, by William C. Durant, the largest seller of horse-drawn vehicles at the time. The first half of the 20th century saw the company grow into an automotive behemoth through acquisitions; going into the second half, the company pursued innovation and new offerings to consumers as well as collaborations with NASA to develop the earliest electric vehicles.[10][11] The current entity was established in 2009 after the General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization.[12]
As of 2024, General Motors ranks 25th by total revenue out of all American companies on the Fortune 500 and 50th on the Fortune Global 500.[13][14] In 2023, the company was ranked 70th in the Forbes Global 2000.[15] In 2021, GM announced its intent to end production of vehicles using internal combustion engines by 2035, as part of its plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.[16]
History[edit]
Further information: History of General Motors
Founding and consolidation[edit]
By 1900, William C. Durant‘s Durant-Dort Carriage Company of Flint, Michigan, had become the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in the United States.[17] Durant was averse to automobiles, but fellow Flint businessman James H. Whiting, owner of Flint Wagon Works, sold him the Buick Motor Company in 1904.[18] Durant formed the General Motors Company in 1908 as a holding company, borrowing a naming convention from General Electric.[19] GM’s first acquisition was Buick, which Durant already owned, then Olds Motor Works on November 12, 1908.[20] Under Durant, GM went on to acquire Cadillac, Elmore, Welch, Cartercar, Oakland (the predecessor of Pontiac), the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, and the Reliance Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan (predecessors of GMC) in 1909.
Durant, with the board’s approval, also tried acquiring Ford Motor Company, but needed an additional $2 million.[21] Durant over-leveraged GM in making acquisitions, and was removed by the board of directors in 1910 at the order of the bankers who backed the loans to keep GM in business.[18] The action of the bankers was partially influenced by the Panic of 1910–1911 that followed the earlier enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. In 1911, Charles F. Kettering of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO) and Henry M. Leland invented and patented the first electric starter in America.[22] In November 1911, Durant co-founded Chevrolet with race car driver Louis Chevrolet, who left the company in 1915 after a disagreement with Durant.[23]
GM was reincorporated in Detroit in 1916 as General Motors Corporation and became a public company via an initial public offering. By 1917, Chevrolet had become successful enough that Durant, with the backing of Samuel McLaughlin and Pierre S. du Pont, reacquired a controlling interest in GM. The same year, GM acquired Samson Tractor.[24] Chevrolet Motor Company was consolidated into GM on May 2, 1918, and the same year GM acquired United Motors, a parts supplier founded by Durant and headed by Alfred P. Sloan for $45 million, and the McLaughlin Motor Car Company, founded by R. S. McLaughlin, became General Motors of Canada Limited.[25][26][27] In 1919, GM acquired Guardian Frigerator Company, part-owned by Durant, which was renamed Frigidaire. Also in 1919, the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), which provides financing to automotive customers, was formed.[28][18]
In 1920, du Pont orchestrated the removal of Durant once again and replaced him with Alfred P. Sloan.[29] At a time when GM was competing heavily with Ford Motor Company, Sloan established annual model changes, making previous years’ models “dated” and created a market for used cars.[30] He also implemented the pricing strategy used by car companies today. The pricing strategy had Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac priced from least expensive to most, respectively.[31][page needed]
In 1921, Thomas Midgley Jr., an engineer for GM, discovered tetraethyllead (leaded gasoline) as an antiknock agent, and GM patented the compound because ethanol could not be patented.[32] This led to the development of higher compression engines resulting in more power and efficiency. The public later realized that lead contained in the gasoline was harmful to various biological organisms including humans.[33] Evidence shows that corporate executives understood the health implications of tetraethyllead from the beginning.[34] As an engineer for GM, Midgley also developed chlorofluorocarbons, which have now been banned due to their contribution to climate change.[35]
Under the encouragement of GM President Alfred P. Sloan Jr., GM acquired Vauxhall Motors for $2.5 million in 1925.[36] The company also acquired an interest in the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company the same year, and its president, John D. Hertz, joined the board of directors of GM; it acquired the remainder of the company in 1943.[18]
Growth and acquisitions[edit]
In 1926, the company introduced the Pontiac brand and established the General Motors Group Insurance Program to provide life insurance to its employees.[18] The following year, after the success of the 1927 model of the Cadillac LaSalle designed by Harley Earl, Sloan created the “Art and Color Section” of GM and named Earl as its first director. Earl was the first design executive to be appointed to leadership at a major American corporation. Earl created a system of automobile design that is still practiced today.[37] At the age of 24, Bill Mitchell was recruited by Earl to the design team at GM, and he was later appointed as Chief Designer of Cadillac. After Earl retired in December 1958, Mitchell took over automotive design for GM.[38] Also in 1926 the company acquired Fisher Body, its supplier of automobile bodies.[39]
GM acquired Allison Engine Company[18][40] and began developing a 1,000 horsepower liquid-cooled aircraft engine in 1929.[18] The same year, GM acquired 80% of Opel, which at that time had a 37.5% market share in Europe, for $26 million. It acquired the remaining 20% in 1931.[36]
In the late-1920s, Charles Kettering embarked on a program to develop a lightweight two-stroke diesel engine for possible usage in automobiles.[41] Soon after, GM acquired Electro-Motive Company and the Winton Engine Co., and in 1941, it expanded EMC’s realm to locomotive engine manufacturing.[42]
In 1932, GM acquired Packard Electric[18][43] (not to be confused with the Packard car company, which merged with Studebaker years later). The following year, GM acquired a controlling interest in North American Aviation and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation.[44]
The GM labor force participated in the formation of the United Auto Workers labor union in 1935, and in 1936 the UAW organized the Flint Sit-Down Strike, which initially idled two key plants in Flint, Michigan, and later spread to 6 other plants including those in Janesville, Wisconsin and Fort Wayne, Indiana. In Flint, police attempted to enter the plant to arrest strikers, leading to violence; in other cities, the plants were shuttered peacefully. The strike was resolved on February 11, 1937, when GM recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for its workers and gave workers a 5% raise and permission to speak in the lunchroom.[45]
Walter E. Jominy and A.L. Boegehold of GM invented the Jominy end-quench test for hardenability of carbon steel in 1937, a breakthrough in heat treating still in use today as ASTM A255.[46] GM established Detroit Diesel the next year.[47]
In 1939, the company founded Motors Insurance Corporation and entered the vehicle insurance market.[28] The same year, GM introduced the Hydramatic, the first affordable and successful automatic transmission, for the 1940 Oldsmobile.[48][49]