Maker record
General Motors
General Motors (GM) is an American automobile company established by William C. Durant in 1908. It began as a holding company for Buick and expanded to include marques such as Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Oakland, later known as Pontiac. Its business centered on motor vehicles, including cars and trucks. By the late 1920s, under Alfred P. Sloan, GM had surpassed Ford in sales. The company’s product history includes both mass-market and premium automobiles, with the Corvette introduced in 1953.
- Founded
- 1908
- Locations
- United States
The story of General Motors
William C. Durant established General Motors in 1908, building on his leadership of Buick. GM initially served as a holding company for Buick and rapidly expanded through acquisitions. By 1910 it had added Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland, later known as Pontiac, and businesses that became part of GMC Truck. Expansion left the company with substantial debt, and Durant lost control in 1910. He left and founded Chevrolet in 1911, then returned to GM in 1916 after a stock buy-back campaign brought him back to its leadership and Chevrolet into the company.
During the First World War, GM produced war materiel; 90 percent of its truck production from 1917 to 1919 was for the war. Durant’s leadership ended in 1920 after another bank buyout. In the following decade Alfred P. Sloan led a restructuring that included moving GM’s headquarters from Flint to Detroit. The company surpassed Ford in sales by the late 1920s. After the Second World War, GM continued to grow; it introduced the Corvette in 1953 and maintained world leadership in revenue and market share through much of the next three decades. In 2009, the company declared bankruptcy and emerged in under 40 days as General Motors Company. The US government sold its remaining GM shares in December 2013.
