AMERICAN AUTOMAKER
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It was founded by William C. Durant on September 16, 1908, as a holding company, and the present entity was established in 2009 after its restructuring. The company is the largest American automobile manufacturer and one of the world's largest automobile manufacturers.
At its peak, GM had a 50% market share in the United States and was the world's largest automaker from 1931 through 2007. GM's former EU subsidiaries Opel and Vauxhall, both acquired in 1929, were sold to the French automaker PSA Group in March 2017. As of 2021, General Motors is ranked number 22 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
General Motors manufactures vehicles in several countries; its four core automobile brands are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. It also either owns or holds a significant stake in foreign brands such as Wuling, Baojun, and Jiefang. Annual worldwide sales volume reached a milestone of 10 million vehicles in 2016.
BRANDS
Buick
Buick (/ˈbjuːɪk/) is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General Motors in 1908. Before the establishment of General Motors, GM founder William C. Durant had served as Buick's general manager and major investor.
For much of its existence in the North American market, Buick has been marketed as a premium automobile brand, selling luxury vehicles positioned above GM's mainstream brands, while below the flagship luxury Cadillac division. Buick's current target demographic according to The Detroit News is "a successful executive with family."
After securing its market position in the late 1930s, when junior companion brand Marquette and Cadillac junior brand LaSalle were cancelled, Buick was recognized as an upscale luxury car with a conservative appearance, as opposed to more ostentatious Cadillac and technology-rich, forward-thinking Oldsmobile. During this same time period, many manufacturers were introducing V8 engines in their high-end models, while Buick used a straight-8 for all models starting in 1931. The first Buick V8 was introduced in 1953, then in 1962, the Buick V6 was introduced for the compact Special model. Buick engines, with few exceptions, have always used overhead valves which the company pioneered in the 1904 Buick Model B.
In 2017, Buick sold more than 1.4 million vehicles worldwide, a record for the brand. The main market is now China, where 80% of Buick-branded automobiles are sold. Buicks are also sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division /ˈkædɪlæk/ is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors Company (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed in 34 additional markets worldwide. Cadillac automobiles are at the top of the luxury field within the United States. In 2019, Cadillac sold 390,458 vehicles worldwide, a record for the brand.
Cadillac is among the first automotive brands in the world, fourth in the United States only to fellow Autocar Company (1897) and GM marques Oldsmobile (1897) and Buick (1899). It was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded Detroit, Michigan. The Cadillac crest is based on his coat of arms.
By the time General Motors purchased the company in 1909, Cadillac had already established itself as one of America's premier luxury car makers. The complete interchangeability of its precision parts had allowed it to lay the foundation for the modern mass production of automobiles. It was at the forefront of technological advances, introducing full electrical systems, the clashless manual transmission and the steel roof. The brand developed three engines, with its V8 setting the standard for the American automotive industry.
Cadillac had the first U.S. car to win the Royal Automobile Club of the United Kingdom's Dewar Trophy by successfully demonstrating the interchangeability of its component parts during a reliability test in 1908; this spawned the firm's slogan "Standard of the World". It won the trophy again in 1912 for incorporating electric starting and lighting in a production automobile.
Cheverolet
Chevrolet (/ˌʃɛvrəˈleɪ/ SHEV-re-LAY), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant 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.
Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide. In Oceania, Chevrolet is represented by Holden Special Vehicles, having returned to the region in 2018 after a 50-year absence with the launching of the Camaro and Silverado pickup truck (HSV was partially and formerly owned by GM subsidiary Holden, which GM retired in 2021). In 2005, Chevrolet was relaunched in Europe, primarily selling vehicles built by GM Daewoo of South Korea with the tagline "Daewoo has grown up enough to become Chevrolet", a move rooted in General Motors' attempt to build a global brand around Chevrolet. With the reintroduction of Chevrolet to Europe, GM intended Chevrolet to be a mainstream value brand, while GM's traditional European standard-bearers, Opel of Germany and Vauxhall of the United Kingdom, would be moved upmarket. However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe from 2016 onward, with the exception of the Camaro and Corvette. Chevrolet vehicles were to continue to be marketed in the CIS states, including Russia. After General Motors fully acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea, the last usage of the Daewoo automotive brand was discontinued in its native South Korea and succeeded by Chevrolet.
In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the prominence and name recognition of Chevrolet as one of General Motors' global marques, 'Chevrolet', 'Chevy' or 'Chev' is used at times as a synonym for General Motors or its products, one example being the GM LS1 engine, commonly known by the name or a variant thereof of its progenitor, the Chevrolet small-block engine.
GMC
GMC (formerly the General Motors Truck Company, or the GMC Truck & Coach Division (of General Motors Corporation), is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that primarily focuses on trucks and utility vehicles. GMC currently makes SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, and light-duty trucks, catered to a premium-based market. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes, transit buses, and medium duty trucks.
While many GMC and Chevrolet trucks are mechanically similar, GMC is positioned as a premium offering to the mainstream Chevrolet brand, with luxury vehicles such as the Denali series and the electric, off-road Hummer EV series. In North America, GMC vehicles are almost always sold alongside Buick vehicles at joint dealerships, allowing the same dealer to market both upscale cars and trucks.
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