General Motors GM History

General Motors was founded in 1908 in Flint, Michigan, as a joint venture for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant, and acquired Oldsmobile that year. The next year, Durant took over Cadillac, Elmore, and Oakland. In 1909, GM acquired the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessor of GMC Truck. A Rapid became the first truck to conquer Pikes Peak in 1909. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 for the company's bankers, because of the large debt assumed with acquisitions.

Durant left the firm and helped establish the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1912 with brothers Gaston and Louis Chevrolet. He returned to head GM in 1915, funded by Pierre S. du Pont. Chevrolet General Motors entered into in 1916. Du Pont Durant took a direction in 1920, and various Du Pont interests were heavily involved in the ownership until 1950.
GM overtook Ford Motor Company in 1920 under the leadership of Alfred Sloan. While Ford continued to refine the manufacturing process to reduce costs, Sloan was inventing new ways of running a complex global organization, while paying special attention to consumer demands. Car buyers no longer wanted the base model and cheaper, they wanted style, power and prestige, which GM offered them. Thanks to consumer financing, easy monthly payments allowed more people to buy GM cars, while Ford righteously opposed to credit. During the 1920 and 1930, GM bought the Yellow Coach bus company, and helped create Greyhound bus lines. Intercity railway transport replaced with buses, and established subsidiary companies to buy companies replaced trams and rail-based services with buses too. GM formed United Cities Motor Transit in 1932.

General Motors produced vast quantities of weapons, vehicles and even aircraft during World War II, and also had significant interests in Nazi Germany. During the war, U.S. auto companies were concerned that the Nazis would nationalize American factories in Germany. In the spring of 1939, the Nazis had taken over the daily lives of U.S. factories in Germany, but decided to nationalize.

William P. GM Knudson served as director of production for the U.S. wartime for President Franklin Roosevelt referred to Detroit as the "Arsenal of Democracy." Today, Detroit is the headquarters of the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) of the United States military.

GM bought the maker of autorrailes internal combustion engine with Electro-Motive Corporation and its engine supplier Winton Engine in 1930, renaming both as the General Motors Electro-Motive Division. During the next twenty years, diesel locomotives - most manufactured by GM - largely stream replaces other forms of traction in U.S. railroads. (During World War II, these engines were also important in American submarines and destroyer escorts.) Electro-Motive was sold in early 2005.

At one point GM became the largest corporation registered in the United States in terms of income relative to GNP. In 1953 Charles Erwin Wilson, then GM president, was named by Eisenhower as Secretary of Defense. When asked during the visit before the Senate Armed Services Committee if as secretary of defense could take a decision unfavorable to the interests of General Motors, Wilson answered affirmatively but added he could not conceive of this situation "because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa. " Later this statement was often misinterpreted, suggesting that Wilson had said simply, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." At that time, GM was one of the companies with more employees in the world - only Soviet state industries employing more people. On December 31, 1955, General Motors became the first U.S. corporation to make more than $ 1 billion a year.

After massive layoffs affect GM's Flint, Michigan, a strike began at the factory parts for General Motors in Flint on June 5, 1998, which quickly spread to five other assembly plants and lasted seven weeks.

GM today has 326,999 employees worldwide. Headquartered in Detroit (Michigan), USA, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries.