General Motors

General Motors history

September 1908 : Buick Motor Company head William C. Durant spends $ 2,000 to include General Motors in NJ. Durant, a highschool dropout, had made his fortune building horsedrawn carriages, and in reality he loathed cars - - he believed they were dangerous, smelly, and noisy. Nonetheless, the business he built would control the American automobile industry for many years.

Within the very first years of the twentieth century, however, that business was a mess. There were about 45 distinct car companies within america, the majority of which sold just a few of cars every year (and several of which had an unpleasant inclination to take clients' down payments and then go out of business before delivering a finished car). Industrialist Benjamin Briscoe called this method of doing business "making gaming," and he proposed a better idea.

But while Durant wanted to construct a holding company that would leave its individual components more or less only, Briscoe wanted to unify every one of the businesses entirely into one. Durant got his way, and the new GM was the reverse of Ford: Instead of only making one auto, like the Model T, it created a wide selection of autos for a wide selection of purchasers. In its initial couple of years, General Motors cobbled together thirty companies, including eleven automakers like Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Oakland, some provider businesses, and even a power company.

Sales rise 60 %, but gains lag. Durant is ousted by bankers as business sinks into debt.

1911 : Electric selfstarter first appears on a Cadillac.

1920 : Durant resigns, after files personal bankruptcy, dies running bowling alleys.

20's : General Motors creates merchandise policy aiming Pontiac, Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Oldsmobile at 5 distinct sets of customers.

1921 : General Motors accounts for 12 % of American automobile industry.

1923 : Alfred P. S. named president, ceo.

1925 : General Motors gets Vauxhall Motors Ltd. of UK.

1929 : General Motors gets Adam Opel AG of Germany.

1937 : Violent sitdown strikes by General Motors hourly workers in Flint, Mich., ...

1941 : General Motors market share grows to 41%.

1942 : Civilian automobile creation stopped and plants turned to war effort.

1945-46 : Employees strike for 113 days.

1955 : GM introduces Chevi V8 engine.

1960 : Responding to invasion of small European automobiles, General Motors introduces Chevrolet Corvair. Automobile after assaulted by Ralph Nader, who wrote novel "Unsafe at Any Speed" that resulted in congressional automobile security hearings.

General Motors loses more than $750 million as automobile and truck sales dip 26 percent.

1981 : GM consolidates bus, truck and van operations. Japanese cars are bashed by auto workers with sledge hammers. Company gets $333.4 million on $62.7 billion in earnings.

1985 : Business forms new Saturn Corp. subsidiary. General Motors gets Hughes Aircraft Co. for $5 billion.

1987 : GM, UAW reach contract unless its merchandise sales drop prohibiting close of a plant. Profits climb to $3.6 billion.

1990 : GM and SaabScania AB of Sweden form joint venture to make vehicles in Europe. As chairman, succeeded by President Robert Stempel Smith retires. General Motors starts Saturn, takes $2.1 bill. bill for four plant closings, and profits drop to $102 mill. as automobile sales plummet.

1996 : GM spins off as a different business Electronic Data Systems.

2008 : Gasoline prices hit four dollars per gallon and truck sales plummet. GM announces strategy to shut four pick-up and sport-utility vehicle factories, plans to lose 8,350 jobs. General Motors announces new little car, strategies for $ 15 billion in savings, with ten billion dollars in costcutting and five billion dollars from borrowing, asset sales. Hummer brand set up for sale.