GM General Motors- history, overview

William Crapo Durant
As a young man, Durant dealt in medicaments and cigars. Later, he switched to insurance and real property. However, his biggest success was in the motor industry In 1904, he took over Buick, a car maker beset with financial problems, which had been making its own-designed vehicles since 1899. He then succeeded in taking over Cadillac, named after a French geographer who, in the 17th century, was the first person to describe the region of the America Great Lakes.
When Durant took control of Cadillac, the company had already been a reputable manufacturer of luxury vehicles in the US. Cadillac became famous after winning a competition organized by the UK’s Royal Automobile Club in 1908. Three Cadillac cars, randomly chosen out of eight vehicles brought from the US, were taken to pieces. All the parts were mixed together. Then the vehicles were reassembled, complete and roadworthy. For the Europeans, it was a stunning demonstration of the American skill of manufacturing standard goods. Europe was at the time a continent of artisan methods that required individual parts to be fitted into one another every time. In 1906, Buick and Cadillac were joined by Oldsmobile, another US car maker with financial difficulties. Durant created a holding company and called it General Motors Company.

Durant, however, was building his company with money borrowed from banks. When it turned out that the company’s expansion was becoming increasing costly, not all its investments were successful and money was short, bankers demanded payment of the loans and, in 1910, seized control of the company Durant had created. Then something happened, something that would be difficult to imagine today. Durant made an offer to Louis Chevrolet, a then well-known racing driver – Durant wanted him to design a car. Durant himself started a company to make engines for the car and began to manufacture a small, cheap car called Little. In November 1911, a company called Chevrolet Motor Car Company was registered. Its first vehicle was called Classic Six. Its six-cylinder engine worked unusually smoothly, but the car itself carried out a fairly high price tag. However, it was not until 1914 that the company was a real success – with its new vehicle called Chevrolet L, a vehicle that combined the best of Little and Classix Six. Chevrolet was becoming so successful that Durant tempted investors, mostly the DuPont family, a family of chemical giants, to support him. In the early 20th century, their company was the US largest manufacturer of explosives and was doing great business during the First World War. Supported by Pierre DuPont, Durant took over GM. Following the deal, in 1918 General Motors Company changed its name to General Motors Corporation, which it has used till this day, and Chevrolet became its subsidiary. However, the First World War was followed by years of recession. The situation was not helped even by setting up GMAC, the world’s first auto bank providing vehicle loans. Once again, Durant was unable to control his company’s spending and, in 1920, GM got a new president, Pierre DuPont. In 1923, he was replaced by Alfred Sloan, but the DuPont family continued to control a large portion of GM’s stock for a few decades.
Fired from GM once again, William Durant never again recovered fully from his failure. And once again, he founded a car manufacturing business. But Durant Motors was not successful. In his last years, Durant managed a bowling alley. He died in 1947.
In 1924, GM took over Britain’s Vauxhall for US$ 2.6 million. In 1929-1931, GM paid about US$ 34 million for a car factory owned by the Opel brothers, a factory that at the time was Germany’s largest and most modern car maker. In the 1930s, thanks to its investments, GM Opel became Europe’s largest car manufacturer.

The results of GM’s approach to business came soon, as soon as in 1927, when the company – for the first time ever - sold more vehicles in the US than the then market’s leader, Ford. Since the 1930s, GM has established itself as the world’s largest auto company.

Monopoly loses case
GM’s heyday came after the war. In the early 1960s, the company deliberately reduced its US production and sales since, under the US anti trust regulations, exceeding a 50 per cent share of the market for new vehicles would have resulted in splitting the car maker into a few smaller companies.
The US administration’s battle against the DuPont family’s dominance as a GM shareholder lasted 16 years. The family was accused of using their position to make huge profits from selling their chemical products to GM factories. Following a series of court cases started in 1949, the DuPont family had to divide their US$ 2.9 billion stake in GM among its own company’s shareholders.
GM’s international expansion resulted in the company acquiring shares in a number of other auto companies, particularly in Australia (Holden), Japan (Isuzu, Suzuki, Fuji/Subaru), Korea (Daewoo) as well as in Europe (Saab, Fiat).

GM head office is placed in Detroit, Michigan.
GM employs about 317,000 people with manufacturing operations in 32 countries and sales in 200 countries. Offers brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Opel, Holden, HUMMER, Pontiac, Wuling, Saab, Vauxhall i Saturn. GM’s 2007 sales figure was the second highest in the company’s one hundred years’ history. For the third time in a row and for the fourth time ever (2007, 2006, 2005 and 1978), GM sold more than 9 million vehicles in a single calendar year.
Global operations:

GMNA (North America) brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, HUMMER, Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn, with regional business operations:
 GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive and commercial financing, along with mortgage and insurance products
 OnStar, GM's safety, security and communications system
 GM Service and Parts Operations sells parts and accessories under the GM, GM Goodwrench and ACDelco brands
 GM Powertrain
 XM Satellite Radio, which offers in-vehicle satellite radio service

GME (Europe) brands: Cadillac, Corvette, Saab, HUMMER, Opel, Vauxhall and Chevrolet

GMLAAM (General Motors Latin America, Africa & Middle East) brands): Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Opel, Izuzu, Saab.
GMAP (Asia and Pacific) brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Daewoo .Holden, Opel, Saab, regional business operations:
 ACDelco,
 Allison Transmission Division
 GM Electro-Motive Division.

Environmental Strategy
The main objectives of General Motors’s environmental strategy is to reduce CO2 emissions in the short term and to introduce new propulsion technologies in the long run. The company’s goal is offer customers vehicles that can operate on many different energy sources. “The multi-tiered approach includes accelerating the development of electrically powered vehicles, stepping up efforts to replace fossil fuels and increasing the efficiency of gasoline and diesel engines,” said Carl-Peter Forster, GME President. GM Europe will invest EUR 700 million in the development of new engines and transmissions within the next five years. Their initial versions have already been unveiled at the IAA show. “Opel’s surprise for this year’s IAA also symbolises the versatility of our extensive environmental initiative. A concept car which combines electric propulsion and a turbo diesel engine in a way that is fundamentally different to previous hybrid propulsion designs,” added Carl-Peter Forster.
The main elements of General Motors’ environmental strategy are two vehicles whose European premiere will take place at the Frankfurt Motor Show: a HydroGen4 fuel cell vehicle and a Volt electric vehicle.


GM HydroGen4: Towards the long-term goal of zero emissions
GM HydroGen4 is the European version of the Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell. In the autumn of 2007, the first HydroGen4 vehicle – of a total of more than 100 to be made – will take to the roads in the US. The HydroGen4’s fuel cell stack consists of 440 series-connected cells. The entire system produces an electrical output of up to 93 kW.
With help from a 73 kW/100 hp synchronous electric motor, acceleration from zero to 100 km/h takes around 12 seconds. The front-wheel drive vehicle’s top speed is around 160 km/h..

GM Volt: The all-electric propulsion technology is already halfway between the concept and the final touches.