General Motors was founded on September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, by William C. Durant, who used Buick as the foundation for a company that quickly absorbed Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Oakland (later Pontiac). Durant lost control twice, and under Alfred P. Sloan, GM developed a strategy of “a car for every purse and purpose” that made it the world’s largest automaker for most of the 20th century. After a 2009 bankruptcy and government rescue, GM today focuses on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac — including the full-size SUVs that dominate chauffeured fleets.

Timeline

Year Event
1908 GM founded by William Durant
1909 Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Oakland join
1911 Durant co-founds Chevrolet
1916 Durant regains control of GM via Chevrolet
1920 Durant ousted for good
1923 Alfred P. Sloan becomes president
1927 Harley Earl’s Art and Color Section
2009 Bankruptcy and restructuring

Durant the dealmaker

Billy Durant was a charismatic salesman who had built a horse-drawn carriage business. He created GM as a holding company, buying car makers and suppliers in a flurry of deals. Overextended, he lost control to bankers in 1910 — then co-founded Chevrolet with racing driver Louis Chevrolet, used its success to buy back control of GM in 1916, and lost it again in 1920.

Sloan’s system

Alfred P. Sloan organized GM’s brands into a price ladder — Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac — so customers could move up as they prospered. He introduced annual model changes and consumer financing, and GM hired Harley Earl to lead the industry’s first in-house styling department. GM overtook Ford and became the world’s largest automaker.

Postwar power and decline

GM dominated the American market for decades, but competition from Japanese and European makers, high costs and quality issues eroded its position from the 1970s onward.

Bankruptcy and rebirth

In 2009, GM went through a government-backed bankruptcy, shedding Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab. It emerged smaller and more profitable, focused on trucks, SUVs and electric vehicles through its Ultium platform.

GM’s SUVs and chauffeured travel

GM’s full-size SUVs — Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon XL and Cadillac Escalade — are the backbone of American chauffeured SUV fleets. See our Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon XL and Cadillac Escalade, and read the Chevrolet history.