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General Motors Corporation, also known as GM, is the world's largest car manufacturer. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 327,000 people around the world. With global headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, USA, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo (now sold under the Chevrolet and Suzuki brands in the United States, Europe and in some other countries), Holden, Hummer, Oldsmobile (now defunct), Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall. GM operates a finance company, GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and insurance. GM's OnStar subsidiary is a vehicle safety, security and information service provider.
GM is the majority shareholder in GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. of South Korea, and has product, powertrain and purchasing collaborations with Suzuki Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. of Japan. GM also has advanced technology collaborations with Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan, DaimlerChrysler AG and BMW AG of Germany, and vehicle manufacturing ventures with several automakers around the world, including Toyota, Suzuki, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation of China, AutoVAZ and Avtotor of Russia and Renault SA of France.
GM Parts and accessories are sold under the GM, GM Performance Parts, GM Goodwrench and ACDelco brands through GM Service and Parts Operations, which supplies GM dealerships and distributors worldwide. GM engines and transmissions are marketed through GM Powertrain. GM's largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
General Motors was founded in 1908 in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant, and acquired Oldsmobile later that year. The next year, Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland and several others. In 1909, General Motors acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck. A Rapid became the first truck to conquer Pikes Peak in 1909. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to the company's bankers, because of the large amount of debt taken on in its acquisitions.
Durant left the firm and helped establish the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911 with brothers Gaston and Louis Chevrolet. He returned to head GM in 1916, with financing by Pierre S. du Pont. Chevrolet entered the General Motors fold in 1917; its first GM car was the 1918 Chevrolet 490. Du Pont removed Durant from management in 1920, and various Du Pont interests held large or controlling share holdings until about 1950.
In 1918 GM purchased the McLaughlin Motor Car Company of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, manufacturer of the McLaughlin-Buick automobile, and renamed it General Motors of Canada Ltd., with R.S. "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin as its first president.
GM surpassed Ford Motor Company in the 1920s thanks to the leadership of Alfred Sloan. While Ford continued to refine the manufacturing process to reduce cost, Sloan was inventing new ways of managing a complex worldwide organization, while paying special attention to consumer demands. Car buyers no longer wanted the cheapest and most basic model; they wanted style, power, and prestige, which GM offered them. Thanks to consumer financing, easy monthly payments allowed far more people to buy GM cars, while Ford was moralistically opposed to credit.
GM delivered the first commercial hybrid vehicle and was early innovator in hybrid vehicle development, building Diesel-electric trains since the 1930s (but without stored energy recovery) and buses since the 1990s. In May 2004, GM delivered the world's first full sized hybrid pickups, and introduced a hybrid passenger car. In 2005, the new Opel Astra Diesel Hybrid concept vehicle was introduced. The 2006 Saturn VUE Green Line will be the first hybrid passenger vehicle from GM, but it too is a mild design. GM has hinted at new hybrid technologies to be employed that will be optimized for higher speeds such as are encountered in freeway driving. New hybrid vehicles include a 2007 Yukon, the Saturn Aura and an updated Saturn Vue. GM also introduced the Chevrolet Volt, which is a plug-in hybrid.
GM’s current and future hybrid models:
* 2006 GMC Sierra Hybrid Pickup Truck (extended cab model)
* 2006 Chevy Silverado Hybrid Pickup Truck (extended cab model)
* 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid
* 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid
* 2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid
* 2009 Cadillac Escalade
* 2009 Silverado Pickup Truck (crew cab model)
* 2009 Sierra Pickup Truck (crew cab model)
Each of GM's automotive divisions were once each targeted to specific market segments and, despite some shared components, each distinguished itself from its stablemates with unique styling and (to some extent) technology. The shared components and common corporate management created substantial economies of scale, while the distinctions between the divisions created an orderly upgrade path, with an entry-level buyer starting out with a practical and economical Chevrolet and, (assuming progressive prosperity of the buyer), moving through offerings of the several divisions until the purchase of a Cadillac. The divisions were not competing with each other as much as passing along the same customer, who would thus always be buying a GM product, with the profits flowing to this single corporation.
The postwar industry became enamored with the concept of "planned obsolescence", implemented by both technical and styling innovations, with a three year product cycle typical within the industry. In this cycle, a new basic body shell is introduced and then modified for the next two years by minor styling changes. GM, Ford, and Chrysler competed vigorously in this new environment.
By 1958, the divisional distinctions began to blur, with the availability of high-performance engines in Chevrolets and Pontiacs, and the introduction of higher trim models such as the Chevrolet Impala and Pontiac Bonneville that were priced in line with some of Oldsmobile and Buick's offerings. By the time that Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick introduced similarly styled and priced compact models for 1961, the old "step-up" structure between the divisions was nearly over.
By the mid 1960s, most of GM's vehicles were built on a few common platforms and in the 1970s, began to use nearly identical body panel stampings, differing only in internal and external trim items. This was seen especially in the compact passenger vehicles offered by the divisions. Nonetheless, the 1960-75 period was perhaps the greatest in GM's history, as it eventually held slightly over 50% of the U.S. market. By comparison, U.S. market share in 2005 has fallen to 26%.
The subcompact Chevrolet Vega, introduced for the 1971 model year damaged GM's reputation more than perhaps any other vehicle in its history. Plagued by rust problems and an aluminum engine that was prone to failure at low mileage, the car was not designed and built to the standards consumers expected from GM.
By the 1980s, GM frequently "rebadged" one division's successful vehicle into several models across the divisions, all positioned close to one another in the market place. Thus, a new GM model's main competition might be another model spawned off the same platform. This led to so-called market "cannibalization", where GM's respective divisions spent time stealing sales from one another, while other more co-ordinated efforts (notably from the Japanese manufacturers) were allowed to increase their market penetration. Even today, the company's GMT360 mid-sized light truck platform has, since its inception in 2002, spawned the basic Chevrolet Trailblazer, an extended version of the Trailblazer, the Oldsmobile Bravada, the GMC Envoy, the Envoy XUV (an extended Envoy with a reconfigurable tailgate) and later, the Isuzu Ascender, Buick Rainier, and, to a lesser extent, the Saab 9-7X. Though each model had a more or less unique mission, without custom engine choices or radically different suspension settings and trim choices, the cars can hardly be discerned from one another.
In the late 1990s, the U.S. economy was on the rise and GM and Ford gained market share producing enormous profits primarily from the sale of light trucks and sport-utility vehicles. From 2000 to 2001, the Federal Reserve, in a move to quell the stock market, made twelve successive interest rate increases. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, a severe stock market decline magnified the effect of GM's history pension and benefit fund underfunding, precipitating a crisis. At the same time, this crisis happened at other U.S. companies with similar histories, such as Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and United Airlines. GM began its Keep America Rolling campaign, which boosted sales, and other auto makers were forced to follow suit. The U.S. automakers saw gross margins deteriorate.
In 2004, GM redirected resources from the development of new sedans to an accelerated refurbishment of their light trucks and SUVs for introduction as 2007 models in early 2006. Shortly after this decision, fuel prices increased by over 50% and this in turn affected both the trade-in value of used vehicles and the perceived desirability of new offerings in these market segments. The current marketing plan is currently to extensively tout these revised vehicles as offering the best fuel economies in their class (of vehicle). GM claims its hybrid trucks will have gas-mileage improvements of 25%, bettering the current fuel-economy leader, Toyota.
In the summer of 2005 GM announced that effective immediately, its corporate chrome emblem "Mark of Excellence" will begin appearing on all recently introduced and all-new 2006 model vehicles produced and sold in North America. The move is seen as an attempt by GM to link its name and vehicle brands more closely. The company's vehicle brands include Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Saab, Hummer and Saturn.
GM promoted sales through an employee discount to all buyers. Marketed as the lowest possible price, GM cleared an inventory buildup of 2005 models to make way for its 2006 lineup. While the promotion was a temporary shot in the arm for sales, it did not help the company's bottom line. Thus, GM has begun a renewed emphasis on product features in its ads, not just price.
source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors |
