GMC (marque)

GMC
Company type	Division of General Motors
Industry	Automotive
Founded	December 22, 1901
Founder	Max Grabowsky
Headquarters	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Products	Trucks, buses, vans, sport utility vehicles, crossovers
Parent	General Motors Company
Website	gmc.com

GMC is a manufacturer of trucks, vans, military vehicles, and Sport utility vehicles marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors. In January 2007, GMC was GM's second-largest-selling North American vehicle division after Chevrolet, ahead of Pontiac.

History

On December 22, 1901, Max Grabowsky established a company called the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, which developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed. The trucks utilized one-cylinder engines. In 1909, the company was purchased by General Motors to form the basis for the General Motors Truck Company, from which "GMC Truck" brand name was derived.

Another independent manufacturer purchased by GM that same year was Reliance Motor Car Company. Rapid and Reliance were merged in 1911, and in 1912 the marque "GMC Truck" was first shown at the New York International Auto Show. Some 22,000 trucks were produced that year, though GMC's contribution to that total was a mere 372 units. In GM's early decades, the initialism "GMC" was simply an abbreviation of "General Motors Corporation", and had some currency within GM referring to the corporate parent in general. Later "GMC" would become distinct as a division brand within the corporation, branding trucks and coaches; in contrast, the abbreviation for the overall corporation eventually ended up as "GM".

In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes. During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the United States Armed Forces.

In 1925, GM purchased a controlling interest in Yellow Coach, a bus manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois which was founded by John D. Hertz. After purchasing the remaining portion in 1943, GM renamed it GM Truck and Coach Division. The Division manufactured interurban coaches until 1980. Transit bus production ended in May 1987. The Canadian plant (in London, Ontario) produced buses from 1962 until July 1987. GM withdrew from the bus and coach market because of increased competition in the late 1970s and 1980s. Rights to the RTS model were sold to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation, while Motor Coach Industries of Canada purchased the Classic design.^[1]

In 2002, GMC released a book entitled, GMC: The First 100 Years, a complete history of the company.

GMC currently manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, light-duty trucks, and medium duty trucks. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes, and transit buses.

Similarity to Chevrolet

GMC Sierra working for FEMA.

Badge engineered Chevrolet Silverado.

GMC and Chevrolet trucks are virtually identical except for the grilles and nameplates, though their differences have varied over the years. While Chevrolet vehicles are sold exclusively at Chevrolet dealerships, GMC light trucks have been made available to Buick, Pontiac and Cadillac dealerships, in addition to being sold in separate franchises with medium duty, in addition to the light-duty models. This allowed GM dealers that did not sell Chevrolets to offer a full lineup of both cars and trucks by offering GMC's trucks alongside a "non-truck" division, usually the mid-range Pontiac. Between 1962 and 1972, most GMC vehicles were equipped with quad-headlights, while their Chevrolet clones were equipped with dual-headlights. In 1973, with GM’s introduction of the new "rounded line" series trucks, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became even more similar, ending production of GMC’s quad-headlight models, and setting the standard for the Chevrolet/GMC line of trucks for over thirty years. During this period, the sister models of the two companies (Silverado/Sierra, Blazer/Jimmy, Tahoe/Yukon, etc.) shared everything except for trims and prices. GM has recently begun a divergence in design between the two lines with the 2007 model Silverados and Sierras, which have some differences in sheet metal and style.

Front profile.

Side profile.

Today, for the most part, GMC offers the same trucks available under the Chevrolet brand. A GMC Sprint / Caballero, for example, was a rebadged Chevrolet El Camino, the Sierra is a rebadged Chevrolet Silverado, etc. Alongside sister brand Cadillac, all three share the Suburban/Tahoe SUV platform due to Cadillac's upscale Escalade and Escalade ESV brands, with GMC's Yukon Denali being closer to the Escalades.

In the United States GMC trucks are currently sold usually with Buick automobiles, typically at lower volumes than the equivalent Chevrolet trucks. GMC's trucks, vans, and SUVs offer more options and standard features than Chevrolet, while Chevrolet is often offered as an entry-level car.^{[citation needed]} In Canada, GMC is sold by Buick-GMC dealerships, usually at volumes equivalent or greater than the comparable Chevrolet trucks.

In 2007 GMC introduced the Acadia, a crossover SUV, which was the division's first unibody vehicle whose predecessor, the GMT-360 based Envoy, was discontinued with the closure of GM's Moraine, Ohio plant on December 23, 2008. In 2009 GMC introduced the Terrain, a mid-size crossover SUV based on GM's Theta platform which slots below the Acadia as GMC's smallest crossover, replacing the Pontiac Torrent and sharing no sheetmetal with the Chevrolet Equinox.

GMC models

Light-duty trucks

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
C and K Series	1960	1998	half–, three-quarter– and one-ton trucks, with Sierra, Sierra Grande, High Sierra, and Sierra Classic trim lines
Sprint	1971	1977
Caballero	1970	1987
S-15	1982	1990
Sierra	1988	current
Syclone	1991	1993
Sonoma	1991	2004
Canyon	2004	current

Medium-duty trucks

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
P-Chassis	1950s?	c.2000	Value Vans. Line sold to Navistar, now marketed under the Workmate brand.
L-Series	1960	c.1984	Steel Tilt Cab
TopKick	1980	1996
C-Series	1980	2009
Forward	1980s	2010
W-Series	late 1980s	2010
T-Series	1994	2010
TopKick	2003	2009	Model used for Ironhide in the Transformers film series

Heavy-duty trucks

Model	Introduced	Discontinued
DLR/F/“Crackerbox”	1959	1968
B-Series	1960s	1960s
HM 9500	1965	1976
Astro 95	1968	1988
JH 9500	1971	1978
General	1977	1988
Brigadier	1978	1988

Buses

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
P-series	1940s	1980	“Parlor” (highway) coaches
“Old Look”	1940	1969	transit
“New Look”	1959	1986	transit
RTS	1977	1987	transit
Classic	1982	1987	transit
B-series	1966	2003	school bus
S-series	1986	1989	school bus (forward control)

Vans

Model	Introduced	Discontinued
Handi-Van	1964	1970
Handi-Bus	1964	1970
Rally	1970	1996
Vandura	1970	1996
Safari	1985	2005
Savana	1996	current

SUVs

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
Suburban	1937	1999	Renamed Yukon XL
Jimmy	1969	2005
S-15 Jimmy	1983	2005
Tracker	1989	1991	Canada only
Typhoon	1992	1993
Yukon	1992	current
Envoy	1998	2000
Yukon XL	2000	current
Envoy	2002	2009
Acadia	2007	current
Terrain	2010	current

Motorhomes

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
GMC motorhome	1973	1978

Military vehicles

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
CCKW	1943	1945?
DUKW	1943	1945?

Gallery

A 1966 GMC C-3000 or C-3500 converted for railroad service in Pennsylvania.

A 1948 PD-3751 bus built for Greyhound Lines.

References

^ Stauss, Ed (1988). The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses. Woodland Hills, CA: Stauss Publications. pp. 29–32, 87, 102–105. ISBN 0-9619830-0-0.

External links

[1] Stauss, Ed (1988). The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses. Woodland Hills, CA: Stauss Publications. pp. 29–32, 87, 102–105. ISBN 0-9619830-0-0.

[1]