Portal:General Motors
Portal maintenance status: (October 2018)
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Introduction
General Motors Company, commonly referred to as General Motors (GM), is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Detroit that designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes vehicles and vehicle parts, and sells financial services. With global headquarters in Detroit's Renaissance Center, GM manufactures cars and trucks in 35 countries. Its predecessor company was originally founded by William C. Durant on September 16, 1908 as a holding company. The company is the largest American automobile manufacturer, and one of the world's largest. As of 2018, General Motors is ranked #10 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
General Motors produces vehicles in 37 countries under various brands, the largest of which are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Holden, Wuling, Baojun, and Jiefang. Annual worldwide sales volume reached a milestone of 10 million vehicles in 2016. The company's main market is China, which accounts for 40% of global sales volume. Its second largest market is its home country of the United States.
Selected general articles
The GM Technical Center is a General Motors facility in Warren, Michigan. The campus has been the center of the company's engineering effort since its inauguration in 1956. In 2000 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; fourteen years later it was designated a National Historic Landmark, primarily for its architecture. Read more...
GM Uzbekistan (Uzbek: JM O‘zbekiston, ЖМ Ўзбекистон; Russian: Джи Эм Узбекистан) is a joint venture between the Uzbek government, OJSC UzAvtosanoat (75%) and the American General Motors Company (25%) for the manufacturing of automobiles, and is located in Asaka, Uzbekistan. Read more...- HRL Laboratories (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories), was the research arm of Hughes Aircraft. It is a dedicated research center, established in 1960, in Malibu. Currently owned by General Motors Corporation and Boeing, the research facility is housed in two large, white multi-story buildings overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Read more...
- United Australian Automobile Industries (UAAI) was an automobile model sharing firm that operated in Australia between 1987 and 1996 as the result of an agreement between Holden (the Australian subsidiary of General Motors) and Toyota Australia. The joint venture resulted in the two companies sharing production of locally produced automobiles by selling their models under both brands.
UAAI produced three rebadged vehicles: the Holden Apollo (based on the Toyota Camry), Holden Nova (based on the Toyota Corolla) and Toyota Lexcen (based on the Holden Commodore). Read more... - Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) is the officially designated performance vehicle partner of Australian marque, Holden. Established in 1987 and based in Clayton, Victoria, the company modified Holden models such as the standard-wheelbase Commodore, long-wheelbase Caprice and commercial Ute for domestic and export sale. Over the years, Holden Special Vehicles had also modified other non-Holden cars within the General Motors portfolio, in very low volumes.
Cars produced by Holden Special Vehicles have, in the main, been marketed under the HSV brand name. However, in the early years, some have retailed under the Holden name in Australia whereas most cars for export (other than in New Zealand and Singapore) have retailed under different names (namely, Vauxhall and Chevrolet Special Vehicles). Read more...
Ally Financial Inc. is a bank holding company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. The company provides financial services including online banking, car finance, corporate lending, vehicle insurance, mortgages, credit cards, and brokerage firm services.
Ally is ranked 19th on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets. It is the largest car finance company in the U.S. by volume and serves approximately 18,500 automotive dealerships and 4.3 million retail consumers. Via its SmartAuction online marketplace for auto auctions, launched in 2000, the company has sold more than 5 million vehicles including 356,000 vehicles sold in 2017. Read more...- Chevrolet Europe GmbH was a subsidiary company of GM Korea (itself a subsidiary of U.S.-based automaker General Motors), founded in 2005, with headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland. It provided Chevrolet brand automobiles most of which was made in South Korea to the European market.
In 2013 General Motors announced that it was to withdraw the Chevrolet brand, with the exception of the Corvette and Camaro, from Europe except Russia and CIS member nations, in order to concentrate on its Opel/Vauxhall brand in this market, beginning in 2016. Read more...
Display of a Hughes satellite inside the Space Shuttle Explorer.
Hughes Electronics Corporation was formed in 1985 when Hughes Aircraft was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to General Motors for $5 billion. The surviving parts of Hughes Electronics are today known as the DirecTV Group.
Howard Hughes donated Hughes Aircraft to the newly formed Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1953 allegedly as a way of avoiding taxes on its huge income. Hughes left no will and following his death in 1976 there were numerous claims to his estate. A Hughes executive and a Hughes lawyer claimed they had the right to set up an "executive committee" to take over the running of the HHMI and its Hughes Aircraft subsidiary. Read more...
1953 Oldsmobile Starfire show car at the Motorama auto show, Waldorf Astoria – 1953
The General Motors Motorama was an auto show staged by GM from 1949 to 1961. These automobile extravaganzas were designed to whet public appetite and boost automobile sales with displays of fancy prototypes, concept vehicles and other special or halo models. Motorama grew out of Alfred P. Sloan's yearly industrial luncheons at New York City's Waldorf Astoria, beginning in 1931. They were almost invariably held in conjunction with the New York Auto Show, that for many years was held traditionally in the first week of January. Read more...- Rochester Products Division (RPD) was a division of General Motors that manufactured carburetors, and related components including emissions control devices and cruise control systems in Rochester, New York. In 1995 Rochester became part of Delphi, which in turn became a separate company four years later, and continues to manufacture fuel injection systems in Rochester, now part of General Motors Automotive Components Holdings- Rochester Operations. Read more...
GM Korea Company (Korean: 한국지엠주식회사, IPA: [hanɡuːk tɕi em]) is South Korea's third largest automobile manufacturer and a subsidiary of General Motors. GM Korea's roots go back to the former Daewoo which was split from its parent company, Daewoo Group, in 2001. It has five manufacturing facilities in South Korea as well as a vehicle assembly facility in Vietnam. In addition, GM Korea provides region and brand-specific vehicle assembly kits for assembly by GM affiliates in the United States, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Germany, India, and Mexico. In 2008, GM Korea built more than 1.9 million vehicles, including CKD products. It now produces vehicles and kits for Chevrolet, Holden, Opel and Buick that are offered in more than 150 markets on six continents. GM Korea also has design, engineering, research & development facilities that are involved in development for various GM products, above all small-size cars. Read more...- FAW-GM Light Duty Commercial Vehicle (FAW-GM) is a commercial vehicle manufacturing company headquartered in Changchun, China, and a 50:50 joint venture between FAW Group and General Motors. It was founded in 2009 and its activities include the Harbin Light Vehicle factory and FAW Hongta Yunnan Automobile Co Ltd. The plants were named as FAW Harbin Light Duty Vehicle Co., FAW-GM Hongta Yunnan Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Changchun Plant. The company builds Jie Fang pickups and light commercial vehicles, with the possibility of building models for GM to sell under their marques. Read more...
- SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile (上汽通用五菱汽车股份有限公司 and abbreviated as SGMW) is a joint venture between SAIC Motor, General Motors, and Liuzhou Wuling Motors Co Ltd. Based in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in southwestern China, it makes commercial and consumer vehicles sold in China under the Wuling and Baojun marques, respectively. A major mass-volume producer in the Chinese interior, in 2011 SGMW sold 1,286,000 vehicles in China, 1,445,000 in 2012, and aims to sell 2 million cars annually. Its offerings range in price from US$5,000 to US$10,000.
SGMW is one of the largest manufacturers of microvans in China. Known as mianbao che, or “bread box cars,” these pint-size commercial vehicles are no larger than a compact car and have sold well in the poorer interior. One of its popular microvans is the Wuling Sunshine. Selling more than 450,000 units per year, SGMW has claimed no one model outsells it in China. Read more...
William Crapo "Billy" Durant (December 8, 1861 – March 18, 1947) was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, who created the system of multi-brand holding companies with different lines of cars; and the co-founder of General Motors with Frederic L. Smith, and of Chevrolet with Louis Chevrolet. He also founded Frigidaire. Read more...
General Motors Financial Company, Inc. is the financial services arm of General Motors. The company is a global provider of auto finance, with operations in the United States, Latin America, Canada, Europe, and China. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, where it is one of the city's largest employers.
Founded in 1992 as AmeriCredit Corp., the company was acquired by GM in October 2010 and renamed General Motors Financial Company, Inc. The company provides retail loan and lease programs through auto dealers for customers across the credit spectrum. They also offer commercial lending products, such as retail floorplan, construction and real estate loans, or insurance for car dealerships. Read more...- The Industries Mécaniques Maghrébines S.A. (IMM) are a Tunisian car manufacturer headquartered in the city of Kairouan. The company was founded in 1982 and closed for the first time in 1988; the plant was reopened in 1991. Since then, the manufacturer has formed subsidiaries to distribute its vehicles in Carthage, Tunis and Oued Smar, Algeria.
The company is a joint-venture between the General Motors Company (20 per cent), Isuzu Motors Ltd. (10 per cent) and the locomotive builder General Motors du Tunisie S.A. (70 per cent). The latter provides the staff for the company. Read more...
The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is a type of inline internal combustion four-cylinder engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft. Where it is inclined, it is sometimes called a slant-four. In a specification chart or when an abbreviation is used, an inline-four engine is listed either as I4 or L4 (for longitudinal, to avoid confusion between the digit 1 and the letter I).
The inline-four layout is in perfect primary balance and confers a degree of mechanical simplicity which makes it popular for economy cars. However, despite its simplicity, it suffers from a secondary imbalance which causes minor vibrations in smaller engines. These vibrations become more powerful as engine size and power increase, so the more powerful engines used in larger cars generally are more complex designs with more than four cylinders. Read more...
The GM Small Gasoline Engine (SGE) is a family of small-displacement three- and four-cylinder gasoline engines ranging from 1.0 L to 1.5 L, developed by Adam Opel AG, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), MG Motor (MG), Shanghai GM (SGM) and the Pan-Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC).
The new global family is designed to improve fuel economy, performance, and emissions, reduce noise and vibrations. To achieve this, it features lightweight design and advanced technologies like gasoline direct injection, turbocharging, variable length intake manifold and alternative fuel compatibility. It utilizes modular approach with interchangeable components that can be suited to specific application. Read more...
Volvo Trucks (Swedish: Volvo Lastvagnar) (stylized as VOLVO) is a global truck manufacturer based in Gothenburg, Sweden, owned by AB Volvo. In 2016, it was the world’s second largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks.
Volvo Group was reorganised on 1 January 2012 and as a part of the process, Volvo Trucks ceased to be a separate company and was instead incorporated into Volvo Group Trucks, with Volvo’s other truck brands, Renault Trucks, Mack Trucks and UD Trucks. Read more...- General Motors of Canada Company (French: La Compagnie General Motors du Canada), commonly known as GM Canada, is the Canadian subsidiary of General Motors. It is headquartered at the Canadian Regional Engineering Centre in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, GM Canada received a combined loan commitment of C$3 billion of financial assistance from the federal and provincial governments amid declining sales. Read more...
- The GM Ecotec engine, also known by its codename L850, is a family of all-aluminium inline-four engines, displacing between 2.0 and 2.5 litres. While these engines were based on the GM Family II engine, the architecture was substantially re-engineered for the new Ecotec application produced since 2000. This engine family replaced the GM Family II engine, the GM 122 engine, the Saab H engine, and the Quad 4 engine. It is manufactured in multiple locations, to include Spring Hill Manufacturing, in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Read more...
- A V6, 24-valve, DOHC engine
A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankshaft in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at a 60 or 90 degree angle to each other. The V6 is one of the most compact engine configurations, usually ranging from 2.0 L to 4.3 L displacement, and it is shorter than the inline 4. Because of its short length, the V6 fits well in the widely used transverse engine front-wheel drive layout. Read more...
General Motors do Brasil is the largest subsidiary of the General Motors in South America and the second largest operation outside the United States. In 2005 it completed 80 years of operation in Brazil. The company was founded in 1925 and operated in rented houses, located in the historic district of Ipiranga in São Paulo.
In the early days the company only assembled cars using parts imported from the United States. After five years, GMB officially opened in 1930 with its first factory in São Caetano do Sul – São Paulo. In 1958 a second factory was opened Sao Jose dos Campos – São Paulo, officially inaugurated a year later by the President Juscelino Kubitschek. Read more...- The Family 1 is a straight-4 piston engine that was developed by Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors to replace the Opel CIH engines for use on mid-range cars from Opel/Vauxhall. Originally produced at the Aspern engine plant, production was moved to the Szentgotthard engine plant in Hungary with the introduction of the DOHC version. GM do Brasil at São José dos Campos, GMDAT at Bupyeong and GM North America at Toluca also build these engines.
The Family 1 engines are inline-4 cylinder engines with belt-driven single or double overhead camshafts in an aluminum cylinder head with a cast iron engine block. GM do Brasil versions were also capable of running on ethanol. These engines are sometimes referred to as "Small-block" engines by enthusiasts; in contrast to the larger Family II engines which are sometimes referred to as the "Big-block" engines. Read more...
The Winton Motor Carriage Company was a pioneer United States automobile manufacturer based in Cleveland, Ohio. Winton was one of the first American companies to sell a motor car. Read more...
DirecTV (stylized as DIRECTV) is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider based in El Segundo, California and is a subsidiary of AT&T. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean/Americas. Its primary competitors are Dish Network and cable television providers. On July 24, 2015, after receiving approval from the United States Federal Communications Commission and United States Department of Justice, AT&T acquired DirecTV in a transaction valued at $67.1 billion.
DirecTV provides television and audio services to subscribers through satellite transmissions. Services include the equivalent of many local television stations, broadcast television networks, subscription television services, satellite radio services, and private video services. Subscribers have access to hundreds of channels, so its competitors are cable television service and other satellite-based services. Read more...
GMC (General Motors Truck Company), formally the GMC Division of General Motors LLC, is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that primarily focuses on trucks and utility vehicles. GMC sells pickup and commercial trucks, buses, vans, military vehicles, and sport utility vehicles marketed worldwide by General Motors. Read more...
Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its subsidiary Progress Rail Services.
Electro-Motive Diesel traces its roots to the Electro-Motive Engineering Corporation, a designer and marketer of gasoline-electric self-propelled rail cars founded in 1922 and later renamed Electro-Motive Company (EMC). In 1930, General Motors purchased Electro-Motive Company and the Winton Engine Co. and in 1941 expanded EMC's realm to locomotive engine manufacturing as Electro-Motive Division (EMD). Read more...- Cadillac /ˈkædɪlæk/, formally the Cadillac Motor Car Division, is a division of the U.S.-based General Motors (GM) that markets luxury vehicles worldwide. Its primary markets are the United States, Canada, and China, but Cadillac-branded vehicles are distributed in 34 additional markets worldwide. Historically, Cadillac automobiles have always held a place at the top of the luxury field within the United States. In 2017, Cadillac's U.S. sales were 156,440 vehicles and its global sales were 356,467 vehicles.
Cadillac is among the oldest automobile brands in the world, second in the United States only to fellow GM marque Buick. The firm was founded from the remnants of the Henry Ford Company in 1902. It was named after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded Detroit, Michigan. The Cadillac crest is based on his coat of arms. Read more...
General Motors South Africa, or GMSA, is a wholly owned subsidiary of American automobile manufacturer General Motors. It manufacturers and distributes automobiles under the Chevrolet, Opel and Isuzu brands. The company is headquartered in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Founded in 1913, GMSA initially distributed Chevrolet vehicles before beginning to manufacture and distribute vehicles of all of GM's brands in 1926, with the Chevrolet Series AA Capitol. By the 1960s this included the British Vauxhall marque. Read more...
Fleetwood Metal Body was an automobile coachbuilder formed on April 1, 1909. Its name derives from Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, home of the company at the start, and lived on for decades in the form of the Cadillac Fleetwood and various Fleetwood trim lines on Cadillac cars. Read more...- Allison Transmission is an American manufacturer of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors including bus, refuse, fire, construction, distribution, military and specialty applications. With headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, Allison Transmission has regional offices all over the world and manufacturing facilities in Indianapolis, Chennai, India, and Szentgotthárd, Hungary. Read more...
- This List of GM platforms contains automobile platform used both at present and historically by
General Motors.
Originally, GM used a Latin alphabet letter scheme to name its platforms, which were aimed at vehicle families in similar market niches. For example, the E platform Oldsmobile Toronado personal luxury coupe was redesigned significantly through four generations from 1966 through 1992, but retained the same letter designation throughout that time. During that span the vehicle grew from its original 211" as large as 220" then shrank to 188", and shifted from traditional body-on-frame construction to unibody, with the platform changing but not its designation. Read more... - North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service Module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, the Space Shuttle orbiter and the B-1 Lancer.
Through a series of mergers and sales, North American Aviation became part of North American Rockwell, which later became Rockwell International and is now part of Boeing. Read more... - GM Certified Service is an auto repair service for General Motors. In 2011, GM replaced the Goodwrench brand in the US with Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet, and GMC Certified Service brands (Canada followed in 2014). Read more...
GM-AvtoVAZ is a joint venture in Russia between General Motors and AvtoVAZ set up in 2001 and began producing the Chevrolet Niva, based on the Lada Niva, at its factory in Tolyatti from 2002. Though both companies have an equal share of ownership, the venture is managed exclusively by General Motors. Read more...
OnStar Corporation is a subsidiary of General Motors that provides subscription-based communications, in-vehicle security, emergency services, hands-free calling, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote diagnostics systems throughout the United States, Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, Brazil, and Argentina. A similar service is known as Opel OnStar in western Europe and ChevyStar in Latin American markets (except in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina). In September 2011 the president of OnStar stated that the service had more than six million customers. On 9 May 2018, Vauxhall Motors announced that Vauxhall OnStar, alongside Opel OnStar services, will cease to operate after December 31, 2020, following Vauxhall Motors and Opel being purchased from General Motors by Groupe PSA.
A new aftermarket interior rear-view mirror with a built-in OnStar module, branded as OnStar FMV, became publicly available on July 24, 2011. It provides some of the features an OEM system has, such as Automatic Crash Response, Stolen Vehicle Tracking, Turn-by-Turn Navigation, and Roadside Assistance. Read more...
Terex Corporation is an American worldwide manufacturer of lifting and material handling solutions for a variety of industries, including construction, infrastructure, quarrying, recycling, energy, mining, shipping, transportation, refining and utilities. The company's major business segments include aerial work platforms, construction, cranes, material handling & port solutions and materials processing. Terex has more than 22,000 employees and operates manufacturing facilities throughout the world. Terex offers financial products and services to assist in the acquisition of Terex equipment through Terex Financial Services. Read more...
General Motors India Private Limited is a partnership between General Motors and SAIC that is engaged in the automobile business in India. General Motors has 93% stake in this partnership and the remaining 7% is held by SAIC. It is the 5th largest automobile manufacturing company in India after Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors and Mahindra. After 21 years of operations in India, General Motors announced that it will stop selling cars in India by the end of 2017, as a part of its global restructuring actions. Read more...
A restored Yellow Coach Model Z built for the Fifth Avenue Coach Co.
The Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company (informally Yellow Coach) was an early manufacturer of passenger buses in the United States. Between 1923 and 1943, Yellow Coach built transit buses, electric-powered trolley buses, and parlor coaches.
Founded in Chicago in 1923 by John D. Hertz as a subsidiary of his Yellow Cab Company, the company was renamed Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company in 1925 when General Motors (GM) purchased a majority stake. After GM completely acquired the company in 1943, it was merged with GM's truck division to form the GM Truck & Coach Division. Read more...
General Motors Europe (often abbreviated to GM Europe) was responsible for the operation of General Motors ("GM") businesses in Europe. The subsidiary was established by GM in 1986 and operated 14 production and assembly facilities in 9 countries, and employed around 54,500 people. GM's core European brands were England-based Vauxhall and Germany-based Opel, which both sell much the same range of cars in different markets. GM also owned the Swedish Saab until early 2010 and sold Chevrolet models between 2005 and 2015.
The U.S. brand Cadillac is imported into Europe in small quantities. In 2009, General Motors (GM) announced to move its European headquarters from Zurich, Switzerland to Rüsselsheim, Germany to strengthen its German subsidiary Opel.
On March 6, 2017, General Motors (GM) and Groupe PSA announced their agreement that PSA would buy GM's Vauxhall and Opel subsidiaries in a deal worth £2.2 Billion. Read more...- Buick (/ˈbjuːɪk/), formally the Buick Motor Division, is an automobile brand of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). It has the distinction of being the oldest active American marque of automobile, and was the company that established General Motors in 1908. Before the establishment of General Motors, GM founder William C. Durant had served as Buick's general manager and major investor. Buick also has the distinction of being the first production automobile maker in the world to equip its cars with overhead valve engines, which it did in 1904.
For much of its existence in the North American market, Buick has been marketed as a premium automobile brand, selling luxury vehicles positioned above GM's mainstream brands, while below the flagship luxury Cadillac division. Read more...
Did you know...
- ... that Yue Qi was a winner of the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology as a graduate student, and then went on to do research for General Motors?
- ... that among American architectural artist Edwin D. Mott's aerial depictions was the General Motors building at the 1939 New York World's Fair?
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Selected images
Corvette Racing Team in the American Le Mans Series
2nd generation Buick LaCrosse, an example of GM's revival following its restructuring in the aftermath of the Great Recession
2008 Chevrolet "Impala" themed NASCAR race car driven by NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson
The Holden VE Commodore of James Courtney (Holden Racing Team) at the 2012 Clipsal 500 Adelaide
E85 FlexFuel Chevrolet Impala LT 2009 (USA)
The Chevrolet Bolt EV was released in California by late 2016
Chevrolet Suburban, the longest continuous production automobile nameplate
National Guardsmen with machine guns overlooking Chevrolet factories number nine and number four
Sequel, a fuel cell-powered vehicle from GM
GM World Headquarters in Detroit
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in electric vehicle
The all-electric General Motors EV1 was introduced in California in 1996
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