GM is one of the world's largest car and truck manufacturers, reaches back more than a century and

involves a vast scope of industrial activity around the world, mostly focused on motorized transportation
and the engineering and manufacturing that make it possible. Founded in 1908 as a Holding Company
for McLaughlin and Buick Stocks and allied in 1919, in Flint, as of 2012 it employs approximately
202,000 people around the world
General Motors was founded by William C. Durant on September 16,
1908 as a holding company after a 15-year contract with the McLaughlin's of Canada. Initially, GM held
only the Buick Motor Company, but it rapidly acquired more than twenty companies including
Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland, now known as Pontiac. Durant signed a 15-year contract in Canada
with the exchange of 500,000 shares of Buick stock for 500,000 shares of McLaughlin Stock. Dr.
Campbell, Durant's son-in-law, put 1,000,000 shares on the stock market in Chicago Buick.
General Motors has played a pivotal role in the global
auto industry for more than 100 years. From the first Buick horseless carriages to technological marvels
like the Chevrolet Volt, our products and innovations have always excelled at putting the world on
wheels. General motors history can be divided into following phases :

Creation: 1879-1909
At the turn of the 20th century there were fewer than 8,000 automobiles in America, many of them
powered by steam or electricity, others had gasoline engines. An unexpected turnout at the first New York
Auto Show in 1900, showed the magnitude of the publics fascination with the automobile. Over the next
few years, hundreds of fledgling companies would try to meet the demands of a growing market.
General Motors was founded by William Billy Durant on September 16, 1908.
Durant had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, MI before making his foray
into the automobile industry. At its inception GM held only the Buick Motor Company, but in a matter of
years would acquire more than 20 companies including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland, today known
as Pontiac.
In Germany, a company named Opel began by manufacturing
dependable sewing machines. Opel became a brand recognized worldwide after adding bicycles to their
product arsenal. In 1899, Opel entered the growing automobile market with the Opel-Patent-Motorwagen
System Lutzmann and became a part of General Motors thirty years later.

Acceleration: 1910-1929
Earlier inventions such as the electric light bulb, the telephone, and the radio marked a new era of
possibilities. In particular, the automobile sent the imagination racing and expanded the horizon upon
which people could dream. As demand for automobiles grew to unexpected heights in the 1920s, General
Motors set the pace of production, design, and marketing innovation for others to follow.
Adding Chevrolet, Vauxhall and Opel, diversified the selection and added to the
reach of GM. With the philosophy and strategy of a car for every purse and purpose, and a series of
landmark innovations that changed the automobile itself, GMs vehicles went beyond transportation,
becoming statements and aspirations in their own right. During these years GM also opened more than a
dozen new plants outside the United States.
The milestone 1927 Cadillac LaSalle, with curves rather than
sharp corners and a long, low stance, made people see cars as far more than just a mode of transport.

Designed by Harley Earl, the LaSalle was a world apart from the high and boxy Ford Model T, marking
the beginning of true automotive design. Earl would head GMs design studio until his retirement in 1959.

Emotion: 1939-1959
Hard times in America and political change in Europe throughout the 30s brought new uncertainty, but
GMs commitment to innovation continued unabated. The return of peace following World War II brought
a new optimism with consumers eager for goods that had been out of reach for so long. GM responded
with an unprecedented string of milestone designs that continue to inspire to this day.
In addition to innovations like independent front wheel suspension unibody construction,
and the one-piece steel roof, General Motors pushed the envelope in design with a succession of vehicles
including the 1949 Buick Road master, the Chevrolet Corvette and BelAir, and the 1959 Cadillac El
Dorado. These machines were as much fun to drive as they were to see drive by.
During the war GM supplied the Allies with more goods than any other company.
In 1940, former GM President William Knudsen was chosen by President Roosevelt as Chairman of the
new Wartime Office of Production Management. By 1942, one hundred percent of GMs production was
in support of the Allied war effort. GM delivered more than $12 billion worth of materials including
airplanes, trucks and tanks.

Revolution: 1960-1979
The 60s and 70s were a time of new challenges and great change. Environmental concerns, increased as
prices and foreign competition led to an unprecedented downsizing of vehicles across all GM vehicle
lines. It was the largest reengineering program ever undertaken in the industry, ushering in an age of
lighter, aerodynamic and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
In 1971, GM pioneered the use of engines that could run on low-lead or unleaded
gasoline. Two years later, General Motors was the first to offer an air bag in a production car. In 1974,
GM introduced the most important step in reducing emissions with the catalytic converter. This
technology, shared by General Motors, is still used by the entire auto industry.
There were storm clouds on the horizon, however. Germany and Japan, now
recovered from the devastation of World War II, began exporting cars to the U.S. in larger numbers, and
fuel price shocks sparked consumer interest in these new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. GM rushed to
develop smaller vehicles as well, but the company had been too large and too successful for too long to
change direction easily, and GMs undisputed dominance of the U.S. market began to erode.

Globalization: 1980-1999
Although General Motors was always active internationally, the 1980s and 1990s brought a new urgency
for GM to operate as a single global company, to improve the efficiency of its operations and better
compete with global competitors. GM also began a series of reorganizations in North America that led to
a single business unit there.
In 1982, GM marked its largest single production expansion outside of North
America with the opening of the new complex in Zaragoza, Spain. This facility immediately began
building the fuel-efficient Opel Corse. With joint ventures in China and India plus the additions of Saab
and HUMMER to the GM family, the company expanded both the reach and variety of vehicles sold
worldwide.

1995 was a big year for GM. Annual vehicle sales outside North America
exceeded three million units for the first time. Five million vehicles were sold in the United States that
year and GM entered into its first joint venture agreement in China. By the end of the 90s, the foundation
for global growth in the new millennium had been set.
During this period, GM also formed NUMMI, a joint-venture with
Toyota, and Saturn, a wholly new company focused on creating a new small car and a new way of doing
business. Lessons from these and other innovations were spread throughout GM, and the company
benefitted from a truck boom that saw millions of Americans adopt SUVs as their family transportation.
However, legacy costs from earlier years continued to weigh on the company, and Japanese, German, and
Korean competitors pushed into the lead in most passenger car segments.

Innovation and challenges: 2000-2008

By the start of the new millennium, GM had built a strong presence in emerging markets such as China
and Brazil, and had largely completed its transformation into a single global company. The creation of
GM Daewoo in 2002 gave GM a new organization specializing and engineering and manufacturing
smaller cars, proving an important boost to Chevrolets growth as a global brand. The design and quality
of GMs new cars improved significantly, but GM found it difficult to regain share from its offshore
competitors, and legacy cost from GMs decades as a larger, less efficient company continued to weigh on
financial results.
It was also a period of tremendous innovation at GM. The company continued to
push ahead with electric vehicle technology, developing a series of hydrogen powered fuel-cell concept
and demonstration vehicles. Then, in January 2007, GM shook the industry with the Chevrolet Volt
concept, a vehicle that could drive on battery power for daily commuting, then continue operating with a
range extender when the battery charge was depleted. The first production Volts were delivered to
customers in December 2010. GM also became an industry leader in flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on
either gasoline or E85, and developed a sophisticated two-mode hybrid system to significantly extend the
economy of full-size trucks and SUVs.
Notable new models included the Chevrolet Aveo small car, the Chevrolet
Equinox crossover, and the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters. The new Saturn Aura and
Chevrolet Malibu put GM back into the thick of the midsize car fight, and the Cadillac CTS began a
renaissance at Cadillac that is gaining momentum to this day.
However, in 2008, a major recession and global credit
crisis drove car sales to near depression levels and dried up private sources of capital. GM, critically short
of operating cash, received a bridge loan from the U.S. Treasury, under the conditions that the company
further accelerate a tough restructuring of its us operations that had been underway for several years.