General Motors Company is a United States automaker. General Motors (GM) cars and trucks are sold under the major brand names Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC. Former General Motors brands have included Hummer, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn. GM’s corporate headquarters are in Detroit, Michigan.
The General Motors Company was organized by the American manufacturer William C. Durant in 1908. It was incorporated as the General Motors Corporation in 1916. The company became hugely successful, even turning a profit during the Great Depression years of the 1930’s. After World War II (1939-1945), profits soared.
Some of the classic cars made by GM included the Cadillac Eldorado of the 1950’s and 1960’s, with its exaggerated tail fins and wraparound windshields. Many of the muscle cars (large cars with powerful engines) of the 1960’s and 1970’s were built by GM. They included Pontiac’s GTO and Trans Am and Chevrolet’s Camaro and Chevelle. The car that is perhaps most associated with the classic American automobile, the 1957 Chevy Bel Air, was a GM model.
By the 1980’s, however, GM’s market share had begun to slip. GM consolidated operations, closed some plants, and reduced its work force. Despite these measures, by 2008, GM needed a financial bailout of billions of dollars from the U.S. federal government. The next year, GM needed still more money. United States President Barack Obama demanded that GM’s chief executive resign and gave the company 60 days to restructure for government funding to continue. In June 2009, the company filed for bankruptcy. When the General Motors Corporation emerged from bankruptcy, it sold its good assets to a new company, mostly owned by the U.S. government, called the General Motors Company. GM closed some of its U.S. manufacturing plants and dozens of U.S. dealerships with the restructuring. In 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department sold the last of its stock in GM, ending the government’s bailout of the nation’s largest automaker.
In 2014, a scandal erupted over GM’s handling of faulty ignition switches in some of its car models. The switches caused the engines to shut off unexpectedly as the cars were being driven, disabling the airbag, power steering, and power brakes. The flaw was linked to 124 deaths and many injuries. GM recalled millions of vehicles. It was revealed that GM knew about the switch flaw for more than 10 years before issuing a recall. The company paid billions of dollars in civil and criminal penalties and legal settlements to resolve the scandal.
