The History of General Motors: How Durant's Holding Company Became GM

General Motors at a glance

Durant's holding company (1908–1920)

William Durant was a carriage maker who had turned Buick into America's best-selling make. On 16 September 1908 he set up General Motors as a holding company, and the next day it bought Buick. Within a year GM also owned Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland and several smaller firms, including the Rapid and Reliance truck companies. In 1909 the group sold about 25,000 cars. The story of its prestige division is told in the history of Cadillac.

Durant expanded faster than his money allowed, and in 1910 a group of bankers took control. He answered by founding Chevrolet with the racing driver Louis Chevrolet in 1911, built it into a success and used Chevrolet shares to win GM back in 1916. On 13 October 1916 the business became General Motors Corporation, and in 1918 Chevrolet joined the group. The GMAC finance arm followed in 1919. A year later the du Pont family, now the largest shareholder, removed Durant for good.

Sloan's ladder of brands (1920s–1930s)

Alfred P. Sloan became president in 1923 and turned a loose collection of companies into a managed corporation. Each division was given its own price band, from Chevrolet at the bottom through Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick to Cadillac at the top, so that buyers could move up the ladder without leaving GM. Annual styling changes encouraged them to trade in their cars more often. This system beat Ford's single Model T strategy.

GM also went abroad. It bought Vauxhall in Britain in 1925, took 80 % of Opel in 1929 and full control in 1931, the year it also acquired Holden in Australia. Pontiac was created in 1926 as a companion make to Oakland. In 1931 GM passed Ford to become the world's largest carmaker, a position it would hold until 2008.

War production and the post-war peak (1937–1970)

The Flint sit-down strike ended on 11 February 1937, when GM recognised the United Auto Workers union. During the Second World War GM's American plants built weapons, aircraft and military vehicles for the Allies.

The post-war decades were GM's golden age. Its share of the US market was the largest in the industry, and its president Charles Wilson became US Secretary of Defense in 1953. Engineering ranged from the rear-engined Corvair of 1960 to the Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, GM's answer to the Ford Mustang. By the late 1950s, however, high-performance engines and luxury trims spread across all divisions, and the differences between the brands began to blur.

Decline, Saturn and global alliances (1970–2008)

Oil crises, Japanese competition and quality problems weakened GM from the 1970s. The Vega of 1971 became a symbol of poor quality. In 1977 owners discovered Chevrolet engines in their Oldsmobiles, which led to a class action and the "engines produced by various GM divisions" notice.

Under Roger Smith in the 1980s GM bought Electronic Data Systems in 1984, launched the Saturn brand in 1985 and formed joint ventures with Toyota (NUMMI) and Suzuki (CAMI). It took a stake in Saab in 1990, bought the Hummer name in 1998 and took over the car business of Daewoo in 2002. The EV1 electric car of 1996 was leased in California and Arizona, then withdrawn and scrapped. Oldsmobile, then the oldest American make, closed in 2004, and in 2008 Toyota overtook GM in world sales.

Bankruptcy and the new GM (2009–2013)

After heavy losses and government loans in late 2008, GM filed for a state-backed Chapter 11 reorganisation in June 2009. On 10 July 2009 a new company bought the healthy assets, while the old one, renamed Motors Liquidation Company, kept most of the debts. The new firm took the name General Motors Company.

The restructuring closed Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer and sold Saab, which went to Spyker in 2010. Two of these makes now appear in the 1cars list of lost car brands. GM planned to sell Opel to a Magna-led group but changed its mind in November 2009. The US Treasury sold its last GM shares on 9 December 2013.

The Barra years and electric plans (2014–2026)

Mary Barra became chief executive on 15 January 2014, the first woman to lead a major carmaker, and board chair in 2016. Chevrolet left Europe from late 2013, and on 6 March 2017 GM sold Opel and Vauxhall to PSA Group. Holden was retired in 2020.

The electric push began with the Ultium Cells battery venture with LG, set up in December 2019. The GMC Hummer EV pickup shipped from December 2021 (see the 1cars electric car catalogue for current models), and the BrightDrop electric van brand of 2021 was merged into Chevrolet in 2025. GM stopped funding Cruise's robotaxi programme in December 2024. On 12 January 2026 the company moved its headquarters from the Renaissance Center, owned since 1996, to the new Hudson's Detroit building.

GMC: the truck and bus division

GMC grew from the Rapid and Reliance truck firms bought in 1909, and the "GMC Truck" name appeared in 1912. In the 1920s GM took over the bus maker Yellow Coach, which later became the Truck and Coach Division. GM built city and intercity buses in the United States and Canada until it left the bus market in 1987.

Today GMC is a premium truck and SUV brand that shares much of its engineering with Chevrolet. The Acadia crossover of 2007, the Terrain of 2009 and the Yukon Denali show how it moved from work trucks to well-equipped family vehicles.

Engineering firsts

Timeline of General Motors

GM in numbers

GM sold 8.35 million vehicles worldwide in 2008, its last year as the global leader. In 2025 it sold about 6.1 million, 27 % lower than in 2008, but its US sales of 2,853,299 vehicles were the highest of any carmaker in that market. Most of the difference comes from Europe, Australia and other regions GM has left. Compared with 1909, when the young group sold about 25,000 cars, today's GM sells that many vehicles in less than two days.

Buying advice: GM classics and orphan models

For classic car fans, GM's century has left a huge choice of collectable models, from Cadillac V16s to Pontiac GTOs and Chevrolet Corvettes, with strong parts support in North America. For buyers of used modern cars, the 2009 bankruptcy matters: parts for closed makes such as Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer now come mainly from shared Chevrolet and GMC components. Before buying an orphaned GM model, check which mainstream model it was based on. To see how GM products measure up against rivals, use the 1cars comparison tool.