General Motors
The United States Treasury and the Canadian government are today the majority owners in Gm after Gm on June 1, 2009 was forced to file for Chapter 11 backruptcy. This is a result of the fact that the US goverment invested $57.6 billion in TARP money in the company to save it. General Motors was considered a company that is too “big to fail” but how did it come to be that big? In this article, we will take a brief look at the history of General Motors.
General Motors was founded in Flint, Michigan in 1908 as a holding company for Buick, which was then controlled by French American automobile pioneer William C. Durant. General Motors then purchased Oldsmobile the same year it was formed and the next year they bought cadillac, Cartercar, Elmore, Ewing, and Pontiac (then known as Oakland). The Reliance Motor Truck Company and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company were also purchased in 1909, and one year later Welch and Rainier become parts of the fast growing GM.
The acquisitions meant taking on large amounts of debt and in 1910 Durant lost control of GM to a bankers trust, but in 1916 he returned as head of the company after a successful stock buy back campaign backed by Pierre S. du Pont. With Durant back behind the wheel, the GM Company was incorporated as the General Motors Corporation. In the mid 1920s the main office of the comapnny was moved to Detroit where it is still located.
In the 1920s and 1930s, GM assumed control over the Yellow Coach bus company and decided to aid in the formation of the Greyhound bus lines that would largely replace the intercity trains across the United States. They also used subsidiaries to by streetcar companies and replace the rail based solution with buses.
Over the years, GM acquired or gained controlled over a number of foreign companies and brands, such as British Vauxhall Motors, German automobile manufacturer Adam Opel AG, and Austrian Holden. General Motors grew rapidly during WW II in which they sold material to both the allied and the axis, by the 1950s GM was one of the biggest emploeyers in the world. It became the first. corporation to pay over $1 billion in taxes.
During the early 21st century, over 8 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the brands Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC, GM Daewoo, Opel, Saab, Vauxhall, Pontiac, Holden, Saturn, Wuling, and Hummer. The Hummer is one of the newest additions to the GM family; a brand purchased from AM General Corporation in 1998. The Hummer H2 and H3 are devloped by GM after they boguth the brand. Unlike the H1 which is chiefly an off-road vehicle the newer variants are commonly seen in city traffic and there is even a stretch Hummer. The hummer limo has become very popular for proms, parties and special events. As owners of the Hummer brand, GM received heavy criticism for promoting what was regarded by some as gas-guzzling monsters completely unnecessary for urban driving, but this sharp criticism didn’t prevent the Hummers from becoming much sought after vehicles in the U.S. and around the world.
