General Motors - America's Most Prominent Car Company
If you take a look at the early years of the automotive industry in America, there were nearly a thousand companies building and selling cars before 1927. Of that number, less than two hundred remained commercially viable; of the lot, General Motors was (and continues to be) one of the most prominent. GM was founded by William Durant in 1908 as a holding company for Buick; later, Durant also bought Cadillac, Elmore and Oakland, followed by Chevrolet. By 1920, GM bought over thirty other car makers. At one point, GM was the largest company in the United States and the world's single-largest employer.
Most companies that made up the new GM were in debt, their operations were in a shambles and they were weak. By bringing them under the same umbrella, General Motors strengthened all of them at the same time. The key to GM's prominence and success wasn't how they made their cars, but how they sold them; they gave customers a variety of brands, colors and models to choose from. GM's sales and management practices were not the only reason they rose to prominence in America. They were the first car maker to introduce the automatic transmission, power brakes, fuel injection, and power steering.
General Motors was one of the country's greatest success stories, and the company has produced some of this country's most popular cars. Vehicles such as the Camaro, Corvette, Pontiac GTO and Trans Am cemented GM's place in American hearts, but as is the case with many big companies, once the company attained its success it grew complacent. Later flops such as the Chevette, Citation and Vega were a perfect illustration of the company's failure to remain innovative.
By the end of 2005, General Motors had a four billion dollar loss on the books, and was forced to lay off over thirty thousand employees and close twelve manufacturing plants. Although in the decade before that failure they'd begun making better cars than they had in the previous three decades, it was too late. In the beginning of 2009, GM lost another six billion dollars and burned through another $10 billion as revenues tanked.
No matter how well General Motors does in the future, there are millions of car lovers that are passionate about the company's vehicles. GM is one of America's most prominent car manufacturers, and its past and current successes ensure that the company will remain that way for many years to come.