Chevrolet Cars

General Motors was founded in 1908 in Flint, Michigan by William C. Durant. The company has its global headquarters in Detroit and employs approximately 209,000 people all over the world. It does business in 120 countries and, together with its strategic partners, produces cars and trucks in 31 countries. GM’s highest sales are reported from China, followed by the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Russia.

The company includes a total of 13 brands - Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, FAW, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall, and Wuling – under its umbrella.

Over the past few years, GM has suffered several setbacks, including the declaration of bankruptcy in June 2009 and an eventual split. A “New GM” emerged in 2009 with the support of the US government. The new company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2010. As part of the reorganization, the company phased out two of its brands - Pontiac and Goodwrench - and adopted a new brand identity. It also received loans from European governments in 2009, and reduced its stake in European operations.

Operations in other parts of the world were not affected by the bankruptcy and continued as before.

General Motors in India

General Motors India has its headquarters in Gurgaon, Haryana, and has two assembly plants (in Talagaon, Maharashtra and Halol, Gujarat) with a combined production capacity of 385,000 vehicles per year.

It also has a technical centre in Bangalore which focuses on research and development, vehicle engineering activities, purchasing and financial support services, and vehicle engine and transmission design.

The company first started doing business in India in 1928, assembling Chevrolet cars, trucks and buses, but ceased operations in the country in 1954. It continued its tie-up with Hindustan Motors to build Bedford trucks, Vauxhall cars, Allison Transmissions and off-road equipment.

In 1994, General Motors India Private Limited (GMIPL) was formed as a 50-50 joint venture between GM and Hindustan Motors. GMIPL started out producing and selling Opel vehicles, and was bought over completely by GM in 1999. Till 2003, the company continued to produce Opel cars at its Halol facility. Later, it switched to producing Chevrolet vehicles at the same plant.

Joint Venture with SAIC

In December 2009, Chinese auto company Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) bought a 50 percent stake in GM India. The new joint venture company is called General Motors SAIC Investment Limited (GMSIL) and is the 5th largest automobile manufacturing company in the country after Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors and Mahindra.

General Motors was founded by William Crapo Durant in Flint, Michigan, on September 16, 1908. Durant was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and produced horse-drawn vehicles for more than 15 years before entering the motorcar manufacturing business. In its initial few years, GM acquired over 20 companies, the first of which was the Buick Motor company, also owned by Durant, followed by Cadillac, Oakland (Pontiac) and Opel. The company later added Chevrolet and Vauxhall to its portfolio. It also opened manufacturing units outside the United States.

Early Breakthroughs

In its early years, GM was unique in that it was the only company in the world that operated in all car segments, with Chevrolet producing entry-level cars, Buick and Oldsmobile making higher-end vehicles, and Cadillac producing luxury cars. The Cadillac LaSalle, launched in 1927, became something of status symbol in the US, with the car’s designer, Harley Earl, having paid much attention to factors like style and colour options at a time when most carmakers did not think beyond reaching high sales figures.

General Motors and World War II

During World War II, GM produced airplanes, trucks, tanks, guns and shells worth $12 billion for the Allied Forces. Interestingly, the company had also played a significant role in the rearmament of Germany prior to, and during the Second World War, through its German subsidiary Opel. It manufactured one of the most talked-about military vehicles in the history of the Second World War – the three-ton truck, ‘Blitz’ – which was believed to be responsible, in no small measure, for the success of Hitler’s ‘Blitzkrieg’.

A Pioneer in the Auto Industry

GM is credited with a number of firsts in the automotive industry – it was the first to build a concept car, the Buick Y Job, in 1938; the first to produce engines that ran on unleaded petrol; the first to introduce airbags in cars; the first to come up with the Anti-Lock Braking System (1972); the first to use the Electronic Fuel Injection (1979); and also, not surprisingly, the first company to make $ 1 billion an year (1955).

Post-bankruptcy Period

The company’s successful run, however, has not been without major setbacks. In June 2009, following the 2008 economic downturn, it declared bankruptcy, and was eventually split into two. Within a few months, a ‘New GM’ emerged with the US Government’s support. The new company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in November 2010. 

In 2010, for the first time ever, General Motors’ sales in China exceeded its sales in the US. It operates in the East Asian country in partnership with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).

American car company, General Motors, was founded by William Crapo Durant, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1908. Before venturing into the motorcar manufacturing business, Durant had sold horse-drawn carriages for over fifteen years with partner Josiah Dort in Flint, Michigan, under the Durant-Dort Carriage Company (initially known as the Coldwater Road Cart Company).

Early Days at Buick

Interestingly, Durant was far from being a car enthusiast in his early days. On the contrary, he thought the machines to be loud and dangerous. However, when offered a chance to work for local car company Buick as General Manager in 1904, he decided to take it up as a challenge. Shortly thereafter, he was made the company’s President and eventually took it over with some financial backing from family members. An oft-repeated story about the Buick’s initial successes under Durant relates to the New York Auto Show. When he took the car to the Show in 1904, he managed to bag as many as 1,108 orders for it, thanks to his excellent salesmanship. This was a significant achievement, given that the car had sold only 37 units till then. Within four years, Durant had turned Buick into one of the most successful car companies in the US.

The Founding of General Motors

Not content with selling one car model alone, and convinced that the future of the automobile industry lay in catering to a variety of customer preferences, Durant brought together 13 car companies (including Cadillac, Buick and Oakland) and 10 accessory manufacturers to form General Motors in 1908. This phase of expansion, however, was followed by a period of financial turmoil, leading to Durant’s ouster from GM in 1910.

Chevrolet and Final Stint at GM

In 1911, he partnered with race-car driver Louis Chevrolet to found another successful car company – Chevrolet. The new company’s profits allowed Durant to regain control of GM in 1916, though not for long. (In 1917, Chevrolet too was brought under the General Motors umbrella).

For a few years after his triumphant return as CEO, Durant ran General Motors magnificently and took it to a new high, but he was slowly becoming obsessed with the share market, and started spending more and more time trading stocks. His waning interest in the company’s day-to-day affairs led the Board of Directors to oust him again in 1920 – this time for good.

Bankruptcy

Durant later founded the Durant Motor Company, which could never match the success of GM. The company was liquidated in 1933, following the Great Depression, and in 1936, Durant declared bankruptcy. He died in 1947, at the age of 85.

• 1962: GM’s market share of the US market was 51%.
• 1965: GM earned 2 billion dollars in the year
• 1968: A fifty story GM building opened in New York.
• 1971: Unleaded gasoline became the main fuel of all GM cars.
• 1974: GM introduced air bags for cars.
• 1975: GM started fitting catalytic converters in cars.
• 1979: GM started manufacturing cars in Spain and Austria.
• 1982: GM bought a 10% share of Suzuki Motor Corporation
• 1985: The Chevrolet Nova was manufactured in Fremont in California by GM and Toyota.
• 1987: Cadillac and Pininfarina started manufacturing the Allante two-seater convertible.
• 1989: GM bought a 50% share in Saab.
• 1990: Robert Stempel replaced Roger Smith as the Chairman and CEO. Third and fourth quarter losses for GM were 3.7 billion dollars.
• 1991: GM’s sales fell low and it’s stock price dropped to 27 dollars while its US market share was 35%.
• 1992: John Smale, a P&G employee replaced Stempel as the Chairman of GM. GM lost 23.5 billion dollars
• 1995: Agreeing to corporate on car and powertain manufacturing, GM and Shanghai Automotive Industry joined hands.
• 1996: GM’s headquarters shifted to a center on the Detroit River.
• 1998: Rick Wagoner became GM’s president and chief operation officer. GM’s US share was below 30 per cent. Chevrolet’s Geo brand was discarded.
• 2000: Rick Wagoner became CEO of GM.
• 2001: Bob Lutz became the vice chairman of GMs’ global product development. GM launched a Keep America Rolling sales campaign.
• 2005: GM had to pay 2 billion dollars to Fiat to cancel its agreement. Chevrolet started exporting cars to China.
• 2007: The company was ranked the fifth largest by Fortune Global 500.
• 2008: GM’s share of the US market is 20.6 per cent. It employs 250,000 people.

General Motors is a multinational corporation that aims to provide its customers superior products and services and help its employees and business partners attain a return on investment. GM has been a leader in the automotive industry and is expected to continue to be a leader. They believe in integrity, teamwork and innovation. GM is a Fortune 500 company. They have a strong foundation and strong core values. The company also believes in Corporate Social Responsibility.

GM creates value for its shareholders and has a reputation of being a responsible employer and partner.

• Daniel Akerson is the Chairman of General Motors since January 1 2011. Prior to becoming the Chairman, he was the CEO of the company since 2010. He served as the managing director of The Carlyle Group, he was the CEO of Nextel communications where he took the company to a national level and he served as the Chairman and CEO of XO Communications. He did his master’s in economics from the London School of Economics.
• Steve Girsky is the Vice Chairman, Corporate Strategy and Business Development of GM. He is responsible for new business development and serves on the board of GM. He has worked in Morgan Stanley and has an M.B.A from Harvard University.
• Thomas Stephens is the Vice Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of GM.
• Nick Reilly is the Vice President of GM Europe.
• Michael Millikin the Senior Vice President and General Counsel.
• Nick Cyprus is the Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer.
• Terry Kline is the Vice President, Information Technology and the Chief Information Officer.
• Chester Watson is the General Auditor.
• James Ardila is the Vice President of GM South America.
• Timothy Lee is the Vice President of GM, International Operations.
• Mark Reuss is the Vice President of GM North America.
• Mary Barra is the Senior Vice President of Global Product Development.
• Daniel Ammann is the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
• Selim Bingol is the Vice President Global Communications.
• Joel Ewanick is the Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer
• Robert Ferguson is the Vice President, Global Public Policy.
• Anne Larin is the Corporate Secretary.
• Victoria McInnis is the Chief Tax Officer.

There is the Halol Plant in India which has a production capacity of 85,000 units while its facility in Pune which was built with an investment of 300 million dollars had a production capacity of 1.4 lakh units.

The headquarters of the company in India are at Halol and Gurgaon and a large technical center in Bangalore. The plants have a very high production capacity.

OnStar is the technology used in all GM cars. This technology provides a GPS tracking system which can locate the position of the car, hands free calling, and a stolen vehicle tracking system which tells the users where the vehicle is located at a particular point in time. There is also the stolen vehicle slowdown technology which slows down the stolen vehicle and the vehicle shutdown technology which does not allow you to start the stolen vehicle once it shuts off. There is also turn by turn navigation in the OnStar system.

GM in terms of technology has a Research and Development lab which is one of the world’s best research and development lab. Located in Warren, Michigan, the lab has laboratories, offices and relationships with universities, government and suppliers. It was the world’s first automotive center. It also developed anti-knock gasoline. They created non-flammable refrigerants, energy absorbing columns, fuel efficient and petrol free vehicles.

The Corvette cars have a Performance Traction Management technology which is used to improve the torque for improving performance of the cars. The cars also have Michelin Pilot tried that are available for two of the cars. These tires are suited for warm and dry conditions thereby being perfect for sunny weather.

General Motors’s Spark was awarded the “Most Dependable Compact Car” and “Best Compact Car in Initial Quality 2010” by JD Power and Associate’s India study.

GM was one of the top automakers at the NDTV Profit Car and Bike India awards 2011 as it won the “Best Communication and PR Campaign for the Beat” and the “Car Manufacturer of the Year Award.” These are really prominent awards in India. GM aims to gain more market share in India, the second largest automobile market in the world. The best vehicles won awards at the sixth NDTV Profit Car and Bike Awards which had commenced in 2006. The award criteria consisted of the following: segment position, environment factor, acceptability, market value, efficiency, and consumer value and segment position.

General Motors also won the “Automobile Manufacturer of the Year 2010” award by the Golden Steering Wheel, the Indian edition of Europe’s automobile awards. This award was awarded by CarWale, and recognized General Motor’s manufacturing capabilities in India.

GM’s Halol plant was felicitated with the Gujarat State Safety Award 2010.  GM India won the third prize for energy conservation at the National Energy Conservation Award 2010 and was awarded by Sushilkumar Shinde. The award was received by P Balendran, Vice-President, General Motors India.

GM also won the National Level Quality Circle Awards in Halol, the National Level Quality Circle Excellence Award, Gujarat Safety Award, Energy Conservation Award, TNS Automotive Award, and the National Safety Award. In 2007, the company won the Overdrive Car Maker of the Year Award. It also won the NDTV Profit Car India Awards 2007 – Carmaker of the Year Award.

General Motors started in 1908. It has its headquarters in Detroit and it employs 209,000 people in major regions of the world and it does business in over 120 countries. The brands of GM are: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling.

Globally, GM is most popular in China and then its second largest market is the United States. Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany come next.

GM also believes in Corporate Social Responsibility.

GM India exports the Beat car to Europe and Asia Pacific. 20% of the cars produced in India will be exported to these continents. Beat comes in three models - Beat PS, Beat LS and Beat LT.

The company exports vehicles to Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

GM plans to increase its US market share by one percentage point. They also want to implement new marketing techniques. They want to remake their corporate image as a leader and change focus of their advertising to aspirational. They plan to address the customers, dealers, salespeople, employees and retirees.

GM will invest 32 million dollars in its Spring Hill plant and 33 million dollars in its Tonawanda Powertrain plant near Buffalo, New York which will help to create 163 jobs in the United States. The Spring Hill plant will have direct injection of its four cylinder engineers. The company plans to launch the Malibu in 2012 and sell it to 100 countries.

This investment is only a small portion of the 2 billion investment in its US manufacturing plants that will create 4,000 jobs in eight states.

GM will hold open houses in its 54 plants in the United States. Vistors will wear safety goggles and watch the robots and workers work in the plants. These open houses will have food and vendor tents

Registered Office

Chevrolet Sales India Private Limited
Block B, Chandrapura Industrial Estate,
Halol - 389351,
District Panchmahals
Gujarat
Tel: +91-(0)2676-221000
Fax: +91-(0)2676-220666
Website: http://www.chevrolet.co.in

Marketing Office

Chevrolet Sales India Private Limited
1st Floor, Plot Number 15,
Sector-32,
Gurgaon - 122001
Haryana
Tel: +91-(0)124-3080000, 4213333
Fax: +91-(0)124-4213334
Email: gmi.cac@gm.com

Contact 7 days, 24 hours:

Tel: 30308080 (Prefix local STD code)