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Wednesday 25 March 2015

General Motors

General Motors was founded on September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for McLaughlin Car Company of Canada Limited and Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant.

In the late 1920s, American automaker General Motors introduced four brands to supplement its five existing brands of passenger cars. Oakland introduced Pontiac at the 1926 New York Auto Show as a low-priced model for the 1926 model year,  In descending order of price, the others were  LaSalle, to supplement Cadillac; Viking o supplement Oldsmobile and Marquette, to supplement Buick.

The Great Depression resulted in the failure of most of these brands. Viking and Marquette were each discontinued within two years of their introductions, and LaSalle after slightly more than a decade. Pontiac had the opposite fate; it was Oakland that would be discontinued, while Pontiac would continue until 2010.

The Empire State building was born out of a race between Walter Chrysler and General Motors executive John R Raskob to build the world's tallest skyscraper. The Chrysler was the tallest building in the world for just a few weeks in 1930, until Raskob added a few more stories to his Empire State building, pipping the Chrysler by 62 metres.

The first commercial stereo recording was a $10.00 seven-inch reel tape of Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" and Sibelius's "Finlandia," The stereo process was developed by Magnecord, Chicago, in 1954 for General Motors to meet a need to analyze engine noise.

The General Motors Corporation became the first US corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year in 1955.


General Motors produced its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado in 1968.

General Motors was baffled that its Chevy Nova was not selling in Latin America in the 1970s, until somebody pointed out that ‘Nova’ means ‘it doesn’t go’ in Spanish.

The gas tank on the 1979 Malibu was only 11 inches from the rear bumper; in some earlier models it had been more than 20 inches away. It would have cost General Motors $8.59 per vehicle for a safer design but that the corporation had decided it would be cheaper to settle any lawsuits that arose.

General Motors led global vehicle sales for 77 consecutive years from 1931 through 2007, longer than any other automaker.

The Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan was designed by John Portman and completed in 1977, this complex initially consisted of a five-tower rosette rising from a common base; two further towers were added in 1981. The central tower, measuring 73 floors in height, is the tallest building in Michigan. Since 1996, the complex has been owned by General Motors and used as its world headquarters.

Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan from South 2014-12-07.

General Motors currently produces vehicles in 37 countries; its core under brands include Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.

Mary Barra was appointed the CEO of General Motors Company on January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a major global automaker.

Mary Barra, changed the workplace dress code of General Motors from a complicated 10-page document to two words: "Dress appropriately."

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