General Motors Corporation
General Motors was founded by William Durant on September 16, 1908. Durant had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, MI before making his foray into the automobile industry. At its inception GM held only the Buick Motor Company, but in a matter of years would acquire more than 20 companies, including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland, known as Pontiac today.
At the turn of the 20th century there were fewer than 8,000 automobiles in America, many of them powered by steam or electricity, others had gasoline engines. An unexpected turnout at the first New York Auto Show in 1900, showed the shear magnitude of fascination from the public with the automobile. Hundreds of companies would try to meet the demands of the growing market over the next few years.
In 1897The Olds Motor comp under Ransom Olds produced their first auto. The Curved Dash Oldsmobile becomes the first American automobile to be produced in quantity in 1901. In 1902, Henry Leland organizes the Cadillac Automobile Company, which was named after its founder. Then in 1903, the Buick Motor Company is founded by David Dunbar Buick, which in 1904, is taken over by William Durant of Durant-Dort Carriage Company. The Cadillac company produces the Osceola, which is a closed in, single-cylinder automobile, thus making the first step in closed-car design in 1905. The following year Buick builds its first four-cylinder production car, the 1907 Model D, in the same year the Oakland Car Company is founded in Pontiac, MI by Edward Murphy. Which a year later is incorporated into the General Motors Company under Billy Durant, on September 16, 190 ...