General Motors
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'''General Motors Corporation''' , also known as '''GM''', is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC Truck|GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn automobile|Saturn, Saab Automobile|Saab and Vauxhall Motors|Vauxhall.
Chevrolet and GMC divisions produce trucks, as well as passenger vehicles. Other brands include ACDelco, Allison Transmission, and the General Motors Electro-Motive Division which produces diesel-electric locomotives. GM also has stakes in Isuzu and Suzuki in Japan and a joint venture with Lada|AutoVAZ (Lada) in Russia. In December 2003, it acquired Delta Motor Corporation|Delta in South Africa, in which it had taken a 45 percent stake in 1997, and which is now a fully-owned subsidiary, General Motors South Africa..
GM's headquarters are in the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan. The company is the world's largest vehicle manufacturing|manufacturer and employs over 340,000 people. In 2001, GM sold 8.5 million vehicles through all its branches; in 2002, GM sold 15 percent of all cars and trucks in the world. They also owned Electronic Data Systems from 1984 to 1996 and, prior to selling it to News Corporation, DirecTV. GM owned Frigidaire from 1918 to 1979.
It is predicted that in 2006, GM will be overtaken by Toyota as the world's biggest automaker.
History
's General Motors Building, 3044 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit, MI]]
General Motors (GM) was founded in 1902 as a holding company for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant, and acquired Oldsmobile later that year. The next year, Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore (automobile)|Elmore, and Oakland automobile|Oakland.
During the 1920s and 1930s, General Motors bought out the bus company Yellow Coach, helped create Greyhound Lines|Greyhound bus lines, replaced intercity train transport with buses, and established subsidiary companies to buy out trolley|streetcar companies and replace the rail-based services with buses. GM formed United Cities Motor Transit in 1932 (''see General Motors streetcar conspiracy for additional details'').
General Motors bought the internal combustion engined railcar builder Electro-Motive Corporation and its engine supplier Winton Engine in 1930, renaming both as the General Motors Electro-Motive Division. Over the next twenty years, diesel-powered locomotives and trains – the majority built by GM – largely replaced other forms of traction on American railroads. (During WW2, these engines were also important in American submarines and destroyer escorts.)
On December 31, 1955, General Motors became the first American corporation to make over one billion US dollar|dollars in a year.
After GM's massive layoffs hit Flint, Michigan in the 1980s, budding documentary filmmaker and Flint native Michael Moore focused on the company and its chairman and CEO at the time, Roger B. Smith, in his first big hit, ''Roger & Me'' (1989).
A Strike action|strike began at the General Motors parts factory in Flint on June 5, 1998, which quickly spread to five other assembly plants and lasted seven weeks.
At one point GM was the largest corporation ever in the United States, in terms of its revenues as a percent of GDP. In 1953 Charles Erwin Wilson, then GM president, was named by Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower as United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense. When he was asked during the hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee if as secretary of defense he could make a decision adverse to the interests of General Motors, Wilson answered affirmatively but added that he could not conceive of such a situation "because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa". Later this statement was often garbled when quoted, suggesting that Wilson had said simply, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country". At the time, GM was the one of the largest employers in the world – only Soviet state industries employed more people.
In May 2005, Standard & Poor's downgraded GM's credit rating to High-yield debt|junk bond status. ''See below under financial woes.'' On April 4, 2005, General Motors sold its Electro-Motive Division to Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners.
General Motors Hughes Electronics
Hughes Electronics was formed in 1985 when Hughes Aircraft was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to General Motors for $5 billion. General Motors merged Hughes Aircraft with its Delco Electronics unit to form GM Hughes Electronics (GMHE). The group then consisted of:
Hughes Aircraft
Delco Electronics
Hughes Space and Communications
Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Training
In August 1992 in aviation|1992 GM Hughes Electronics purchased General Dynamics' Missile Systems business. In 1994 in aviation|1994 Hughes Electronics introduced DirecTV, the world's first high-powered direct broadcast satellite service. In 1995 in aviation|1995 Hughes Electronic's Hughes Aircraft#Hughes Space and Communications|Hughes Space and Communications division became the largest supplier of commercial satellites. Also in 1995 the group purchased Magnavox Electronic Systems from the Carlyle Group. In 1996 in aviation|1996 Hughes Electronics and PanAmSat agree to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat with GM Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder.
In 1997 in aviation|1997 GM transferred Delco Electronics to its Delphi Corporation|Delphi Automotive Systems business. Late in the year the defense operations of Hughes Electronics (Hughes Aircraft and missile business) were merged with Raytheon.
Hughes Space and Communications remained independent until 2000 in aviation|2000, when it was purchased by Boeing and became Boeing Satellite Systems.
In 2000, the remaining parts of Hughes Electronics: DirecTV, DirecTV Latin America, PanAmSat and Hughes Network Systems, were purchased by NewsCorp and renamed The DirecTV Group. Newscorp sold PanAmSat to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in August 2004.
Corporate structure and issues
Current members of the board of directors of General Motors are: Percy Barnevik, Erskine Bowles, John Bryan, Armando Codina, George M. C. Fisher|George Fisher, Karen Katen, Kent Kresa, Ellen Kullman, Philip Laskawy, E. Stanley O'Neal, Eckhard Pfeiffer, and Rick Wagoner (chairman).
Rick Wagoner is also the chief executive officer of the company (since June 1, 2000), succeeding John F. Smith, Jr.
Social policies
General Motors was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by ''Working Mothers'' magazine.
Due to its highly compensated workforce GM has the highest health care and labour costs in the industry, and some analysts have criticized the company for this.
Subsidies
In March 2005, the Government of Canada "gave Canadian dollar|C$200 million to General Motors for its Ontario plants, and last fall it awarded C$100 million to Ford Motor Co. to expand their Canadian auto production, provide jobs and contribute to the economy," according to Jim Harris (politician)|Jim Harris. With additional subsidies are promised to non-North Ameican auto companies like Toyota, Premier Dalton McGuinty said the money the province and Ottawa are pledging for the project is well-spent. His government has committed Canadian dollar|C$400 million, including the latest Toyota package of Canadian dollar|C$125 million, to the province's automobile sector, which helped finance $5 billion worth of industry projects.
Financial woes
In April 2005, General Motors posted a US$1.1-billion loss, for the first quarter of that year. Its debt was also downgraded to junk bond status. GM announced plans to cut 25,000 jobs in the United States, and included plans to shut down one of the Oshawa, Ontario, plants by 2008.
By November 2005, within the first nine months of the year, GM had posted a near $4 billion loss. On November 21, 2005, GM had announced a revised plan of increased cuts. These cuts went from 25,000 to 30,000 employees, or 9% of its labor force. GM also increased the number of plant closings. Originally, the company planned eight plant closings; the new plan calls for the closing of twelve facilities.
These locations include (''source: General Motors Corporation''):
For the first time ever, in 2004 the total number of cars produced by all makers in Ontario exceeded those produced in Michigan. GM officials cited profitability of their Oshawa, Ontario, plant in refusing to distribute the job losses.
External links
http://www.gm.com/ http://www.gmacfs.com/us/en/index.html http://www.gmability.com/ http://www.gmability.com/education/ http://fastlane.gmblogs.com http://www.gm.com/company/corp_info/history/gmhis1900.html http://www.vlturbo.com/ http://www.cheersandgears.comGM Enthusiast forum
http://www.gminsidenews.com/GM Enthusiast forum
http://www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co.uk http://www.netcarshow.com/gm/
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