Chevrolet History

Following on from our introductory post Chevrolet GPS, we thought it would be a good way to get the ball rolling by giving Chevrolet auto fans a detailed history of the company.Chevrolet Auto

To set the theme and to start the history of the company going, we've provided a really great picture of a 1927 Chevrolet Landau Sedan that looks like it's in absolutely immaculate condition.

Chevrolet History:

1911, Chevrolet Motor Company of Michigan is incorporated in November by Louis Chevrolet, William Little and Edwin Cambell, William Durant’s son-in-law. Their headquarters are in Detroit.

September 13, 1915, Durant incorporates Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware. The original Chevrolet Motor Company is included in this new corporation, which becomes a holding company for the automobile companies Durant created following his loss of control of GM

1916, Durant makes the announcement that Chevrolet owns 54.5% of GM’s outstanding shares. With that, he takes over as General Motors president from Charles W. Nash

May 1918, General Motors purchases the total operating assets of Chevrolet

1921, General Motors proceeds with commercial application of Kettering’s ‘copper-cooled’ engine and to install it in all of Chevrolet Division’s cars. This engine is intended as a replacement for the traditional piston engine. As there were fewer than 800 copper-cooled engines produced, the program is officially terminated in 1923. Only 300 were sold to dealers and they were all recalled by GM.

1923, The first European assembly plant is established in Copenhagen, for GM as General Motors International A/S. It's function is to produce Chevrolets in order to sell in the Scandinavian countries, as well as Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Austria, Hungary and Russia. The first General Motors vehicle that is assembled outside the U.S. and Canada is a Chevrolet utility truck. This rolled off the Copenhagen assembly line Jan 7, 1924.

1924, William S. Knudsen becomes president of Chevrolet and joins the General Motors Board of Directors.

1929, Chevrolet introduces the new commercial vehicles version of the 6-cylinder engine, nicknamed ‘the cast iron wonder’ thanks to its remarkable durability.

1935, Chevrolet introduces a truck with seating capacity for 8 - the half ton Suburban Carryall.

1950, Chevrolet becomes the first automobile competitor to offer fully automatic shifting in the low-price field with the introduction of the Powerglide transmission.

1953, The Corvette is introduced. This is the first volume production sports car and the first plastic bodied production car.

1954, Chevrolet introduces the small-block V-8 engine for its 1955 model trucks.

1958, The 1959 model El Camino is introduced and is designed to combine big car comfort with the utility of a pickup truck.

1959, The Corvair is introduced by Chevrolet. As part of the 1962 model year, a new line of smaller cars, the Chevy II is introduced.

1962, The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice charges 3 Chevrolet dealer trade associations and General Motors with criminal and civil lawsuits for violating the Sherman Act, for restricting Chevrolet sales to discount houses in the Los Angeles area.

1963, Chevrolet introduces its mid-size 1964 model Malibu.

1966, The F-body Camaro is introduced as a 1967 model. The U.S. District Court for S. California enters its final judgment. This enjoins GM from conspiring with any group or association of Chevrolet dealers for limiting sales by dealers, whether through discount houses or referral services.

1968, 6 truck and passenger car assembly plants, previously operated by Fisher Body and Chevrolet Motor Division are transferred to the management of General Motors Assembly Division.

1969, Chevrolet announces the discontinuation of its Corvair production.

1975, In October Chevrolet introduces the Chevette, a T-car first designed by Opel. It is also manufactured by subsidiaries of General Motors in Brazil, Argentina and England and is sold under the names Chevette, Kadett, Gemini and K-180.

September 1976, General Motors introduces its downsized versions of Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillacs and luxury cars.

1979, Front-wheel-drive compacts are introduced by General Motors. These are the Chevrolet Citation, Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix X-body models.

1981, The new worldwide Truck & Bus Group is formed by GM, whose responsibility it is for the design, manufacture, engineering, sales and service of all General Motors trucks, vans and buses in North America and over the world.

1982, Truck assembly operations and manufacturing GM Assembly Division, GMC Truck and Coach Division and Chevrolet Motor Division are all merged to form Truck & Bus Manufacturing Division with the headquarters for both in Pontiac, Michigan.

1983, GM and Toyota form a joint venture. The New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) is set to produce a small Chevrolet automobile in the Fremont, California assembly plant.

1984, Chevrolet Corvette 1984 model introduced, its first major styling change for 15 years.

1988, Chevrolet Geo line of small vehicles introduced, with Geo Metro, Spectrum and Tracker.

1993, GM and Toyota sign an unprecedented supply and sales agreement. GM agrees to build right-hand drive Chevrolet Cavaliers in the U.S. which Toyota will purchase to sell in Japan.

2001, Chevrolet Cruze launched in Japan. This is developed by General Motors with its alliance partner Suzuki. The Cruze is the first General Motors vehicle to be built in Japan since the 1930s.

The GM Ste. Therese plant in Quebec, which builds the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird will close in Sept 2002. The Camaro and Firebird models are to be discontinued.

2002, The Chevrolet Corvette celebrates its 50th anniversary.

2003: General Motors announces the 2005 model year GMC Envoy XL, Envoy XUV and Chevrolet trailblazer EXT. These will be the first vehicles to showcase its Displacement on Demand fuel-saving technology, said to enhance fuel economy without compromising performance or heavy load carrying ability. The Displacement on Demand technology will be a standard feature in these vehicles’ optional Vortec 5300 V-8 engine. This technology, which boosts the Vortec engine’s fuel efficiency by 8%, is also set to be introduced in other GM engines in the 2006 model year.

The new Ecotec 2.4-litre 4-cylinder engine is introduced by General Motors Powertrain and will be available on the all-new 2005 model year Chevrolet Cobalt. Variable valve timing on the Ecotec engines means the Ecotec 2.4-litre engine offers improved low-end torque and lower emissions than the 2.2-litre version.

2004, Chevrolet Corvette is chosen as the official pace car for the classic Indianapolis 500 race for a record 6th time.

The introduction of General Motors full-size hybrid pickup truck, first in the world, to Miami-Dade County during the 10th National Clean Cities Conference. The hybrid Chevrolet Silverado produces up to 12% fuel economy improvement over comparable pickups, giving it the best highway fuel economy of any full-size truck available. Also scheduled to go on sale are hybrid versions of the Chevrolet Silverado as well as the GMC Silverado pickup.

Source: General Motors Corporation

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