General Motors Scarce Signed Book Alfred Sloan Hardcover Fantastic Autograph

$863.06 Buy It Now, Click to see shipping cost, 30-Day Returns, eBay Money Back Guarantee
Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176277816028 GENERAL MOTORS SCARCE SIGNED BOOK ALFRED SLOAN HARDCOVER FANTASTIC AUTOGRAPH. My Years With General Motors. Sloan Jr., Alfred P Published by Doubleday & Company, New York, 1964 First edition of Sloan's influential work. Octavo, original cloth. Boldly signed by Alfred P. Sloan Jr.  to the front free endpaper. Very good. No dust jacket. =Edited by John McDonald with Catherine Stevens. First editions are uncommon. Only a handful of business books have reached the status of a classic, having withstood the test of over thirty years' time. Even today, Bill Gates praises it is the best book to read on business, and Business Week has named it the number one choice for its "bookshelf of indispensable reading." My Years With General Motors became an instant bestseller when it was first published in 1963. It has since been used as a manual for managers, offering personal glimpses into the practice of the "discipline of management" by the man who perfected it. This is the story no other businessman could tell--a distillation of half a century of intimate leadership experience with a giant industry and an inside look at dramatic events and creative business management.
Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. was born in New Haven, Connecticut, May 23, 1875, the first of five children of Alfred Pritchard Sloan Sr. and Katherine Mead Sloan. His father, a machinist by training, was then a partner in a small company importing coffee and tea. In 1885 the family moved to Brooklyn, where it was particularly active in the Methodist Church. (Young Alfred’s maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister.) Alfred Jr. excelled as a student both in the public schools and at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute where he completed the college-preparatory course. After some delay in being admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (which considered him too young when he first applied), he matriculated in 1892 and took a degree in electrical engineering in three years as the youngest member of his graduating class. Mr. Sloan began his career as a draftsman in a small machine shop, the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company of Newark, New Jersey. At his urging, Hyatt was soon producing new antifriction bearings for automobiles. In 1898 he married Irene Jackson of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The next year, at age 24, he became the president of Hyatt, where he supervised all aspects of the company’s business. Hyatt bearings became a standard in the automobile industry, and the company grew rapidly under his leadership. In 1916 the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company, together with a number of other manufacturers of automobile accessories, merged with the United Motors Corporation, of which Mr. Sloan became president. Two years later that company became part of the General Motors Corporation (itself established in 1908 as the General Motors Company), and Mr. Sloan was named Vice President in Charge of Accessories and a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Sloan was elected President of General Motors in 1923, succeeding Pierre S. du Pont, who said of him on that occasion: “The greater part of the successful development of the Corporation’s operations and the building of a strong manufacturing and sales organization is due to Mr. Sloan. His election to the presidency is a natural and well-merited recognition of his untiring and able efforts and successful achievement.” Mr. Sloan had developed by then his system of disciplined, professional management that provided for decentralized operations with coordinated centralized policy control. Applying it to General Motors, he set the corporation on its course of industrial leadership. The next 23 years, with Mr. Sloan as Chief Executive Officer, were years of enormous expansion for General Motors and of a steady increase in its share of the automobile market. In 1937, Mr. Sloan was elected Chairman of the Board of General Motors. He continued as Chief Executive Officer until 1946. When he resigned from the chairmanship in 1956, the General Motors Board said of him: “The Board of Directors has acceded to Mr. Sloan’s wish to retire as Chairman. He has served the Corporation long and magnificently. His analysis and grasp of the problems of corporate management, his great vision and rare good judgement, laid the solid foundation which has made possible the growth and progress of General Motors over the years.” Mr. Sloan was then named Honorary Chairman of the Board, a title he retained until his death on February 17, 1966. For many years, he had devoted the largest share of his time and energy to philanthropic activities, both as a private donor to many causes and organizations and through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which he established in 1934. Mr. Sloan, a realist as well as a humanist and philanthropist, looked upon the Foundation as an extension of his own life and work. Although he recognized the inevitability of change that might dictate a different course, he expected that the Foundation would “continue as an operating facility indefinitely in the future…to represent my accomplishments in this life.” His accomplishments during his lifetime were of the highest order, and in themselves provide the most dramatic and lasting tribute to his extraordinary talent. Through the Foundation, his accomplishments have been extended and expanded. Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. (/sloʊn/ SLOHN; May 23, 1875 – February 17, 1966) was an American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a long-time president, chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation.[2] Sloan, first as a senior executive and later as the head of the organization, helped GM grow from the 1920s through the 1950s, decades when concepts such as the annual model change, brand architecture, industrial engineering, automotive design (styling), and planned obsolescence transformed the industry, and when the industry changed lifestyles and the built environment in America and throughout the world. Sloan wrote his memoir, My Years with General Motors,[3] in the 1950s.[4] Like Henry Ford, the other "head man" of an automotive colossus, Sloan is remembered today with a complex mixture of admiration for his accomplishments, appreciation for his philanthropy, and unease or reproach regarding his attitudes during the interwar period and World War II.[5] Life and career Cover of Time magazine (December 27, 1926) Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Sloan studied electrical engineering initially at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, then transferred to and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1895. While attending MIT he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity.[1] In 1898, Sloan married Irene Jackson of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The couple had no children but Sloan was very close to his younger half-brother, Raymond.[6] Sloan became president and owner of Hyatt Roller Bearing, a company that made roller- and ball-bearings, in 1899 when his father and another investor bought out the company from the previous owner. Oldsmobile was Hyatt's first automotive customer, with many other companies soon following suit. In 1916 Hyatt merged with other companies into United Motors Company, which soon became part of General Motors Corporation. Sloan became vice-president of GM, then president (1923), and finally chairman of the board (1937). In 1934, he established the philanthropic, nonprofit Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. GM under Sloan became famous for managing diverse operations with financial statistics such as return on investment; these measures were introduced to GM by Donaldson Brown, a protege of GM vice-president John J. Raskob. Raskob came to GM as an advisor to Pierre S. du Pont and the du Pont corporation; the latter was a principal investor in GM whose executives largely ran GM in the 1920s. Sloan is credited with establishing annual styling changes, from which came the concept of planned obsolescence.[7] He also established a pricing structure in which (from lowest to highest priced) Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, referred to as the ladder of success, did not compete with each other, and buyers could be kept in the GM "family" as their buying power and preferences changed as they aged. In 1919, he and his corporate deputies created the General Motors Acceptance Corporation, a financing arm that practically invented the auto loan credit system, that allowed car buyers to bypass having to save for years to buy Ford's affordable car.[8] These concepts, along with Ford's resistance to the change in the 1920s, propelled GM to industry-sales leadership by the early 1930s, a position it retained for over 70 years. Under Sloan's direction, GM became the largest industrial enterprise the world had ever known. In the 1930s GM, long hostile to unionization, confronted its workforce—newly organized and ready for labor rights—in an extended contest for control.[2] Sloan was averse to violence of the sort associated with Henry Ford. He preferred spying, investing in an internal undercover apparatus to gather information and monitor labor union activity.[citation needed] When workers organized the massive Flint sit-down strike in 1936, Sloan found that espionage had little value in the face of such open tactics, and instead the successful strike legitimized the United Auto Workers as the exclusive bargaining representative for GM workers.[9] MIT Building E62, home of the Sloan School of Management The world's first university-based executive education program, the Sloan Fellows, started in 1931 at MIT under the sponsorship of Sloan. A Sloan Foundation grant established the MIT School of Industrial Management in 1952 with the charge of educating the "ideal manager", and the school was renamed in Sloan's honor as the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, one of the world's premier business schools. Additional grants established a Sloan Institute of Hospital Administration in 1955 at Cornell University-the first two-year graduate program of its type in the US, a Sloan Fellows Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1957, and at London Business School in 1965.[10] They became degree programs in 1976, awarding the degree of Master of Science in Management. Sloan's name also lives on in the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Cancer Center in New York. In 1951, Sloan received the Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York". The Alfred P. Sloan Museum, showcasing the evolution of the automobile industry and traveling galleries, is located in Flint, Michigan.[11] Sloan maintained an office in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Rockefeller Center, now known as the GE Building.[12] He retired as GM chairman on April 2, 1956. His memoir and management treatise, My Years with General Motors,[3] was more or less finished around this time; but GM's legal staff, who feared that it would be used to support an antitrust case against GM, held up its publication for nearly a decade. It was finally published in 1964. Sloan died in 1966.[2] Sloan was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1975. Philanthropy The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic non-profit organization established by Sloan in 1934. The foundation's programs and interests fall into the areas of science and technology, standard of living, economic performance, and education and careers in science and technology. For the year ending December 31, 2014, the total assets of the Sloan Foundation had a market value of about $1.876 billion.[13] The Sloan Foundation bankrolled the 1956 Warner Bros. cartoon Yankee Dood It, which promotes mass production. In the late 1940s, the Sloan Foundation made a grant to Harding College (now Harding University) in Searcy, Arkansas. The foundation wanted to fund the production of a series of short films that would extol the virtues of capitalism and the American way of life.[14] This resulted in the production of a series of animated cartoons by John Sutherland (producer) which were released on the 16mm non-theatrical market, and also distributed theatrically in 35mm by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. According to Edwin Black, Sloan was one of the central, behind-the-scenes 1934 founders of the American Liberty League, a political organization whose stated goal was to defend the Constitution, and who opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. In turn, the league would finance other groups with openly more extreme agendas. One such group was the Sentinels of the Republic to which Sloan himself made a $1000 check. After a Congressional investigation into this group went public in 1936, Sloan issued a statement pledging not to further support the Sentinels.[citation needed] Also according to Black, the GM chief continued to personally fund and organize fund-raising for the National Association of Manufacturers, which was critical of the New Deal.[15] The Sloan Foundation has made three grants, of $3 million each, to the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). These are some of the largest grants that the WMF has received.[16] Criticism Overly rational and profit-driven orientation According to O'Toole (1995),[17] Sloan built a very objective organization, a company that paid significant attention to "policies, systems, and structures and not enough to people, principles, and values. Sloan, the quintessential engineer, had worked out all the intricacies and contingencies of a foolproof system." But this system left out employees and society.[18] One consequence of this management philosophy was a culture that resisted change. Proof that the system did not remain foolproof forever was seen in GM's problems of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. In fact, Sloan's memoir and management treatise, My Years With General Motors,[3] foresaw some of these problems. About them, Sloan implied that only vigilant, intelligent management could meet them successfully. He predicted that remaining at the top [of its industry and the economy] would prove a bigger challenge for GM than was getting there; and it turned out that he was right. But he also seemed confident that the management style of GM under his leadership, if continued and adapted, could meet these challenges. He said, "There have been and always will be many opportunities to fail in the automobile industry. The circumstances of the ever-changing market and ever-changing product are capable of breaking any business organization if that organization is unprepared for change—indeed, in my opinion, if it has not provided procedures for anticipating change. In General Motors these procedures are provided by the central management, which is in a position to appraise the broad long-term trends of the market. ... As the industry has grown and evolved, we have adhered to this policy and have demonstrated an ability to meet competition and the shifts of customer demand."[19] As these words of Sloan (1964) show in juxtaposition with the words of Peter F. Drucker (1946), Sloan (and his fellow GM executives) never agreed with Drucker on the lessons that Drucker drew from his study of GM management during the war. However, unlike many GM executives, Sloan did not put Drucker on his blacklist for writing the 1946 book; Drucker, in his new introduction [foreword] for the 1990 republishing of Sloan's memoir, said, "When his associates attacked me in a meeting called to discuss the book, Sloan immediately rose to my defense. 'I fully agree with you,' he said to his colleagues. 'Mr. Drucker is dead wrong. But he did precisely what he told us he would do when we asked him in. And he is as entitled to his opinions, wrong though they are, as you or I.'"[20] Drucker related that for 20 years after that meeting, Sloan and Drucker had a good relationship, in which Sloan would invite Drucker to lunch once or twice a year to discuss Sloan's philanthropic plans and the memoir that Sloan was working on assembling (what became My Years). Drucker said, "He asked for my opinions and carefully listened—and he never once took my advice."[20] History seems to have vindicated Drucker in his belief that Sloan's faith in rationality alone—and in the ability of other white-collar managers to be as astute as Sloan himself — was over-ardent. 40 years later, the management and board of directors who had run the original General Motors Corporation into the ground by 2009 were not "in a position to appraise the broad long-term trends of the market"—or were in that position, but not doing the job successfully therein.[21] O'Toole described Sloan's style as follows:[22] "[W]hereas Taylor occasionally backs off to justify his ardor for efficiency in human terms, not once does Sloan make reference to any other values. Freedom, equality, humanism, stability, community, tradition, religion, patriotism, family, love, virtue, nature—all are ignored. In the one personal element in the book, he makes passing reference to his wife: he abandons her on the first day of a European vacation to return to business in Detroit. His language is as calculating as that of the engineer-of-old working with calipers and slide rule, as cold as the steel he caused to be bent to form cars: economizing, utility, facts, objectivity, systems, rationality, maximizing—that is the stuff of his vocabulary."[22] Accounting system drawbacks In 2005, Sloan's work at GM came under criticism for creating a complicated accounting system that prevents the implementation of lean manufacturing methods.[23] Essentially, the criticism is that by using Sloan's methods a company will value inventory just the same as cash, and thus there is no penalty for building up inventory.[23] Carrying excessive inventory is detrimental to a company's operation and induces significant hidden costs. This criticism must be viewed in the context that it is provided in hindsight. During the period in which Sloan advocated carrying what would now be considered excess inventory, the industrial and transportation infrastructure would not support what is now known as just-in-time inventory. During this period, the auto industry experienced incredible growth as the public eagerly sought to purchase this life-changing utility known as the automobile. The cost of lost sales due to lack of inventory was likely greater than the cost of carrying excess inventory. Sloan's system seems to have been widely adopted because of its advance over previous methods.[citation needed] In his memoir, Sloan (who would freely acknowledge that he was not a trained accountant) said that the system that he implemented in the early 1920s was far better than what it replaced (which was, in so many words, an undesigned cacophony in which financial controls mostly didn't exist). He said that years later, a professional accountant (Albert Bradley, longtime CFO of GM) "was kind enough to say [that it] was pretty good for a layman."[24] Sloan was far from the sole author of GM's financial and accounting systems, as GM later had many trained minds in accounting and finance; but regardless of authorship, GM's financial controls, at one time considered top-notch, eventually proved to have latent drawbacks. Systems similar to GM's were implemented by other major companies, especially in the United States, and they eventually undermined the ability to compete with companies that used different accounting, according to Waddell & Bodek's 2005 analysis.[23] Sloan's memoir, particularly Chapter 8, "The development of financial controls",[25] indicates that Sloan and GM appreciated the financial dangers of excess inventory even as early as the 1920s. However, Waddell & Bodek's 2005 analysis[23] indicates that this theory was not successfully implemented in GM's practice. For all of the intellectual understanding, the reality remained slow inventory turnover and an accounting system that functionally treated inventory similarly to cash. Nazi collaboration Main article: History of General Motors § Nazi collaboration In August 1938, a senior executive for General Motors, James D. Mooney, received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle for his distinguished service to the Reich. "Nazi armaments chief Albert Speer told a congressional investigator that Germany could not have attempted its September 1939 blitzkrieg of Poland without the performance-boosting additive technology provided by Alfred P. Sloan and General Motors".[5][26][27] During the war, GM's Opel Brandenburg facilities produced Ju 88 bombers, trucks, land mines and torpedo detonators for Nazi Germany.[26] Charles Levinson, formerly deputy director of the European office of the CIO, alleged that Sloan remained on the board of Opel.[28] Sloan's memoir presents a different picture of Opel's wartime role.[29] According to Sloan, Opel was nationalized, along with most other industrial activity owned or co-owned by foreign interests, by the German state soon after the outbreak of war.[30] But Opel was never factually nationalized and the GM-appointed directors and management remained unchanged throughout the Nazi period including the war, dealing with other GM companies in Axis and Allied countries including the United States.[31] Sloan presents Opel at the end of the war as a black box to GM's American management, an organization with which the Americans had had no contact for five years. According to Sloan, GM in Detroit debated whether to even try to run Opel in the postwar era, or to leave to the interim West German government the question of who would pick up the pieces.[29] Defending the German investment strategy as "highly profitable", Sloan told shareholders in 1939 that GM's continued industrial production for the Nazi government was merely sound business practice. In a letter to a concerned shareholder, Sloan said that the manner in which the Nazi government ran Germany "should not be considered the business of the management of General Motors. ... We must conduct ourselves as a German organization. ... We have no right to shut down the plant."[5] Post-war As the war drew to an end, most economists and New Deal policy makers assumed that without continued massive government spending, the pre-war Great Depression and its huge unemployment would return. The economist Paul Samuelson warned that unless government took immediate action, "there would be ushered in the greatest period of unemployment and industrial dislocation which any economy has faced." Many adhering to the prevailing Keynesian economic wisdom predicted economic disaster when the war ended.[32][33] Sloan, however, felt otherwise and predicted a post-war boom. He pointed to workers' savings and pent-up demand, and predicted a huge jump in national income and a rise in standard of living. In line with his predictions, and despite a precipitous cut-back in government spending and the wholesale closure of defense plants, the economy boomed. One of the greatest periods of economic expansion in American history resulted.[32][33] The General Motors Company[2] (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States.[3] It is the largest automaker in the United States and was the largest in the world for 77 years before losing the top spot to Toyota in 2008.[4][5] General Motors operates manufacturing plants in eight countries.[6] Its four core automobile brands are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. It also holds interests in Chinese brands Wuling Motors and Baojun as well as DMAX via joint ventures.[2] Additionally, GM also owns the BrightDrop delivery vehicle manufacturer,[7] a namesake Defense vehicles division which produces military vehicles for the United States government and military;[8] the vehicle safety, security, and information services provider OnStar;[9] the auto parts company ACDelco, a namesake financial lending service; and majority ownership in the self-driving cars enterprise Cruise LLC. In January 2021, GM announced plans to end production and sales of vehicles using internal combustion engines, including hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrids by 2035, as part of its plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.[10] GM offers more flexible-fuel vehicles, which can operate on either E85 ethanol fuel or gasoline, or any blend of both, than any other automaker.[11] The company traces itself to a holding company for Buick established on September 16, 1908, by William C. Durant, the largest seller of horse-drawn vehicles at the time.[12] The current entity was established in 2009 after the General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization.[13] GM is ranked 22nd on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[14] History Further information: History of General Motors General Motors headquarters building, 1981 By 1900, William C. Durant's Durant-Dort Carriage Company of Flint, Michigan had become the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in the United States.[15] Durant was averse to automobiles, but fellow Flint businessman James H. Whiting, owner of Flint Wagon Works, sold him the Buick Motor Company in 1904.[16] Durant formed the General Motors Company in 1908 as a holding company, with partner Charles Stewart Mott, borrowing a naming convention from General Electric.[17] GM's first acquisition was Buick, which Durant already owned, then Oldsmobile on November 12, 1908.[18] Under Durant, GM went on to acquire Cadillac, Elmore, Welch, Cartercar, Oakland (the predecessor of Pontiac), the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan (predecessors of GMC) in 1909. Durant, with the board's approval, also tried acquiring Ford Motor Company but needed an additional $2 million.[19] Durant over-leveraged GM in making these acquisitions, and was removed by the board of directors in 1910 at the order of the bankers who backed the loans to keep GM in business.[16] The action of the bankers was partially influenced by the Panic of 1910–1911 that followed the earlier enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. In 1911, Charles F. Kettering, with Henry M. Leland, of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), invented and patented the first electric starter in America.[20] In November 1911, Durant co-founded Chevrolet with Swiss race car driver Louis Chevrolet, who left the company in 1915 after a disagreement with Durant.[21] General Motors Company share certificate issued October 13, 1916 GM was reincorporated in Detroit in 1916 as General Motors Corporation and became a public company via an initial public offering. By 1917, Chevrolet had become successful enough that Durant, with the backing of Samuel McLaughlin and Pierre S. du Pont, reacquired a controlling interest in GM. The same year, GM acquired Samson Tractor.[22] Chevrolet Motor Company was consolidated into GM on May 2, 1918, and the same year GM acquired United Motors, a parts supplier founded by Durant and headed by Alfred P. Sloan for $45 million, and the McLaughlin Motor Car Company, founded by R. S. McLaughlin, became General Motors of Canada Limited.[23][24][25] In 1919, GM acquired Guardian Frigerator Company, part-owned by Durant, which was renamed Frigidaire. With this acquisition, the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), which provides financing to automotive customers, was formed.[26][16] In 1920, du Pont orchestrated the removal of Durant once again and replaced him with Alfred P. Sloan.[27] At a time when GM was competing heavily with Ford Motor Company, Sloan established annual model changes, making previous years' models "dated" and created a market for used cars.[28] He also implemented the pricing strategy used by all car companies today. The pricing strategy had Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac priced from least expensive to most, respectively.[29] In 1921, Thomas Midgley Jr., an engineer for GM, discovered tetraethyllead (leaded gasoline) as an antiknock agent, and GM patented the compound because ethanol could not be patented.[30] This led to the development of higher compression engines resulting in more power and efficiency. The public later realized that lead contained in the gasoline was harmful to various biological organisms including humans.[31] Evidence shows that corporate executives understood the health implications of tetraethyllead from the beginning.[32] As an engineer for GM, Midgley also developed chlorofluorocarbons, which have now been banned due to their contribution to climate change.[33] Under the encouragement of GM President Alfred P. Sloan Jr., GM acquired Vauxhall Motors for $2.5 million in 1925.[34] The company also acquired an interest in the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company the same year, and its president, John D. Hertz, joined the board of directors of GM; it acquired the remainder of the company in 1943.[16] In 1926, the company introduced the Pontiac brand and established the General Motors Group Insurance Program to provide life insurance to its employees.[16] The following year, after the success of the 1927 model of the Cadillac Lasalle designed by Harley Earl, Sloan created the "Art and Color Section" of GM and named Earl as its first director. Earl was the first design executive to be appointed to leadership at a major American corporation. Earl created a system of automobile design that is still practiced today.[35] At the age of 24, Bill Mitchell was recruited by Harley Earl to the design team at GM, and he was later appointed as Chief Designer of Cadillac. After Earl retired in December 1958, Mitchell took over automotive design for GM.[36] GM acquired Allison Engine Company[16][37] and began developing a 1,000 horsepower liquid-cooled aircraft engine in 1929.[16] The same year, GM acquired 80% of Opel, which at that time had a 37.5% market share in Europe, for $26 million. It acquired the remaining 20% in 1931.[34] In the late-1920s, Charles Kettering embarked on a program to develop a lightweight two-stroke diesel engine for possible usage in automobiles.[38] Soon after, GM acquired Electro-Motive Company and the Winton Engine Co., and in 1941, it expanded EMC's realm to locomotive engine manufacturing.[39] In 1932, GM acquired Packard Electric[16][40] (not the Packard car company, which would merge with Studebaker years later). The following year, GM acquired a controlling interest in North American Aviation and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation.[41] The GM labor force participated in the formation of the United Auto Workers labor union in 1935, and in 1936 the UAW organized the Flint Sit-Down Strike, which initially idled two key plants in Flint, Michigan, and later spread to 6 other plants including those in Janesville, Wisconsin and Fort Wayne, Indiana. In Flint, police attempted to enter the plant to arrest strikers, leading to violence; in other cities, the plants were shuttered peacefully. The strike was resolved on February 11, 1937, when GM recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for its workers and gave workers a 5% raise and permission to speak in the lunchroom.[42] Jominy & Boegehold of GM invented the Jominy end-quench test for hardenability of carbon steel in 1937, a breakthrough in heat treating still in use today as ASTM A255.[43] GM established Detroit Diesel the next year.[44] In 1939, the company founded Motors Insurance Corporation and entered the vehicle insurance market.[26] The same year, GM introduced the Hydramatic, the world's first affordable and successful automatic transmission, for the 1940 Oldsmobile.[45][46] 1926 Pontiac radiator logo 1926 Pontiac radiator logo   1928 Pontiac Series 6-28 2-door 5-passenger Coach sedan 1928 Pontiac Series 6-28 2-door 5-passenger Coach sedan   1932 Pontiac Series 402 Six 2-door 5-passenger Coach sedan 1932 Pontiac Series 402 Six 2-door 5-passenger Coach sedan   1936 Pontiac Master Six Series 6BB Coupe 1936 Pontiac Master Six Series 6BB Coupe During World War II, GM produced vast quantities of armaments, vehicles, and aircraft for the Allies of World War II. In 1940, GM's William S. Knudsen served as head of U.S. wartime production for President Franklin Roosevelt, and by 1942, all of GM's production was to support the war.[47] GM's Vauxhall Motors manufactured the Churchill tank series for the Allies, instrumental in the North African campaign.[16] However, its Opel division, based in Germany, supplied the Nazi Party with vehicles. Sloan, head of GM at the time, was an ardent opponent of the New Deal, which bolstered labor unions and public transport, and Sloan admired and supported Adolf Hitler.[48][49] Nazi armaments chief Albert Speer allegedly said in 1977 that Hitler "would never have considered invading Poland" without synthetic fuel technology provided by General Motors. GM was compensated $32 million by the U.S. government because its German factories were bombed by U.S. forces during the war.[50] Effective January 28, 1953, Charles Erwin Wilson, then GM president, was named by Dwight D. Eisenhower as United States Secretary of Defense.[16] In December 1953, GM acquired Euclid Trucks, a manufacturer of heavy equipment for earthmoving, including dump trucks, loaders and wheel tractor-scrapers, which later spawned the Terex brand.[51][52] Alfred P. Sloan retired as chairman and was succeeded by Albert Bradley in April 1956.[53] In 1962, GM introduced the first turbo charged engine in the world for a car in the Oldsmobile Cutlass Turbo-Jetfire.[16][54] Two years later, the company introduced its "Mark of Excellence" logo and trademark at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The company used the mark as their main corporate identifier until 2021.[55] GM released the Electrovan in 1966, the first hydrogen fuel cell car ever produced.[56] Though fuel cells have existed since the early 1800s, General Motors was the first to use a fuel cell, supplied by Union Carbide, to power the wheels of a vehicle with a budget of "millions of dollars".[57][58][59] An advertisement for the 1969 Chevrolet Nova using the advertising slogan "Putting you first, keeps us first" In the 1960s, GM was the first to use turbochargers and was an early proponent of V6 engines, but quickly lost interest as the popularity of muscle cars increased. GM demonstrated gas turbine vehicles powered by kerosene, an area of interest throughout the industry, but abandoned the alternative engine configuration due to the 1973 oil crisis.[60] In partnership with Boeing, GM's Delco Defense Electronics Division designed the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which traversed the surface of the Moon, in 1971.[61][62] The following year, GM produced the first rear wheel anti-lock braking system for two models: the Toronado and Eldorado.[63] In 1973, the Oldsmobile Toronado was the first retail car sold with a passenger airbag.[64][65] Thomas Murphy became CEO of the company, succeeding Richard C. Gerstenberg in November 1974.[66][67] GM installed its first catalytic converters in its 1975 models.[68] From 1978 to 1985, GM pushed the benefits of diesel engines and cylinder deactivation technologies. However, it had disastrous results due to poor durability in the Oldsmobile diesels and drivability issues in the Cadillac V8-6-4 variable-cylinder engines.[69] GM sold Frigidaire in 1979. Although Frigidaire had between $450 million and $500 million in annual revenues, it was losing money.[70] Robert Lee of GM invented the Fe14Nd2B the Neodymium magnet, which was fabricated by rapid solidification, in 1984.[71] This magnet is commonly used in products like a computer hard disk. The same year, GM acquired Electronic Data Systems for $2.5 billion from Ross Perot as part of a strategy by CEO Roger Smith to derive at least 10% of its annual worldwide revenue from non-automotive sources.[72] GM also intended to have EDS handle its bookkeeping, help computerize factories, and integrate GM's computer systems. The transaction made Ross Perot the largest shareholder of GM; however, disagreements with Roger Smith led the company to buy all shares held by Ross Perot for $750 million in 1986.[73] In a continuation of its diversification plans, GMAC formed GMAC Mortgage and acquired Colonial Mortgage as well as the servicing arm of Norwest Mortgage in 1985. This acquisition included an $11 billion mortgage portfolio.[74] The same year, GM acquired the Hughes Aircraft Company for $5 billion in cash and stock, and merged it into Delco Electronics.[75] The following year, GM acquired 59.7% of Lotus Cars, a British producer of high-performance sports cars.[76] In 1987, in conjunction with AeroVironment, GM built the Sunraycer, which won the inaugural World Solar Challenge and was a showcase of advanced technology. Much of the technology from Sunraycer found its way into the Impact prototype electric vehicle (also built by Aerovironment) and was the predecessor to the General Motors EV1.[77] In 1988, GM acquired a 15% stake in AeroVironment.[78] In 1989, GM acquired half of Saab Automobile's car operations for $600 million.[79] In August 1990, Robert Stempel became CEO of the company, succeeding Roger Smith.[80] GM cut output significantly and suffered losses that year due to the early 1990s recession.[81] In 1990, GM debuted the General Motors EV1 (Impact) concept, a battery electric vehicle, at the LA Auto Show. It was the first car with zero emissions marketed in the US in over three decades. The Impact was produced as the EV1 for the 1996 model year and was available only via lease from certain dealers in California and Arizona. In 1999–2002, GM ceased production of the vehicles and started to not renew the leases, disappointing many people, allegedly because the program would not be profitable and would cannibalize its existing business. All of the EV1s were eventually returned to General Motors, and except for around 40 which were donated to museums with their electric powertrains deactivated, all were destroyed. The documentary film Who Killed the Electric Car? covered the EV1 story.[82] In November 1992, John F. Smith Jr. became CEO of the company.[83] In 1993, GM sold Lotus Cars to Bugatti.[84] In 1996, in a return to its automotive basics, GM completed the corporate spin-off of Electronic Data Systems.[85][86] In 1997, GM sold the military businesses of Hughes Aircraft Company to Raytheon Company for $9.5 billion in stock and the assumption of debt.[87][88][89][90] In February 2000, Rick Wagoner was named CEO, succeeding John F. Smith Jr.[91][92] The next month, GM gave 5.1% of its common stock, worth $2.4 billion, to acquire a 20% share of Fiat.[93] Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid vehicle Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid vehicle   Second generation Chevrolet Volt Second generation Chevrolet Volt   The Chevrolet Volt The Chevrolet Volt   The General Motors EV1, an electric car, was introduced in California in 1996. The General Motors EV1, an electric car, was introduced in California in 1996. In May 2004, GM delivered the first full-sized pickup truck hybrid vehicles, the 1/2-ton Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra trucks.[94] These mild hybrids did not use electrical energy for propulsion, like GM's later designs. Later, the company debuted another hybrid technology, co-developed with DaimlerChrysler and BMW, in diesel-electric hybrid powertrain manufactured by Allison Transmission for transit buses.[95] Continuing to target the diesel-hybrid market, the Opel Astra diesel engine hybrid concept vehicle was rolled out in January 2005.[96] Later that year, GM sold its Electro-Motive Diesel locomotive division to private equity firms Berkshire Partners and Greenbriar Equity Group.[97][98] GM paid $2 billion to sever its ties with Fiat in 2005, severing ties with the company due to an increasingly contentious dispute.[99] GM began adding its "Mark of Excellence" emblem on all new vehicles produced and sold in North America in mid-2005. However, after the reorganization in 2009, the company no longer added the logo, saying that emphasis on its four core divisions would downplay the GM logo.[100][101] In 2005, Edward T. Welburn was promoted to the newly created position of vice president, GM Global Design, making him the first African American to lead a global automotive design organization and the highest-ranking African American in the US motor industry at that time. On July 1, 2016, he retired from General Motors after 44 years. He was replaced by Michael Simcoe.[102][103] In 2006, GM introduced a bright yellow gas cap on its vehicles to remind drivers that cars can operate using E85 ethanol fuel.[104] They also introduced another hybrid vehicle that year, the Saturn Vue Green Line.[105] In 2008, General Motors committed to engineering half of its manufacturing plants to be landfill-free. In order to achieve its landfill-free status, production waste is recycled or reused in the manufacturing process.[106] Continuing their environmental-conscious development, GM started to offer the 2-mode hybrid system in the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade, and pickup trucks.[107] In late 2008, the world's largest rooftop solar power installation was installed at GM's manufacturing plant in Zaragoza. The Zaragoza solar installation has about 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2) of roof at the plant and contains about 85,000 solar panels. The installation was created, owned and operated by Veolia Environment and Clairvoyant Energy, which leases the rooftop area from GM.[108][109][110] Chapter 11 bankruptcy and bailout Further information: General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization In March 2009, after the company had received $17.4 billion in bailouts but was not effective in a turnaround, President Barack Obama forced the resignation of CEO Rick Wagoner.[111] General Motors filed for a government-backed Chapter 11 reorganization on June 8, 2009.[112][113] On July 10, 2009, the original General Motors sold assets and some subsidiaries to an entirely new company, including the trademark "General Motors".[112][113] Liabilities were left with the original GM, renamed Motors Liquidation Company, freeing the companies of many liabilities and resulting in a new GM.[112][113] Through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the United States Department of the Treasury invested $49.5 billion in General Motors and recovered $39 billion when it sold its shares on December 9, 2013, resulting in a loss of $10.3 billion. The Treasury invested an additional $17.2 billion into GM's former financing company, GMAC (now Ally Financial). The shares in Ally were sold on December 18, 2014, for $19.6 billion netting the government $2.4 billion in profit, including dividends.[114][115] A study by the Center for Automotive Research found that the GM bailout saved 1.2 million jobs and preserved $34.9 billion in tax revenue.[116] In 2009, the company shut down its Saturn Corporation and Pontiac brands after failing to find a buyer for the brands, and sold Hummer to Tengzhong.[117] General Motors Canada was not part of the General Motors Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[118] Post-reorganization This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This section reads like a press release or a news article and may be largely based on routine coverage. (January 2023) This section appears to be slanted towards recent events. (September 2022) This section is in list format but may read better as prose. (September 2022) In June 2009, at the request of Steven Rattner, lead adviser to President Barack Obama on the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, Edward Whitacre Jr., who had led a restructuring of AT&T was named chairman of the company.[119] In July 2009, after 40 days of bankruptcy protection, the company emerged from the government-backed General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization.[120] In December 2009, the board of directors forced CEO Frederick Henderson to resign and Edward Whitacre Jr. was named interim CEO.[121] In 2010, GM acquired Americredit, a subprime lender, for $3.5 billion, which was merged into GM Financial.[122] In November 2010, GM again became a public company via an initial public offering that was one of the world's top five largest IPOs to date.[123] The company returned to profitability in 2010.[124] In January 2010, GM sold Saab Automobile to Dutch automaker Spyker Cars.[125][126] In May 2010, the company repaid a $6.7 billion loan from the government ahead of schedule.[127] In September 2010, Daniel Akerson became CEO of the company.[128] In 2010, GM introduced the Chevrolet Volt as an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV), an electric vehicle with back-up generators powered by gasoline, or series plug-in hybrid.[129][130] GM delivered the first Volt in December 2010.[131] The Chevrolet Volt was a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle with back-up generators powered by gasoline (range-extended electric vehicle).[132] General Motors built a prototype two-seat electric vehicle with Segway Inc. An early prototype of the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility vehicle—dubbed Project P.U.M.A. – was presented in New York at the 2009 New York International Auto Show.[133] 2nd generation Buick LaCrosse (2010–2016)[134][135] 2nd generation Buick LaCrosse (2010–2016)[134][135]   General Motors Sequel, a fuel cell-powered vehicle from GM General Motors Sequel, a fuel cell-powered vehicle from GM   E85 FlexFuel Chevrolet Impala LT 2009 (USA) E85 FlexFuel Chevrolet Impala LT 2009 (USA)   The Chevrolet Bolt EV was released in late 2016. The Chevrolet Bolt EV was released in late 2016. In July 2011, General Motors invested $7.5 million in solar-panel provider Sunlogics to install solar panels on GM facilities.[136] In October 2011, GM introduced the Chevrolet Spark EV, an all-electric car version of the third generation Chevrolet Spark, the first all-electric passenger car marketed by General Motors in the U.S. since the General Motors EV1 was discontinued in 1999. The production version was unveiled at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show.[137][138] The Chevrolet Spark was released in the U.S. in selected markets in California and Oregon in June 2013.[139] Retail sales began in South Korea in October 2013.[140] In 2011, GM revived one of its idled U.S. factories for the production of a subcompact car in Orion, Michigan, with the creation of 1,500 jobs. This was the first time that GM produced a subcompact car in the United States since the Chevrolet Chevette ended production in 1986.[141] Production started in late 2011 with the Chevrolet Sonic.[142] GM ended production of the Sonic at Orion Assembly on October 19, 2020.[143] In 2012, PSA Group and General Motors formed an alliance, and GM acquired 7% of PSA Group.[144] The ownership was divested on December 13, 2013, generating gross proceeds of €250 million.[145][146] On July 2, 2013, GM and Honda announced a partnership to develop fuel cell systems and hydrogen storage technologies for the 2020 time frame. GM and Honda are leaders in fuel cell technology, ranking first and second, respectively, in total fuel cell patents filed between 2002 and 2012, with more than 1,200 between them according to the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index.[147][148][149] In late 2013, after losing approximately $18 billion over 12 years, GM began phasing out mainstream sales of Chevrolet in Europe and finished by late 2015 to focus on Opel/Vauxhall. The Chevrolet brand had been reintroduced in Europe in 2005, selling mostly rebranded Daewoo Motors cars acquired by GM Korea.[150][151] On January 15, 2014, Mary Barra was named chief executive officer, succeeding Daniel Akerson. Barra also joined the GM board.[152] The 2014 General Motors recall, which was due to faulty ignition switches, and was linked to at least 124 deaths, was estimated to cost the company $1.5 billion.[153] In October 2015, the second-generation Volt was launched in the United States and Canada. The second generation had an upgraded drivetrain and improved battery system that increased the all-electric range from 38 to 53 miles (61 to 85 km).[154][155][156] On January 4, 2016, GM invested $500 million in Lyft.[157] This was GM's first investment in ride-sharing.[158] In March 2016, General Motors acquired Cruise, a San Francisco self-driving vehicle start-up, to develop self-driving cars that could be used in ride-sharing fleets.[159][160] In October 2016, GM began production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV, the first ever mass market all-electric car with a range of more than 200 miles (320 km).[161][162] The battery pack and most drivetrain components were built by LG Corporation and assembled in GM's plant in Lake Orion, Michigan.[163] In December 2016, General Motors began testing self-driving vehicles on public roads in Michigan after Governor Rick Snyder signed bills legalizing the operation of autonomous vehicles.[164] On March 6, 2017, General Motors sold its Opel and Vauxhall brands to PSA Group for $2.3 billion.[165][166] On April 20, 2017, the Government of Venezuela seized the General Motors Venezolana plant in Valencia, Carabobo.[167] In October 2017, GM acquired Strobe, a solid state LIDAR company. Strobe's prototypes produce brief "chirps" of frequency-modulated (FM) laser light, where the frequency within each chirp varies linearly. Measuring the phase and frequency of the echoing chirp allows the system to directly measure both the distance and the velocity of objects on the road ahead. Strobe, Cruise, and GM will work together to develop the technology for future self-driving cars.[168][169] In October 2018, Honda invested $2.75 billion in GM's self-driving car unit, including an initial investment of $275 million, followed by $2 billion within a year.[170][171][172] In November 2018, GM announced it would lay off more than 14,000 employees in North America, comprising 15% of its workforce and 25% of its executive staff in the region.[127] The company ceased production at three assemblies: Lordstown Assembly in Ohio, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly in Michigan and Oshawa in Canada and two engine/transmission (White Marsh, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan) plants in 2019.[173][174] In March 2019, GM ceased production of the Chevrolet Volt.[175] In March 2019, the company announced that it would begin production of a new EV model in Lake Orion, Michigan.[176] In May 2019, General Motors received pushback on its plan to release a fleet of up to 2,500 modified Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles. The company planned to release these vehicles by Q4 of 2019 as part of initiatives to build a controlled self-driving fleet.[177] In November 2019, GM sold its former Chevy Cruze plant in Lordstown, Ohio to Lordstown Motors.[178] In January 2020, GM announced the return of the Hummer nameplate as a series of electric vehicles to be sold from within the GMC portfolio, known as the GMC Hummer EV.[179] The first vehicle, a pickup truck variant with over 1,000 horsepower, shipped in December 2021.[180][181][182] In April 2020, the company shut down Maven, a car-sharing service in the United States.[183][184] In September 2020, GM announced a partnership with Nikola Corporation to engineer and manufacture the Nikola Badger, and GM made an equity investment in Nikola. The Badger will use GM's Ultium battery technology, and GM will be an exclusive fuel cell supplier for all of Nikola's class 7/8 trucks.[185] Following fraud allegations from short-seller[citation needed] Hindenburg Research concerning the mechanical capabilities of the Badger pickup truck along with separate sexual misconduct allegations involving former CEO Trevor Milton, GM scaled back its investment with Nikola via a smaller revised deal.[186][187] In September 2020, GM and Honda announced an alliance to cooperate on purchasing, research, and vehicle development.[188][189] In November 2020, GM committed to increased capital investment in electric vehicles to over half of new capital expenditures, totalling $27 billion over five years.[190] On January 8, 2021, GM introduced a new logo alongside a tagline "EVerybody in", with the capitalized "EV" as a nod to the company's commitment to electric vehicles.[191][192] GM's new logo used negative space to create the idea of an electric plug in the "M" of the logo.[193] At the January 2021 Consumer Electronics Show, GM launched BrightDrop, its brand for all-electric commercial vehicles.[194] On January 28, 2021, GM announced that it will end production and sales of fossil-fuel vehicles (including hybrids and plug-in hybrids) by 2035 as part of its plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2040.[195] In 2021, GM announced plans to establish an automotive battery and battery pack laboratory in Michigan.[196][197][198] GM will be responsible for battery management systems and power electronics, thermal management, as well as the pack assembly. An existing GM facility at Brownstown Township was chosen to be upgraded as a battery pack plant.[129] LG Chem's U.S. subsidiary, Compact Power of Troy, Michigan, has been building the prototype packs for the development vehicles and will continue to provide integration support and act as a liaison for the program.[199] in April 2021, after being criticized for not advertising enough in black-owned businesses, General Motors said that it will spend 2% of 2021's advertising budget in Black-owned media and 4% in 2022 until reaching 8% in 2025.[200] In April 2021, GM announced a joint venture with LG, to build a $2.3 billion plant to build batteries for electric vehicles.[201] In November 2021, GM acquired a 25% stake in Pure Watercraft, a producer of all-electric boats.[202] General Motors has launched the largest investment project in its home state of Michigan, announcing plans to invest $7 billion to convert a plant to produce electric cars and build a new battery plant.[203][204] Besides that General Motors has announced investment of $154 million into its Western New York Lockport Components plant.[205][206] Also in August 2022, the company announced that it would offer buyouts to the roughly 2,000 Buick dealers in the US that didn't want to make investments as the company switches to an all-electric lineup. This move came after a similar move with Cadillac dealers that reduced their presence by about a third.[207][208] In September 2022, the firm announced it would introduce an electric version of its popular Chevy Equinox in the third quarter of 2023, priced around $30,000 to leave it less expensive than comparable vehicles. This move was another step in the firm's decision to go all-electric.[209][210] In October 2022, the company announced the creation of GM Energy, a new unit that would provide battery packs, EV chargers, and software to help residential and business customers to help with charging and electrical grid disruptions. Offerings would be tailored to specifics homes and businesses. At the time of the announcement, the company said some products would be provided by third party partners.[211][212][213] Other international history China For the Chinese market, most of its cars are manufactured within China. Shanghai GM, a joint venture with the Chinese company SAIC Motor, was created with Canadian Regal 1990 on March 25, 1997. The Shanghai GM plant was officially opened on December 15, 1998, when the first Chinese-built Buick came off the assembly line. The SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile joint-venture is also selling microvans under the Wuling brand (34% owned by GM). Buick is strong in China from its early introduction by the Canadian Buick sold to the last Emperor of China, later being led by the Buick Regal 1990 subcompact. The last emperor of China owned a Buick.[214] The Cadillac brand was introduced in China in 2004, starting with exports to China. GM pushed the marketing of the Chevrolet brand in China in the mid-2000s as well. As part of this push, GM transferred the Buick Sail to that brand as an attempt to appeal to Chinese middle-class buyers looking for small and affordable cars.[215] In August 2009, FAW-GM, a joint venture between GM and FAW Group that mainly produced FAW Jiefang light-duty trucks, was formed.[216] GM left the joint venture in 2019, and the Jiefang brand is now wholly owned by FAW.[217] In 2011, GM opened an auto research center as part of a US250 million corporate campus in Shanghai to develop gasoline-hybrid cars, electric vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles, engines, and new technologies.[218] A second phase opened in 2012.[219] SAIC-GM-Wuling established the low-cost Baojun brand to better compete with domestic rivals, Chery Automobile, Geely Automobile and BYD Auto for first-time buyers of cars priced around US$10,000.[220] Japan GM maintains a dealership presence in Japan, called GM Chevrolet Shop, previously known as GM Auto World Shop.[221] Current GM Japan dealerships were either former Saturn dealerships or Isuzu dealership locations. GM products are also currently sold by the company Yanase Co., Ltd. since 1915.[222] Indonesia In August 2011, GM announced plans to build a $150 million 190,300 square-foot plant in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, which would produce 40,000 passenger cars per year for the Southeast Asian market.[223] The plant opened on March 11, 2013.[224] The plant was shut in 2015.[225] GM withdrew the Chevrolet brand from Indonesia in March 2020. However, GM will continue to sell the Wuling and Baojun badged vehicles in Indonesia through the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture.[226] South Korea In October 2011, the South Korea free trade agreement opened the South Korean auto market to American-made cars.[227] GM owns 77.0% of its joint venture in South Korea, GM Korea, which mainly designs and produces Chevrolet and Holden branded vehicles.[2] In 2011, GM discontinued the Daewoo brand in South Korea and replaced it with the Chevrolet brand.[228] In 2018, the company approached the Korea Development Bank to participate in a $2.7 billion debt swap issued by its Korean subsidiary.[229] In February 2018, General Motors shut one factory in South Korea. The plant was affected by the pullout of the Chevrolet brand from Europe.[230] Uzbekistan In 2008, GM Uzbekistan was established, owned 25% by GM. It produced Ravon, Chevrolet, and Daewoo branded vehicles. This interest was sold to the Government of Uzbekistan in 2019. India In 1928, GM became the first car maker to manufacture cars in India. GM entered the market for the second time in 1996. The older Halol, Gujarat plant, with a capacity of 50,000 units, stopped production on April 28, 2017, and was sold to MG Motor India. GM continues to manufacture cars for the export market from its Talegaon Dhamdhere, Maharashtra plant, which has a capacity of 160,000 units annually. Thailand GM stopped production of the Chevrolet Sonic in Thailand in mid-2015.[231] In February 2020, GM discontinued the Chevrolet brand in Thailand.[232] GM withdrew from the Thai market and sold its Rayong plant to Great Wall Motors.[233] Egypt GM has a long history in Egypt which began in the 1920s with the assembly of cars and light pickup trucks for the local market. In the mid of the 1950s, GM withdrew from the Egyptian market. Some years later, the Ghabbour Brothers began to assemble Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Buick models up to the 1990s. Since 1983, GM and Al-Monsour Automotive have owned General Motors Egypt, which is currently the only manufacturer of traditional GM branded vehicles in Egypt.[234] Nigeria In the 1920s, Miller Brothers Nigeria was founded as an importer of commercial vehicles of the Bedford brand in the country. In 1949, the company opened its own assembly plant and operated under the name Niger/Nigeria Motors. In 1965 the plant and its distribution network were split into different companies and renamed Federated Motors Industries. In 1991 the company was taken in by a joint venture between General Motors and UACN of Nigeria.[citation needed] Tunisia In 1982, GM formed Industries Mécaniques Maghrébines, which built a plant in Kairouan, Tunisia.[235] East Africa Formed in 1975, General Motors East Africa (GMEA) was the largest assembler of commercial vehicles in the region, exporting them from Kenya to East and Central African countries, including Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda and Burundi. Its facility located in Nairobi assembled a wide range of Isuzu trucks and buses, including the popular Isuzu N-Series versatile light commercial vehicle, TF Series pick-ups, and Isuzu bus chassis. In addition to assembly, GMEA also marketed the Chevrolet Spark and Optra. In 2017, GM sold its 57.7% stake in General Motors East Africa to Isuzu,[236] and GMEA was renamed Isuzu East Africa Limited.[237] South Africa General Motors began operating in South Africa in 1913 through its wholly owned subsidiary, General Motors South Africa, and was a market that briefly had its own local brand, Ranger. Following the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in 1986, GM was forced to divest from South Africa, and GMSA became the independent Delta Motor Corporation. GM purchased a 49% stake in Delta in 1997 following the end of apartheid and acquired the remaining 51% in 2004, reverting the company to its original name. By 2014, it was targeting the production of 50,000 cars a year but was being hampered by national labor unrest, strikes, and protests.[238] GM exited the South Africa market in 2017, selling its parts business to Isuzu.[239] New Zealand In New Zealand, GM locally assembled Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Pontiac vehicles from 1926 and Vauxhall cars from 1931. After World War II, the local production of Chevrolet and Vauxhalls resumed, followed by Pontiac in 1959. In 1954, sales of fully imported Holden vehicles into New Zealand began. New Zealand assembly of Holdens began in 1957, and by the end of the 1960s, Holdens replaced all Chevrolets and Pontiacs (both in 1968) and most Vauxhalls. Opel, Bedford, and Isuzu vehicles were assembled or imported at different times during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. All local General Motors assembly plants in New Zealand closed by 1990. GM New Zealand was renamed Holden New Zealand in 1994.[240] Australia Main article: Holden GMSV logo In 1926, GM formed an Australian subsidiary, General Motors (Australia) Limited, which imported, distributed and assembled General Motors products.[241] The bodies were manufactured at an Adelaide-based family business, Holden's Motor Body Builders, which had built up its operations with the help of tariff protection and amicable relations with trade unions.[242] During the Great Depression, Holden's Motor Body Builders collapsed, which allowed General Motors to acquire Holden, becoming General Motors-Holden [GMH] in 1931. In 1948, the first fully manufactured Australian car, the Holden 48-215, was released to great fanfare amongst the Australian public. It was marketed as "Australia's Own" Holden, and became an iconic feature of post-war Australian culture.[243] In 2012, GM established Opel as a niche marque in Australia and began to sell Opel branded cars in Australia. However, in August 2013, sales of Opel ceased due to low sales.[244][245] In 2020, GM discontinued the Holden brand due to poor reception and sales, shutting the facilities where they were produced. GM continues to export some Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC vehicles to Oceania through a new entity called General Motors Specialty Vehicles.[246][247] Motorsports history Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the IMSA SportsCar Championship GM participated in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) from 2004 to 2012,[248] and has also participated in other motorsport championships, including 24 Hours of Le Mans,[249] NASCAR,[250] SCCA[251] and Supercars Championship.[252] GM's engines were successful in the Indy Racing League (IRL) throughout the 1990s, winning many races in the small V8 class. GM has also done much work in the development of electronics for GM auto racing. An unmodified Aurora V8 in the Aerotech captured 47 world records, including the record for speed endurance in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Recently, the Cadillac V-Series has entered motorsports racing. GM has also designed cars specifically for use in NASCAR auto racing. The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is the only entry in the series.[253] In the past, the Pontiac Grand Prix,[254] Buick Regal, Oldsmobile Cutlass, Chevrolet Lumina, Chevrolet Malibu, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Chevrolet Impala, and the Chevrolet SS were also used. GM has won many NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer's championships, including 40 with Chevrolet,[255] the most of any make in NASCAR history, 3 with Oldsmobile, 2 with Buick, and 1 with Pontiac. In 2021, Chevrolet became the first brand to reach 800 wins.[256] In Australia, Holden cars based on the Monaro, Torana and Commodore platforms raced in the Australian Touring Car Championship until 2022. Holden won the Bathurst 1000, a record 36 times between 1968 and 2022 and the Australian Touring Car Championship 23 times.[257] From 2023, the Chevrolet Camaro will be raced.[258] Logo evolution Evolution of the GM logo through the years:[259] 1938–1964 [259] 1938–1964 [259]   Mark of Excellence (1964–2021) [259] Mark of Excellence (1964–2021) [259]   2001–2021 [259] 2001–2021 [259]   2010–2021 [259] 2010–2021 [259]   2021 (gradient) [259] 2021 (gradient) [259]   2021 (flat) [260] 2021 (flat) [260]   2022 (wordmark)[261] 2022 (wordmark)[261] Brands Current Origin Brand [262] Founded Began manuf. Joined GM Markets served today  USA BrightDrop 2021 2021 2021 North America  USA Buick 1899 1903 1908 China, North America  USA Cadillac 1902 1902 1909 North America, Middle East, China, Japan, South Korea, Europe  USA Chevrolet 1911 1911 1918 Americas, China, Middle East, CIS, South Korea, Philippines  USA GMC 1912 1912 1919 North America, Middle East, South Korea  CHN Baojun 2010 2010 2010 China  CHN Wuling 2002 2002 2002 China, Indonesia Former Origin Brand [262] Founded Began manuf. Joined GM Fate Defunct / Sold Notes  CAN Acadian 1962 1962 1962 Discontinued 1971  CAN Beaumont 1966 1966 1966 Discontinued 1969  USA Cartercar 1905 1905 1909 Discontinued 1915  KOR Daewoo 1972 1972 1999 Discontinued 2011 Succeeded by GM Korea  USA Elmore 1893 1900 1912 Discontinued 1916  USA Ewing 1908 1908 1909 Discontinued 1911  USA Geo 1989 1989 1989 Discontinued 1997  AUS Holden 1856 1908 1926 Discontinued 2020  USA Hummer 1992 1992 1998 Discontinued 2010 Name revived in 2021 for GMC Hummer EV  USA LaSalle 1927 1927 1927 Discontinued 1940  UK Lotus 1948 1948 1986 Sold to Romano Artioli 1993 Currently owned by Geely  USA Marquette 1909 1909 1909 Discontinued 1931  CAN McLaughlin 1907 1907 1918 Discontinued 1942  USA Oakland 1907 1907 1909 Discontinued 1931  USA Oldsmobile 1897 1897 1908 Discontinued 2004  USA Passport 1987 1987 1987 Discontinued 1991  GER Opel 1899 1899 1931 Sold to PSA Group 2017 Currently owned by Stellantis  USA Pontiac 1926 1926 1926 Discontinued 2010  USA Rainier 1905 1905 1909 Discontinued 1911  USA Rapid 1902 1902 1909 Discontinued 1912  USA Reliance 1903 1903 1911 Discontinued 1912  SWE SAAB 1945 1949 1990 Sold to Spyker N.V. 2010 Company defunct in 2016  USA Saturn 1985 1990 1985 Discontinued 2010  USA Scripps-Booth 1913 1913 1916 Discontinued 1923  USA Sheridan 1920 1920 1920 Discontinued 1921  UK Vauxhall 1903 1903 1925 Sold to PSA Group 2017 Currently owned by Stellantis  USA Viking 1929 1929 1929 Discontinued 1930  USA Welch 1901 1901 1910 Discontinued 1911 Financial results Vehicle sales General Motors was the largest global automaker by annual vehicle sales for 77 consecutive years, from 1931, when it overtook Ford Motor Company, until 2008 when it was overtaken by Toyota. This reign was longer than any other automaker, and GM is still among the world's largest automakers by vehicle unit sales.[263] In 2008, the third-largest individual country by sales was Brazil, with some 550,000 GM vehicles sold. In that year, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela sold another 300,000 GM vehicles, suggesting that the total GM sales in South America (including sales in other South American countries such as Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, etc.) in that year were at a similar level to sales in China.[citation needed] In 2009, General Motors sold 6.5 million cars and trucks globally; in 2010, it sold 8.39 million.[264] Sales in China rose 66.9% in 2009 to 1,830,000 vehicles and accounting for 13.4% of the market.[265] In 2010, General Motors ranked second worldwide with 8.5 million vehicles produced.[266] In 2011, GM returned to the first place with 9.025 million units sold worldwide, corresponding to 11.9% market share of the global motor vehicle industry. In 2010, vehicle sales in China by GM rose 28.8% to a record 2,351,610 units.[267] The top two markets in 2011 were China, with 2,547,203 units, and the United States, with 2,503,820 vehicles sold. The Chevrolet brand was the main contributor to GM performance, with 4.76 million vehicles sold around the world in 2011, a global sales record.[268] Based on global sales in 2012, General Motors was ranked among the world's largest automakers.[269] In May 2012, GM recorded an 18.4% market share in the U.S. with stock imported.[270] Annual worldwide sales volume reached 10 million vehicles in 2016.[271][272][273] Sales in India for April 2016 – March 2017 declined to 25,823 units from 32,540 the previous year and market share contracted from 1.17% to 0.85% for the same period. However, exports surged 89% during the same period to 70,969 units. GMTC-I, GM's technical center in Bangalore, India continued in operation. Weak product line-up and below par service quality were the reasons for the poor showing by GM in India that year.[274][275] Global Volt/Ampera family sales totalled about 177,000 units from its inception in December 2010 through 2018.[276] including over 10,000 Opel/Vauxhall Amperas sold in Europe up to December 2015.[277][278] The Volt family of vehicles ranked as the world's all-time top-selling plug-in hybrid as of September 2018, and it is also the third best selling plug-in electric car in history after the Nissan Leaf (375,000) and the Tesla Model S (253,000), as of October 2018.[276] The Chevrolet Volt is also the U.S. all-time top-selling plug-in electric car with 148,556 units delivered through October 2018.[279][280] GM worldwide 2008 vehicle sales[281] (thousands) Rank in GM Location Vehicle sales Market share (%) 1 United States 2,981 22.1% 2 China 1,095 12.0% 3 Brazil 549 19.5% 4 United Kingdom 384 15.4% 5 Canada 359 21.4% 6 Russia 338 11.1% 7 Germany 300 8.8% 8 Mexico 212 19.8% 9 Australia 133 13.1% 10 South Korea 117 9.7% 11 France 114 4.4% 12 Spain 107 7.8% 13 Argentina 95 15.5% 14 Venezuela 91 33.3% 15 Colombia 80 36.3% 16 India 66 3.3% Year U.S. sales (vehicles) Chg/yr. 1998[282] 4,603,991 1999 5,017,150 Increase9.0% 2000[283] 4,953,163 Decrease1.3% 2001 4,904,015 Decrease1.0% 2002 4,858,705 Decrease0.9% 2003 4,756,403 Decrease2.1% 2004[284] 4,707,416 Decrease1.0% 2005 4,517,730 Decrease4.0% 2006[285] 4,124,645 Decrease8.7% 2007[286] 3,866,620 Decrease6.3% 2008[287] 2,980,688 Decrease22.9% 2009[288] 2,084,492 Decrease30.1% 2010[289] 2,215,227 Increase6.3% 2011[290] 2,503,820 Increase13.7% 2012 2,595,717 Increase3.7% 2013[291] 2,786,078 Increase7.3% 2014[292] 2,935,008 Increase5.3% 2015[293] 3,082,366 Increase5.0% 2016 3,042,773 Decrease1.3% 2017 3,002,241 Decrease1.3% 2018 2,954,037 Decrease1.5% 2019 2,887,046[294] Decrease2.3% 2020 2,547,339[295] Decrease11.8% GM worldwide 2019 vehicle sales[296] Location Total sales Year-On-Year change Year-On-Year change (%) GM North America 3,367,374 (122,740) (3.5) GM Europe 3,590 (266) (6.9) GM South America 668,842 (21,355) (3.1) GM International 584,520 28,033 5.0 China 3,093,604 (551,440) (15.1) Total 7,717,930 (667,768) (8.0) Management Current board of directors Notable members of the board of directors of the company are as follows:[2] Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors Joseph Ashton, former Vice President of the International Union at United Automobile Workers Linda Gooden, former Vice President of Information Systems and Global Solutions at Lockheed Martin Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis Jane Mendillo, former President and CEO at Harvard Management Company Michael Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James Mulva, former CEO, President, and Chairman at ConocoPhillips Patricia Russo, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Thomas Schoewe, former CFO of Wal-Mart Stores Theodore Solso, former CEO and Chairman of Cummins Carol Stephenson, former dean at Ivey Business School Chairmen of the Board of General Motors Thomas Neal—November 19, 1912 – November 16, 1915 Pierre S. du Pont—November 16, 1915 – February 7, 1929 Lammot du Pont II—February 7, 1929 – May 3, 1937 Alfred P. Sloan Jr.—May 3, 1937 – April 2, 1956 Albert Bradley—April 2, 1956 – August 31, 1958 Frederic G. Donner—September 1, 1958 – October 31, 1967 James M. Roche—November 1, 1967 – December 31, 1971 Richard C. Gerstenberg—January 1, 1972 – November 30, 1974 Thomas A. Murphy—December 1, 1974 – December 31, 1980 Roger B. Smith—January 1, 1981 – July 31, 1990 Robert C. Stempel—August 1, 1990 – November 1, 1992 John G. Smale—November 2, 1992 – December 31, 1995 John F. Smith Jr.—January 1, 1996 – April 30, 2003 Rick Wagoner—May 1, 2003 – March 30, 2009 Kent Kresa—March 30, 2009 – July 10, 2009 Edward Whitacre Jr.—July 10, 2009 – December 31, 2010 Daniel Akerson—December 31, 2010 – January 15, 2014 Tim Solso—January 15, 2014 – January 4, 2016 Mary Barra—January 4, 2016 – Present Chief Executive Officers of General Motors Chief Executive Officers of General Motors Alfred P. Sloan Jr.—May 10, 1923 – June 3, 1946 Charles Erwin Wilson—June 3, 1946 – January 26, 1953 Harlow H. Curtice—February 2, 1953 – August 31, 1958 James M. Roche—November 1, 1967 – December 31, 1971 Richard C. Gerstenberg—January 1, 1972 – November 30, 1974 Thomas A. Murphy—December 1, 1974 – December 31, 1980 Roger B. Smith—January 1, 1981 – July 31, 1990 Robert C. Stempel—August 1, 1990 – November 1, 1992 John F. Smith Jr.—November 2, 1992 – May 31, 2000 Rick Wagoner—June 1, 2000 – March 30, 2009 Frederick Henderson—March 30, 2009 – December 1, 2009 Edward Whitacre Jr.—December 1, 2009 – September 1, 2010 Daniel Akerson—September 1, 2010 – January 15, 2014 Mary Barra—January 15, 2014 – Present Philanthropy GM publishes an annual Social Impact Report detailing its contributions to charity; in 2020 it provided nearly $35 million in funding to 357 U.S.-based non-profits as well as in-kind assets (primarily donations of vehicles) to non-profits valued at more than $9.8 million.[297][298] From 1976 until 2017, philanthropic activity was carried out via the General Motors Foundation, a 501(c)(3) foundation.[299] General Motors has a close relationship with the Nature Conservancy and has fundraised for and donated cash and vehicles to the charity.[300] In 1996, GM commissioned five designer-original vehicles, sold in a silent auction for Concept: Cure, to benefit the Nina Hyde Center for breast cancer research, founded by Ralph Lauren. The program involved five designers, each lending their artistic talents to customize five different vehicles. Nicole Miller, Richard Tyler, Anna Sui, Todd Oldham, and Mark Eisen were tasked with transforming a Cadillac STS, Buick Riviera, GMC Yukon, Oldsmobile Bravada and Chevrolet Camaro Z28, respectively. The cars were then auctioned with the proceeds presented to the Nina Hyde Center at the Greater LA Auto Show in 1997.[301][302][303][304] Since 1997, GM has been a source of funding for Safe Kids Worldwide's "Safe Kids Buckle Up" program, an initiative to ensure child automobile safety through education and inspection.[305][306] Labor conflicts Flint sit-down strike Main article: Flint sit-down strike Young striker off sentry duty sleeping on the assembly line of auto seats The 1936–1937 Flint sit-down strike against General Motors changed the United Automobile Workers (UAW) from a collection of isolated local unions on the fringes of the industry into a major labor union and led to the unionization of the domestic United States automobile industry. After the first convention of UAW in 1936, the union decided that it could not survive by piecemeal organizing campaigns at smaller plants, as it had in the past, but that it could organize the automobile industry only by going after its biggest and most powerful employer, General Motors Corporation, focusing on GM's production complex in Flint, Michigan. Organizing in Flint was a difficult and dangerous plan. GM controlled city politics in Flint and kept a close eye on outsiders. According to Wyndham Mortimer, the UAW officer put in charge of the organizing campaign in Flint, he received a death threat by an anonymous caller when he visited Flint in 1936. GM also maintained an extensive network of spies throughout its plants. This forced UAW members to keep the names of new members secret and meeting workers at their homes. As the UAW studied its target, it discovered that GM had only two factories that produced the dies from which car body components were stamped: one in Flint that produced the parts for Buicks, Pontiacs, and Oldsmobiles, and another in Cleveland that produced Chevrolet parts. National Guardsmen with machine guns overlooking Chevrolet factories number nine and number four While the UAW called for a sit-down strike in Flint, the police, armed with guns and tear gas, attempted to enter the Fisher Body 2 plant on January 11, 1937. The strikers inside the plant pelted them with hinges, bottles, and bolts. At the time, Vice President John Nance Garner supported federal intervention to break up the Flint Strike, but this idea was rejected by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The president urged GM to distinguish a union so the plants could re-open. The strike ended after 44 days. That development forced GM to bargain with the union. John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers and founder and leader of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, spoke for the UAW in those negotiations; UAW President Homer Martin was sent on a speaking tour to keep him out of the way. GM's representatives refused to be in the same room as the UAW, so Governor Frank Murphy acted as a courier and intermediary between the two groups. Governor Murphy sent in the U.S. National Guard not to evict the strikers but rather to protect them from the police and corporate strike-breakers. The two parties finally reached an agreement on February 11, 1937, on a one-page agreement that recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for GM's employees, who were union members for the next six months.[307] Tool and die strike of 1939 Main article: Tool and die strike of 1939 The tool and die strike of 1939, also known as the "strategy strike", was an ultimately successful attempt by the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) to be recognized as the sole representative for General Motors workers. In addition to representation rights, the UAW, working jointly with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), sought to resolve existing grievances of skilled workers. United Auto Workers (UAW) strike of 1945–1946 Main article: United Auto Workers (UAW) strike of 1945–1946 From November 21, 1945, until March 13, 1946, (113 days) CIO's United Automobile Workers (UAW), organized "320,000 hourly workers" to form a US-wide strike against the General Motors Corporation, workers used the tactic of the sit down strike.[308] It was "the longest strike against a major manufacturer" that the UAW had yet seen, and it was also "the longest national GM strike in its history".[308] As director of the UAW's General Motors Department (coordinator of union relations with GM),[309] Walter Reuther suggested to his colleagues the idea of striking the GM manufacturing plants with a 'one-at-a-time' strategy, which was "intended to maximize pressure on the target company".[308] Reuther also put forth the demands of the strikers: a 30 percent increase in wages and a hold on product prices. However, the strike ended with the dissatisfaction of Walter Reuther and the UAW, and the workers received only a 17.5-percent increase in wages. 2007 General Motors strike Main article: 2007 General Motors strike The 2007 General Motors strike was a strike from September 24 to 26, 2007, by the United Auto Workers (UAW) against General Motors. On September 24, 2007, General Motors workers represented by the United Auto Workers union went on strike against the company. The first US-wide strike against GM since 1970 was expected to idle 59 plants and facilities for an indefinite period of time. Talks broke down after more than 20 straight days of bargaining failed to produce a new contract. Major issues that proved to be stumbling blocks for an agreement included wages, benefits, job security and investments in US facilities.[310][311][312] Two car assembly plants in Oshawa, Ontario and a transmission facility in Windsor closed on September 25. However, on September 26, a tentative agreement was reached, and the strike's end was announced by UAW officials in a news conference at 4 a.m.[313] By the following day, all GM workers in both countries were back to work. 2019 General Motors strike Main article: 2019 General Motors strike On the morning of September 15, 2019, after talks broke down to renew their contract, which expired earlier that day, the United Auto Workers announced that GM employees would begin striking at 11:59 PM.[314] This strike shut down operations in nine states, including 33 manufacturing plants and 22 parts distribution warehouses.[315] After 40 days, on October 25, 2019, the "longest strike by autoworkers in a decade" and the longest against GM since 1970 came to an end when United Auto Workers members voted to approve a new contract with GM. The strike cost GM more than $2 billion, while members of the labor union were reduced to a salary of $275 a week in strike pay.[316] Controversies Streetcar conspiracy Main article: General Motors streetcar conspiracy Between 1938 and 1950, GM allegedly deliberately monopolized the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines (NCL) and its subsidiaries, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, intending to dismantle streetcar systems in many cities in the United States and make buses, sold by GM, the dominant form of public transport. Ralph Nader and the Corvair 1961–63 Corvair swing-axle rear suspension Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book accusing car manufacturers of being slow to introduce safety features and reluctant to spend money on improving safety. It relates to the first models of the Chevrolet Corvair (1960–1964) that had a swing axle suspension design that was prone to 'tuck under' in certain circumstances. To compensate for the removal of a front stabilizer bar (anti-roll bar) as a cost-cutting measure, Corvairs required tire pressures that were outside of the tire manufacturer's recommended tolerances. The Corvair relied on an unusually high front to rear pressure differential (15 psi front, 26 psi rear, when cold; 18 psi and 30 psi hot), and if one inflated the tires equally, as was standard practice for all other cars at the time, the result was dangerous over-steer.[317] In early March 1966, several media outlets, including The New Republic and The New York Times, alleged that GM had tried to discredit Ralph Nader, hiring private detectives to tap his phones and investigate his past, and hiring prostitutes to trap him in compromising situations.[318][319] Nader sued the company for invasion of privacy and settled the case for $425,000. Nader's lawsuit against GM was ultimately decided by the New York Court of Appeals, whose opinion in the case expanded tort law to cover "overzealous surveillance".[320] Nader used the proceeds from the lawsuit to start the pro-consumer Center for Study of Responsive Law. A 1972 safety commission report conducted by Texas A&M University concluded that the 1960–1963 Corvair possessed no greater potential for loss of control than its contemporary competitors in extreme situations.[321] The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a press release in 1972 describing the findings of NHTSA testing from the previous year. NHTSA conducted a series of comparative tests in 1971 studying the handling of the 1963 Corvair and four contemporary cars — a Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant, Volkswagen Beetle, and Renault Dauphine — along with a second-generation Corvair (with its completely redesigned, independent rear suspension). The 143-page report reviewed NHTSA's extreme-condition handling tests, national crash-involvement data for the cars in the test as well as General Motors' internal documentation regarding the Corvair's handling.[322] NHTSA went on to contract an independent advisory panel of engineers to review the tests. This review panel concluded that 'the 1960–63 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles used in the tests [...] the handling and stability performance of the 1960–63 Corvair does not result in an abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover, and it is at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles both foreign and domestic'. Former GM executive John DeLorean asserted, in his book On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors, that Nader's criticisms were valid.[323] Journalist David E. Davis noted that despite Nader's claim that swing-axle rear suspension were dangerous, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen all used similar swing-axle concepts during that era.[324] Ignition switch recall Main article: General Motors ignition switch recalls In May 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined the company $35 million for failing to recall cars with faulty ignition switches for a decade, despite knowing there was a problem with the switches. General Motors paid compensation for 124 deaths linked to the faulty switches.[325] The $35 million fine was the maximum the regulator could impose.[326] The total cost of the recall was estimated to be $1.5 billion.[153] As well as the Cobalts, the switches of concern had been installed in many other cars, such as the Pontiac G5, the Saturn Ion, the Chevrolet HHR, the Saturn Sky, and Pontiac Solstice. The recall involved about 2.6 million GM cars worldwide.[327] Xinjiang region In 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused at least 82 major brands, including General Motors, of being connected to forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang.[328] See also flag United States portal flag Michigan portal Cars portal Companies portal History of General Motors Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers ASOTRECOL Crucible Industries EcoCAR General Motors EV1 General Motors Hy-wire General Motors Proving Grounds General Motors streetcar conspiracy General Motors Technical Center GM people GM vehicles by brand List of automobile manufacturers of the United States List of GM engines List of General Motors factories List of GM platforms List of GM transmissions United States Council for Automotive Research VIA Motors The history of General Motors (GM), one of the world's largest car and truck manufacturers, dates back more than a century and involves a vast scope of industrial activity around the world, mostly focused on motorized transportation and the engineering and manufacturing that make it possible. Founded in 1908 as a holding company in Flint, Michigan, as of 2012 it employed approximately 209,000 people around the world.[1] With global headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, United States, General Motors manufactures cars and trucks in 35 countries. In 2008, 8.35 million[2] GM cars and trucks were sold globally under various brands. Current auto brands are Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, and Wuling. Former GM automotive brands include La Salle, McLaughlin, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall, Daewoo and Holden. In addition to brands selling assembled vehicles, GM also has had various automotive-component and non-automotive brands, many of which it divested in the 1980s through 2000s. These have included Euclid and Terex (earthmoving/construction/mining equipment and vehicles); Electro-Motive Diesel (locomotive, marine, and industrial diesel engines); Detroit Diesel (automotive and industrial diesel engines); Allison (Aircraft engines, transmissions, gas turbine engines); Frigidaire (Appliances including refrigeration and air conditioning); New Departure (bearings); Delco Electronics and ACDelco (electrical and electronic components); GMAC (finance); General Aviation and North American Aviation (airplanes); GM Defense (military vehicles) and Electronic Data Systems (information technology). 1908–1929 GM's headquarters from 1923 until 1996, a National Historic Landmark, is now Cadillac Place state office building. General Motors was capitalized by William C. Durant on September 16, 1908, as a holding company. The next day it purchased Buick Motor Company, and rapidly acquired more than twenty companies including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland Motor Car Company, and McLaughlin of Canada. Dr. Campbell, Durant's son-in-law, put 1,000,000 shares on the stock market in Chicago Buick (then controlled by Durant). Durant's earlier company, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, had been in business in Flint since 1886, and by 1900 was producing over 100,000 carriages a year in factories located in Michigan and Canada. Prior to his acquisition of Buick, Durant had several Ford dealerships. With springs, axles and other key components being provided to the early automotive industry by Durant-Dort, it can be reasoned that GM actually began with the founding of Durant-Dort.[3] GM under Durant's leadership acquired Oldsmobile later in 1908. The next year, he brought in Cadillac, Cartercar, Elmore, Ewing, and Oakland. In 1909, General Motors also acquired the Reliance Motor Car Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck. A Rapid became the first truck to conquer Pikes Peak in 1909. In 1910, Welch and Rainier were added to the ever-growing list of companies controlled by GM. GM was initially created by combining independent manufacturers who were competing with the Ford Motor Company and vehicles offered before the October 1, 1908 introduction of the Model T. Once the Model T began to dominate the market, independent companies began to combine their resources as corporations and decided to offer what the Model T didn't. The Model T was offered in black because it dried the fastest as it rolled of the assembly line, so GM offered their products in various color combinations; the Model T came with one four-cylinder engine, so GM offered their vehicles with different wheelbases and engine displacements on a gradual scale based on price.[4] Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers trust as the deal to buy Ford for $8 million fell through, due to the large amount of debt (around $1 million) taken on in its acquisitions, while Samuel McLaughlin left at the same time. Durant was forced out of the firm by the stockholders and co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911 with Louis Chevrolet. McLaughlin in 1915 built Chevrolet in Canada and after a stock buyback campaign with the McLaughlin and DuPont corporations, and other Chevrolet stock holders, Durant returned to head GM in 1916, as Chevrolet owned 54.5% with the backing of Pierre S. du Pont. On October 13 of the same year, GM Company incorporated as General Motors Corporation after McLaughlin merged his companies and sold his Chevrolet stock to allow the incorporation, which in turn followed the incorporation of General Motors of Canada[5] (reverting to General Motors Company[6] upon emergence from bankruptcy in 2009 that left General Motors of Canada Limited as a privately owned Canadian Company). Chevrolet entered the General Motors fold in 1918 as it became part of the Corporation with R S McLaughlin as Director and Vice-President of the Corporation; its first GM car was 1918's Chevrolet 490. Du Pont removed Durant from management in 1920, and various Du Pont interests held large or controlling shareholdings until about 1950. In 1918 GM acquired the Chevrolet stock from McLaughlin Motor Car Company of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, manufacturer of the McLaughlin automobile since 1907 (later to be renamed McLaughlin-Buick) as well as Canadian versions of Chevrolet cars since 1915. The company was renamed General Motors of Canada Ltd., with R.S. "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin as its first president and his brother George as vice-president allied with the Corporation 1919.[7] Superior Court of Ontario Canada documents show the Corporation as indirect parent of General Motors of Canada Limited. General Motors of Canada is a 100% owned Canadian Company. 1918 also saw personnel increase at GM. The number of employees grew from about 49,000 workers to 85,000 workers. Many came from the South of the United States, as well as from Europe, to work at GM Michigan facilities. To accommodate them, GM began to build employee housing with the nearly $2.5 million set aside for the project. This would become one of General Motors top 5 expenditures for the year 1919. 1919 also brought changes to employee investment opportunities. Similar to modern-day 401(k) plans, all employees could invest a percentage of their wages or salary. GM proceeded to match every penny that their employees invested.[8] GM's headquarters were located in Flint until the mid-1920s, when they were moved to Detroit. Its building, originally to be called the Durant Building, was designed and began construction in 1919 when Durant was president, was completed in 1923. Alfred P. Sloan became president that year, and the building was officially dedicated as the General Motors Building in 1929.[9] GM maintained this headquarters location, now called Cadillac Place, until it purchased the Renaissance Center in 1996.[10] The Buick Division headquarters remained in Flint until 1998 when it was relocated to the Renaissance Center.[11] In 1920, Durant oversaw the start-up of the Sheridan line of cars, manufactured (from 1920 to 1921) in Muncie, Indiana. The Sheridan nameplate has the distinction of being the first automotive brand started from scratch by General Motors. When Buick's D. A. Burke approached Durant about the idea of designing a car from the ground up, and then marketing the car as a bridge vehicle between GM's established divisions of Chevrolet and Oakland (a four-cylinder), and between Buick and Cadillac (an eight-cylinder), respectively. To market the vehicles, Sheridan hired World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, himself an accomplished automobile racer in his own right. Through prosaic marketing and Rickenbacker's endorsements, Sheridan officials felt the production target of 300 cars a day was not only achievable but profitable as well. Just as production began to ramp up, Durant was fired for the second and final time from General Motors. Since the Sheridan was a Durant pet project, GM, now under Alfred Sloan, was left with Sheridan, one of Durant's more costly but viable caprices. Durant on the other hand knew that the vehicle was soundly engineered and knew what GM paid for the Muncie facility. In May 1921, Durant purchased the rights to the Sheridan and to the Muncie plant, with the intent on using the facility to continue building the Sheridan and Durant's new project, the Durant and Princeton automobiles, now to be built by Durant Motors. In 1925, GM bought Vauxhall of England, and then in 1929 went on to acquire an 80% stake in German automobile manufacturer Opel. Two years later this was increased to 100%. In 1931, GM acquired Holden of Australia. In 1926, GM created the Pontiac as a "companion" to the Oakland brand, an arrangement that lasted five years. The companion outsold its parent during that period, by so much that the Oakland brand was terminated and the division was renamed, Pontiac. As part of General Motors Companion Make Program, three other companion makes (Buick's Marquette, Oldsmobile's Viking, and Cadillac's LaSalle) were created. Each of these, however, had less staying power than Pontiac and was discontinued within a few years, due in large part to the Great Depression.[12] General Motors acquired control of the 'Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System' (now better known as The Hertz Corporation), the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company together with its subsidiaries, Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company in 1926 from John D. Hertz who joined the mainboard (John Hertz purchased the car rental business back from GM in 1953 and took it public the following year).[13] GM also acquired the Yellow Coach bus company, and helped create Greyhound bus lines.[citation needed] During this period (and into the 30s), Sloan and his team established the practice of targeting each of GM's automotive divisions to a specific demographically and socio-economically identifiable market segment. Despite some shared components, each marque distinguished itself from its stablemates with unique styling and technology. The shared components and common corporate management created substantial economies of scale, while the distinctions between the divisions created (in the words of GM President Sloan) a "ladder of success", with an entry-level buyer starting out at the bottom with the "basic transportation" Chevrolet, then rising through Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and ultimately to Cadillac. While Ford continued to refine the manufacturing process to reduce cost, Sloan was inventing new ways of managing a complex worldwide organization, while paying special attention to consumer demands. Car buyers no longer wanted the cheapest and most basic model; they wanted style, power, and prestige, which GM offered them. Sloan did not neglect cost, by any means; when it was proposed Chevrolet should introduce safety glass, he opposed it because it threatened profits.[14] Thanks to consumer financing via GMAC (founded 1919), easy monthly payments allowed far more people to buy GM cars than Ford, as Henry Ford was opposed to credit on moral principles. (Nevertheless, Ford did offer similar credit arrangements with the introduction of the Model A in the late 1920s but Ford Credit did not exist until 1959.) In 1929, General Motors acquired a 80% majority stake in Opel, making it the first non–American subsidiary of General Motors. 1929–1958 The 1930s GM logo launched in 1938, used until 1964 In 1930, GM entered aircraft design and manufacturing by buying Fokker Aircraft Corp of America (U.S. subsidiary of Fokker) and Berliner-Joyce Aircraft, merging them into General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation. Through a stock exchange GM took controlling interest in North American Aviation and merged it with its General Aviation division in 1933, but retaining the name North American Aviation. In 1948, GM divested NAA as a public company, never to have a major interest in the aircraft manufacturing industry again. GM did, however, establish their own air transportation, with the creation of the General Motors Air Transport Section (GMATS). 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. In 1931, after purchasing remaining stake – General Motors took over the full control of Opel, making the company a wholly owned subsidiary, and over the next twenty years, diesel-powered locomotives—the majority built by GM—largely replaced other forms of traction on American railroads. (During World War II, these engines were also important in American submarines and destroyer escorts.) Electro-Motive was sold in early 2005. In 1932, GM formed a new subsidiary—United Cities Motor Transport (UCMT)—to finance the conversion of streetcar systems to buses in small cities. From 1936 the company was involved in an unpublicized project, with others, in what became known as the General Motors streetcar conspiracy to buy out streetcar and intercity train transport operators using subsidiary companies, and convert their operations to use buses.[15] In 1935, the United Auto Workers labor union was formed, and in 1936 the UAW organized the Flint Sit-Down Strike, which initially idled two key plants in Flint, but later spread to half-a-dozen other plants including Janesville, Wisconsin and Fort Wayne, Indiana. In Flint, police attempted to enter the plant to arrest strikers, leading to violence; in other cities the plants were shuttered peacefully. The strike was resolved February 11, 1937, when GM recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for its workers. World War II See also: § Nazi collaboration General Motors produced vast quantities of armaments, vehicles, and aircraft for the Allied war effort during World War II. Its multinational interests were split up by the combating powers during the war such that the American, Canadian and British parts of the corporation served the Allied war effort and Adam Opel AG served the Axis war effort. By the spring of 1939, the German Government had assumed day-to-day control of American owned factories in Germany, but decided against nationalizing them completely (seizing the assets and capital). Soon after the war broke out, the nationalization came.[16] General Motors ranked first among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.[17] GM's William S. Knudsen served as head of U.S. wartime production for President Franklin Roosevelt. The General Motors UK division, Vauxhall Motors, manufactured the Churchill tank series for the Allies. The Vauxhall Churchill tanks were instrumental in the UK campaigns in North Africa. Bedford Vehicles and GM of Canada, CMP manufactured 500,000 logistics vehicles for the UK military, all important in the UK's land campaigns. In addition to the obvious manufacture of motor vehicles for the Allied cause, GM was also a major manufacturer of aircraft. By mainstream accounts, General Motors' German subsidiary (Adam Opel AG) was outside the control of the American parent corporation during World War II. Some historians posit that GM profiteered on both sides, but Alfred Sloan's memoir[18] presents a description of lost control. However, GM found criticism for its tax avoidance around the Opel topic. During the war, GM declared it had abandoned its German subsidiary, and took a complete tax write-off worth "approximately $22.7 million", yet after the war, GM collected some $33 million in "war reparations" because the Allies had bombed its German facilities.[19] General Motors Corporations Specimen Stock Certificate Post-war growth At one point GM had become the largest corporation registered 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 Eisenhower as 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 misquoted, suggesting that Wilson had said simply, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country."[20] At the time, GM was one of the largest employers in the world—only Soviet state industries employed more people. In 1955, General Motors became the first American corporation to pay taxes of over $1 billion.[21] GM operated six divisions at this time, one of which (GMC) only sold trucks. The other five settled into a hierarchy, which consisted, from most- to least-prestigious, Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet. 1958–1980 By 1958, the divisional distinctions within GM began to blur with the availability of high-performance engines in Chevrolets and Pontiacs. The introduction of higher trim models such as the Chevrolet Impala and Pontiac Bonneville priced in line with some Oldsmobile and Buick offerings was also confusing to consumers. By the time Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick introduced similarly styled and priced compact models in 1961, the old "step-up" structure between the divisions was nearly over. Earlier in the late 1920s, GM had introduced "junior" brands as a result of the General Motors companion make program as an attempt to bridge the pricing gap between the brands but the overlap and offering eight different brands had a similar confusing effect to consumers and was cancelled by 1930. The decade of the 1960s saw the creation of compact and intermediate classes. The Chevrolet Corvair was a flat 6-cylinder (air cooled) response to the Volkswagen Beetle, the Chevy II was created to match Ford's conventional Falcon, after sales of the Corvair failed to match its Ford rival, and the Chevrolet Camaro/Pontiac Firebird was GM's countermeasure to the Ford Mustang. Among intermediates, the Oldsmobile Cutlass nameplate became so popular during the 1970s that Oldsmobile applied the Cutlass name to most of its products in the 1980s. By the mid-1960s, most of GM's vehicles were built on a few common platforms and in the 1970s GM began to further unify body panel stampings. The 1971 Chevrolet Vega was GM's launch into the new subcompact class to compete against the import's increasing market share. Problems associated with its innovative aluminum engine led to the model's discontinuation after seven model years in 1977. During the late 1970s, GM would initiate a wave of downsizing starting with the Chevrolet Caprice which was reborn into what was the size of the Chevrolet Chevelle, the Malibu would be the size of the Nova, and the Nova was replaced by the troubled front-wheel drive Chevrolet Citation. In 1976, Chevrolet came out with the rear-wheel drive sub compact Chevette. In 1974, GM was the first major automobile company to offer airbags as optional equipment in a non-experimental, unlimited vehicle capacity. Called the "Air Cushion Restraint System", the safety feature was optional on specific full-size Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile vehicles. The occupant safety system proved an unpopular option and was discontinued after the 1976 model year not to return until the 1990s when federal mandates made the system a requirement. While GM maintained its world leadership in revenue and market share throughout the 1960s to 1980s, it was product controversy that plagued the company in this period. It seemed that, in every decade, a major mass-production product line was launched with defects of one type or another showing up early in their life cycle. And, in each case, improvements were eventually made to mitigate the problems, but the resulting improved product ended up failing in the marketplace as its negative reputation overshadowed its ultimate excellence. The first of these fiascos was the Chevrolet Corvair in the 1960s. Introduced in 1959 as a 1960 model, it was initially very popular. But before long its quirky handling eventually earned it the reputation for being unsafe, inspiring consumer advocate Ralph Nader to lambaste it in his book, Unsafe at Any Speed, published in 1965. Coincidentally, by the same (1965) model year, suspension modifications and other improvements had already transformed the car into a perfectly acceptable vehicle, but its reputation had been sufficiently sullied in the public's perception that its sales declined over the next few years, and it was discontinued after the 1969 model year. During this period, it was also somewhat overwhelmed by the success of the Ford Mustang. The 1970s was the decade of the Vega. Launched as a 1971 model, it also began life as a very popular car in the marketplace. But within a few years, quality problems, exacerbated by labor unrest at its main production source in Lordstown, Ohio, gave the car a bad name. By 1977, its decline resulted in termination of the model name, while its siblings along with a Monza version and a move of production to Ste-Thérèse, Quebec, resulted in a thoroughly desirable vehicle and extended its life to the 1980 model year. Oldsmobile sales soared in the 1970s and 1980s (for an all-time high of 1,066,122 in 1985) based on popular designs, positive reviews from critics and the perceived quality and reliability of the Rocket V8 engine, with the Cutlass series becoming North America's top selling car by 1976. By this time, Olds had displaced Pontiac and Plymouth as the #3 best-selling brand in the U.S. behind Chevrolet and Ford. In the early 1980s, model-year production topped one million units on several occasions, something only Chevrolet and Ford had achieved. The soaring popularity of Oldsmobile vehicles resulted in a major issue in 1977, as demand exceeded production capacity for the Oldsmobile V8, and as a result Oldsmobile quietly began equipping some full size Delta 88 models and the very popular Cutlass/Cutlass Supreme with the Chevrolet 350 engine instead (each division of GM produced its own 350 V8 engine). Many customers were loyal Oldsmobile buyers who specifically wanted the Rocket V8, and did not discover that their vehicle had the Chevrolet engine until they performed maintenance and discovered that purchased parts did not fit. This led to a class-action lawsuit which became a public relations nightmare for GM.[22][23] Following this debacle, disclaimers stating that "Oldsmobiles are equipped with engines produced by various GM divisions" were tacked onto advertisements and sales literature; all other GM divisions followed suit. In addition, GM quickly stopped associating engines with particular divisions, and to this day all GM engines are produced by "GM Powertrain" (GMPT) and are called GM "Corporate" engines instead of GM "Division" engines. Although it was the popularity of the Oldsmobile division vehicles that prompted this change, declining sales of V8 engines would have made this change inevitable as all but the Chevrolet (and, later, Cadillac's Northstar) versions were eventually dropped. In the 1980 model year, a full line of automobiles on the X-body platform, anchored by the Chevrolet Citation, was launched. Again, these cars were all quite popular in their respective segments for the first couple of years, but brake problems, and other defects, ended up giving them, known to the public as "X-Cars", such a bad reputation that the 1985 model year was their last. The J-body cars, namely the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunbird, took their place, starting with the 1982 model year. Quality was better, but still not exemplary, although good enough to survive through three generations to the 2005 model year. They were produced in a much-improved Lordstown Assembly plant, as were their replacements, the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac Pursuit/G5. 1980–present Roger B. Smith served as CEO throughout the 1980s. GM profits struggled from 1981 to 1983 following the late 1970s and early 1980s recession. In 1981, the UAW negotiated some concessions with the company in order to bridge the recession. GM profits rebounded during the 1980s. During the 1980s, GM had downsized its product line and invested heavily in automated manufacturing. It also created the Saturn brand to produce small cars. GM's customers still wanted larger vehicles and began to purchase greater numbers of SUVs. Roger Smith's reorganization of the company had been criticized for its consolidation of company divisions and its effect on the uniqueness of GM's brands and models. His attempts to streamline costs were not always popular with GM's customer base. In addition to forming Saturn, Smith also negotiated joint ventures with two Japanese companies (NUMMI in California with Toyota, and CAMI with Suzuki in Canada). Each of these agreements provided opportunities for the respective companies to experience different approaches. The 1980s also marked the dismantling of General Motors' medium and heavy trucks, with imported Isuzu trucks taking over at the lighter end and with the heavy-duty business being gradually sold off to Volvo through a joint venture.[24] The decade of the 1990s began with an economic recession, taking its inevitable toll on the automotive industry, and throwing GM into some of its worst losses. As a result, "Jack" Smith (not related to Roger) became burdened with the task of overseeing a radical restructuring of General Motors. Sharing Roger's understanding of the need for serious change, Jack undertook many major revisions. Reorganizing the management structure to dismantle the legacy of Alfred P. Sloan, instituting deep cost-cutting and introducing significantly improved vehicles were the key approaches. These moves were met with much less resistance within GM than had Roger's similar initiatives as GM management ranks were stinging from their recent near-bankruptcy experience and were much more willing to accept the prospect of radical change. Following the first Persian Gulf War and a recession GM's profits again suffered from 1991 to 1993. For the remainder of the decade the company's profits rebounded and it made market share gains with the popularity of its SUVs and pick-up truck lines. Rick Wagoner had served as the company's Chief Financial Officer during this period in the early 1990s. GM's foreign rivals gained market share especially following U.S. recessionary periods while the company recovered. U.S. trade policy and foreign trade barriers became a point of contention for GM and other U.S. automakers who had complained that they were not given equal access to foreign markets. Trade issues had prompted the Reagan administration to seek import quotas on some foreign carmakers. Later, the Clinton administration engaged in trade negotiations to open foreign markets to U.S. automakers with the Clinton administration threatening trade sanctions in efforts to level the playing field for U.S. automakers.[25] José Ignacio López de Arriortúa, who worked under Jack Smith in both Europe (particularly the successful turnaround of Opel) and the United States, was poached by Volkswagen in 1993, just hours before Smith announced that López would be promoted to head of GM's North American operations. He was nicknamed Super López for his prowess in cutting costs and streamlining production at GM, although critics said that his tactics angered longtime suppliers. GM accused López of poaching staff and misappropriating trade secrets, in particular taking documents of future Opel vehicles, when he accepted a position with VW. German investigators began a probe of López and VW after prosecutors linked López to a cache of secret GM documents discovered by investigators in the apartment of two of López's VW associates. G.M. then filed suit in a United States District Court in Detroit, using part of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which left VW open to triple damages (billions of dollars) if the charges were proved in court. VW, faced with a plummeting stock price, eventually forced López to resign.[26] GM and Volkswagen since reached a civil settlement, in which Volkswagen agreed to pay GM $100 million and to buy $1 billion worth of parts from GM.[27][28][29] After GM's lay-offs in Flint, Michigan, a 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. Because of the significant role GM plays in the United States, the strikes and temporary idling of many plants noticeably showed in national economic indicators. In the early 1990s, following the first Gulf War and a recession, GM had taken on more debt. By the late 1990s, GM had regained market share; its stock had soared to over $80 a share by 2000, peaking at $93.63 a share on April 28[30] and $50 billion capitalization.[31] However, in 2001, the stock market drop following the September 11, 2001 attacks, combined with historic pension underfunding, caused a severe pension and benefit fund crisis at GM and many other American companies and the value of their pension funds plummeted. Production of SUVs and trucks vs. cars In the late 1990s, the U.S. economy was on the rise and GM and Ford gained market share producing enormous profits primarily from the sale of light trucks and sport-utility vehicles. In 2001, following the September 11th attacks, a severe stock market decline caused a pension and benefit fund underfunding crisis. GM began its Keep America Rolling campaign, which boosted sales, and other auto makers were forced to follow suit. The U.S. automakers saw sales increase to leverage costs as gross margins deteriorated. In 2004, GM redirected resources from the development of new sedans to an accelerated refurbishment of their light trucks and SUVs for introduction as 2007 models in early 2006. Shortly after this decision, fuel prices increased by over 50% and this in turn affected both the trade-in value of used vehicles and the perceived desirability of new offerings in these market segments. The current marketing plan is to tout these revised vehicles extensively as offering the best fuel economy in their class (of vehicle). GM claims its hybrid trucks will have fuel economy improvements of 25%.[citation needed] Corporate restructuring and operating losses See also: List of GM factories Wikinews has related news: U.S. manufacturer General Motors declares bankruptcy After gaining market share in the late 1990s and making enormous profits, General Motors stock soared to over $80 a share. From June 1999 to September 2000, the Federal Reserve, in a move to quell potential inflationary pressures created by, among other things, the stock market, made successive interest rate increases, credited[by whom?] in part for putting the country into a recession. The recession and the volatile stock market created a pension and benefit fund crisis at General Motors and many other American companies. General Motors' rising retiree health care costs and Other Post Employment Benefit (OPEB) fund deficit prompted the company to enact a broad restructuring plan. Although GM had already taken action to fully fund its pension plan, its OPEB fund became an issue for its corporate bond ratings. GM had expressed its disagreement with the bond ratings; moreover, GM's benefit funds were performing at higher than expected rates of return. In 2003, GM responded to the crisis by fully funding its pension fund with a $15 B payment; however, its Other Post Employment Benefits Fund (OPEB) became a serious issue resulting in downgrades to its bond rating in 2005. Then, following a $10.6 billion loss in 2005, GM acted quickly to implement its restructuring plan. GM began its Keep America Rolling campaign, which boosted sales, and other automakers were forced to follow suit. The U.S. automakers saw sales increase to leverage costs as gross margins deteriorated. For the first quarter of 2006, GM earned $400 million, signaling that a turnaround had already begun even though many aspects of the restructuring plan had not yet taken effect. Although retiree health care costs remain a significant issue, General Motors' investment strategy has generated a $17.1 billion surplus in 2007 in its $101 billion U.S. pension fund portfolio, a $35 billion reversal from its $17.8 billion of underfunding.[32] In February 2005, GM successfully bought itself out of a put option with Fiat for $2 billion USD (€1.55 billion). In 2000, GM had sold a 6% stake to Fiat in return for a 20% share in the Italian automaker. As part of the deal, GM granted Fiat a put option, which, if the option had been exercised between January 2004 and July 2009, could have forced GM to buy Fiat. GM had agreed to the put option at the time, perhaps to keep it from being acquired by another automaker, such as DaimlerChrysler, competing with GM's German subsidiary Opel. The relationship suffered and Fiat had failed to improve. In 2003, Fiat recapitalized, reducing GM's stake to 10%. In 2006, GM had begun to apply the Mark of Excellence, which was actually the GM logo. GM had stopped putting their logo on the cars in 2009, but GM did apply the GM logo on some of the early 2010 GM models. In February 2006, GM slashed its annual dividend from $2.00 to $1.00 per share. The reduction saved $565 million a year. In March 2006, GM divested 92.36 million shares (reducing its stake from 20% to 3%) of Japanese manufacturer Suzuki, in order to raise $2.3 billion. GM originally invested in Suzuki in the early 1980s. On March 23, 2006, a private equity consortium including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Goldman Sachs, and Five Mile Capital purchased 78% of GMAC's (now Ally Financial) commercial mortgage arm, then called Capmark, for $8.8 billion.[33] On April 3, 2006, GM announced that it would sell 51% of GMAC (now Ally Financial) as a whole to a consortium led by Cerberus Capital Management, raising $14 billion over three years. Investors also included Citigroup's private equity arm and Aozora Bank of Japan. The group will pay GM $7.4 billion in cash at closing. GM will retain approximately $20 billion in automobile financing worth an estimated $4 billion over three years. GM sold its remaining 8% stake in Isuzu, which had peaked at 49% just a few years earlier,[34] on April 11, 2006, to raise an additional $300 million.[35] 12,600 workers from Delphi, a key supplier to GM, agreed to buyouts and an early retirement plan offered by GM in order to avoid a strike, after a judge agreed to cancel Delphi's union contracts. 5,000 Delphi workers were allowed to flow to GM. In 2006, GM offered buyouts to hourly workers to reduce future liability; over 35,000 workers responded to the offer, well exceeding the company's goal. GM gained higher rates of return on its benefit funds as a part of the solution. Stock value began to rebound—as of October 30, 2006, GM's market capitalization was about $19.19 billion. GM stock began the year 2006 at $19 a share, near its lowest level since 1982, as many on Wall Street figured the ailing automaker was bound for bankruptcy court. But GM remained afloat and the company's stock in the Dow Jones industrial average posted the biggest percentage gain in 2006.[36] In June 2007, GM sold its military and commercial subsidiary, Allison Transmission, for $5.6 billion. Having sold off the majority, it will, however, keep its heavy-duty transmissions for its trucks marketed as the Allison 1000 series. During negotiations for the renewal of its industry labor contracts in 2007, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union selected General Motors as the "lead company" or "strike target" for pattern bargaining. Late in September, sensing an impending impasse in the talks, the union called a strike, the first nationwide walkout since 1970 (individual plants had experienced local labor disruptions in the interim). Within two days, however, a tentative agreement was achieved and the strike ended. On June 28, 2007, GM agreed to sell its Allison Transmission division to private equity firms Carlyle Group and Onex for $5.1 billion. The deal will increase GM's liquidity and echoes previous moves to shift its focus towards its core automotive business. The two firms will control seven factories around Indianapolis but GM will retain management of a factory in Baltimore. Former Allison Transmission president Lawrence E. Dewey will be the new CEO of the standalone company.[37] Kirk Kerkorian once owned 9.9 percent of GM. According to press accounts from June 30, 2006, Kerkorian suggested that Renault acquire a 20 percent stake in GM to rescue GM from itself. A letter from Tracinda (Kerkorian's investment vehicle) to Rick Wagoner was released to the public[38] to pressure GM's executive hierarchy,[39] but talks failed.[40] On November 22, 2006, Kerkorian sold 14 million shares of his GM stake (it is speculated that this action was due to GM's rejection of Renault and Nissan's bids for stakes in the company as both of these bids were strongly supported by Kerkorian); the sale resulted in GM's share price falling 4.1% from its 20 November price, although it remained above $30/share.[41] The sale lowered Kerkorian's holding to around 7% of GM. On November 30, 2006, Tracinda said it had agreed to sell another 14 million shares of GM, cutting Kerkorian's stake to half of what it had been earlier that year.[42] By the end of November 2006, he had sold substantially all of his remaining GM shares.[43] After Kerkorian sold, GM lost more than 90% of its value, falling as low as $1/share by May 2009.[44] On February 12, 2008, GM announced its operating loss was $2 billion (with a GAAP loss of $39 billion including a one time accounting charge). GM offered buyouts to all its UAW members. On March 24, 2008, GM reported a cash position of $24 billion, or $6 billion less than what was on hand September 31, 2007,[dubious – discuss] which is a loss of $1 billion a month.[45] A further quarterly loss of $15.5 billion, the third-biggest in the company's history, was announced on August 1, 2008.[46] On November 17, 2008, GM announced it would sell its stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. (3.02%) for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million)[47] in order to raise much needed cash to get through the 2008 economic crisis. In 2008, 8.35 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the brands Vauxhall, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, Saturn, Wuling[2] and Opel of Germany. Great Recession and Chapter 11 reorganization Main articles: General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization and Motors Liquidation Company In late 2008 GM, along with Chrysler, received loans from the American, Canadian, and Ontarian governments to bridge the late-2000s recession, record oil prices, and a severe global automotive sales decline (see also automotive industry crisis of 2008–2009) due to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. On February 20, 2009, GM's Saab division filed for reorganization in a Swedish court after being denied loans from the Swedish government.[48][49] On April 27, 2009, GM announced that it would phase out the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010 and focus on four core brands in North America: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC. It announced that the resolution (sale) of its Hummer, Saab, and Saturn brands would take place by the end of 2009. (By November, however, proposed deals to sell Saturn to Penske and Saab to Koenigsegg had failed to materialize.) The company had closed its Oldsmobile division in 2004. In 2009, GM had renamed itself as General Motors Company, creating its former appellation: General Motors Corporation. On May 30, 2009, it was announced that a deal had been reached to transfer GM's Opel assets to a separate company, majority-owned by a consortium led by Sberbank of Russia (35%), Magna International (20%), and Opel employees (10%). GM was expected to keep a 35% minority stake in the new company.[50] However, GM delayed acceptance of the deal pending other bids, notably a proposed 51% stake by Beijing Automotive. By early July, a decision had not been made, but Magna remained confident and scheduled a meeting for July 14 to announce its acceptance.[51] After months of deliberation, however, GM decided on November 3, 2009, to retain full ownership of the German carmaker Opel, thus voiding the tentative deal with the Magna consortium.[52] In June 2010, the company established General Motors Ventures, a subsidiary designed to help the company identify and develop new technologies in the automotive and transportation sectors.[53] In 2012, PSA Peugeot Citroën and General Motors formed an alliance, which involved General Motors acquiring seven percent of the PSA Group.[54] The ownership was soon divested on December 13, 2013, generating "gross proceeds of €0.25 billion".[55][56] By 2017, Groupe PSA considered taking over Opel from GM, after GM reported a loss of $257 million from its European operations in 2016, the sixteenth consecutive loss-making year for GM in Europe, bringing its total losses in Europe since 2000 to more than US$15 billion.[57] On March 6, 2017, the sale of Opel and Vauxhall to the PSA Group for $2.3 billion was confirmed.[58] History of General Motors in various countries General Motors in South Africa Main article: General Motors South Africa General Motors was criticized for its presence in apartheid South Africa. The company withdrew after pressure from consumers, stockholders and Leon H. Sullivan.[59] It retained a commercial presence, however, in the form of its Opel subsidiary. Right Hand Drive Opel & Vauxhall production took place in GM's Uitenhage plants outside Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province, and does so to this day. General Motors in Argentina Main article: General Motors de Argentina In 1925 General Motors settled down in Argentina and started producing the Double Phaeton standard and the Double Phaeton called "Especial Argentino". The production was completed with a sedan model, a roadster and a truck chassis also adaptable to transporting of passengers. Sales increased and soon the Oldsmobile, Oakland and Pontiac brands were incorporated into the assembly line; the capacity of the facility was not enough to supply the increasing demand and the building of a new plant was required. A new 48,000 m2 plant with a covered area was opened in 1929, and since then the Buick, Marquette, La Salle, Cadillac, Vauxhaul and Opel marques also started to be produced. When the Second World War broke out the operations were complicated. In 1941, 250,000 Chevrolets were made, but shortage of parts made car production impossible. The last Chevrolet left the plant in August, 1942.[60] though in order to avoid total stoppage, the company made electrical and portable refrigerators and car accessories in addition to other items. After the war, GM started producing the Oldsmobile and Pontiac lines and later Chevrolet was added. Production resumed in 1960 with Chevrolet pickups and shortly thereafter in 1962 it started assembling the first/second generation Chevy II until 1974 as Chevrolet 400, and the early third-generation (1968 model) Nova as the Chevrolet Chevy from late 1969 through 1978, both models overlapping for several years, the Chevy II marketed as a family sedan while the Nova as a sporty alternative. Thenceforth several Opel models and Chevrolet pickups are being manufactured. Corporate spin-offs Electronic Data Systems Corporation Main article: Electronic Data Systems In 1984, GM acquired Electronic Data Systems Corporation (EDS), a leading data processing and telecommunications company, to be the sole provider of information technology (IT) services for the company. EDS became independent again in 1996, signing a 10-year agreement to continue providing IT services to General Motors.[61] Delco Electronics Corporation Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors. The name Delco came from the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co., founded in Dayton, Ohio by Charles Kettering and Edward A. Deeds. Delco was responsible for several innovations in automobile electric systems, including the first reliable battery ignition system and the first practical automobile self starter. In 1936 Delco began producing the first dashboard-installed car radios. By the early 1970s Delco had become a major supplier of automotive electronics equipment. Based in Kokomo, Indiana, Delco Electronics employed more than 30,000 at its peak. In 1962 GM created the General Motors Research Laboratories, based in Santa Barbara, California, to conduct research and development activities on defense systems. This organization was eventually merged into Delco Electronics and renamed Delco Systems Operations. In 1985 General Motors purchased Hughes Aircraft and merged it with Delco Electronics to form Hughes Electronics Corporation, an independent subsidiary. In 1997 all of the defense businesses of Hughes Electronics (including Delco Systems Operations) were merged with Raytheon, and the commercial portion of Delco Electronics was transferred to GM's Delphi Automotive Systems business. Delphi became a separate publicly traded company in May 1999, and continued to use the Delco Electronics name for several of its subsidiaries through approximately 2004. Although Delco Electronics no longer exists as an operating company, GM still retains rights to the Delco name and uses it for some of its subsidiaries including the AC Delco parts division. Hughes Electronics Corporation Hughes logo, adopted after its new owner General Motors Main article: Hughes Aircraft Hughes Electronics Corporation was formed on December 31, 1985, when Hughes Aircraft Company was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to General Motors for $5.2 billion. General Motors merged Hughes Aircraft with its Delco Electronics unit to form Hughes Electronics Corporation, an independent subsidiary. This division was a major aerospace and defense contractor, civilian space systems manufacturer and communications company. The aerospace and defense business was sold to Raytheon in 1997 and the Space and Communications division was sold to Boeing in 2000. Hughes Research Laboratories became jointly owned by GM, Raytheon, and Boeing. In 2003, the remaining parts of Hughes Electronics were sold to News Corporation and renamed The DirecTV Group. Delphi Corporation Main article: Delphi (auto parts) Delphi Corp. logo Delphi was spun off from General Motors on May 28, 1999. Delphi is one of the largest automotive parts manufacturers and has approximately 185,000 employees (50,000 in the United States). With offices worldwide, the company operates 167 wholly owned manufacturing sites, 41 joint ventures, 53 customer centers and sales offices, and 33 technical centers in 38 countries. Delphi makes the Monsoon premium audio systems found in some GM and other manufacturer automobiles. On October 8, 2005, Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On March 31, 2006, Delphi announced it would sell off or close 21 of its 29 plants in the United States. Diesel engines Detroit Diesel was originally the GM Diesel Division then Detroit Diesel Allison Division until 1988. It made diesel engines for truck, generating set and marine use. Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) was originally the Electro-Motive Division of GM, until 2005. It made diesel engines and locomotives. See also General Motors Diesel Division and GM Defense. General Motors Acceptance Corporation By the end of 2006, GM had completed the divestiture of 51% of its financing unit, GMAC. Currently GM is a 10% owner in GMAC. General Motors leadership Chairmen of the Board of General Motors Chairmen of the Board of General Motors[62] Thomas Neal – November 19, 1912 – November 16, 1915 Pierre S. du Pont – November 16, 1915 – February 7, 1929 Lammot du Pont II – February 7, 1929 – May 3, 1937 Alfred P. Sloan Jr. – May 3, 1937 – April 2, 1956 Albert Bradley – April 2, 1956 – August 31, 1958 Frederic G. Donner – September 1, 1958 – October 31, 1967 James M. Roche – November 1, 1967 – December 31, 1971 Richard C. Gerstenberg – January 1, 1972 – November 30, 1974 Thomas A. Murphy – December 1, 1974 – December 31, 1980 Roger B. Smith – January 1, 1981 – July 31, 1990 Robert C. Stempel – August 1, 1990 – November 1, 1992 John G. Smale – November 2, 1992 – December 31, 1995 John F. "Jack" Smith Jr. – January 1, 1996 – April 30, 2003 G. Richard Wagoner Jr. – May 1, 2003 – March 30, 2009 Kent Kresa – March 30, 2009 – July 10, 2009 Edward ("Ed") Whitacre Jr. – July 10, 2009 – December 31, 2010[63] Dan Akerson – December 31, 2010 – January 15, 2014[64] Tim Solso – January 15, 2014 – January 4, 2016[65] Mary Barra – January 4, 2016 – Present Chief Executive Officers of General Motors Chief Executive Officers of General Motors[66] Alfred P. Sloan Jr. – May 10, 1923 – June 3, 1946 Charles Erwin Wilson – June 3, 1946 – January 26, 1953 Harlow H. Curtice – February 2, 1953 – August 31, 1958 James M. Roche – November 1, 1967 – December 31, 1971 Richard C. Gerstenberg – January 1, 1972 – November 30, 1974 Thomas A. Murphy – December 1, 1974 – December 31, 1980 Roger B. Smith – January 1, 1981 – July 31, 1990 Robert C. Stempel – August 1, 1990 – November 1, 1992 John F. "Jack" Smith Jr. – November 2, 1992 – May 31, 2000 G. Richard Wagoner Jr. – June 1, 2000 – March 30, 2009 Frederick A. "Fritz" Henderson – March 30, 2009 – December 1, 2009[67] Edward ("Ed") Whitacre Jr. – December 1, 2009 – September 1, 2010[68] Dan Akerson – September 1, 2010 – January 15, 2014 [69] Mary Barra – January 15, 2014 – Present [70] Vice Chairmen of General Motors Vice Chairmen of General Motors[66] Donaldson Brown – May 3, 1937 – June 3, 1946 George Russell – November 1, 1967 – March 31, 1970 Richard C. Gerstenberg – April 6, 1970 – December 31, 1971 Thomas A. Murphy – January 1, 1972 – November 30, 1974 Richard L. Terrell – October 1, 1974 – January 1, 1979 Oscar A. Lundin – December 1, 1974 – November 30, 1975 Howard H. Kerhl – February 1, 1981 – December 31, 1986 Donald J. Atwood – June 1, 1987 – April 19, 1989 John F. "Jack" Smith Jr. – August 1, 1990 – April 6, 1992 Robert J. Schultz – August 1, 1990 – November 1, 1992 Harry J. Pearce – January 1, 1996 – May 25, 2001 John M. Devine – January 1, 2001 – June 1, 2006 Robert A. Lutz – September 1, 2001 – May 1, 2010 Frederick A. "Fritz" Henderson – January 1, 2006 – March 3, 2008 Presidents of General Motors Presidents of General Motors[71] George E. Daniels – September 22, 1908 – October 20, 1908 William M. Eaton – October 20, 1908 – November 23, 1910 James J. Storrow – November 23, 1910 – January 26, 1911 Thomas Neal – January 26, 1911 – November 19, 1912 Charles W. Nash – November 19, 1912 – June 1, 1916 William C. Durant – June 1, 1916 – November 30, 1920 Pierre S. du Pont – November 30, 1920 – May 10, 1923 Alfred P. Sloan Jr. – May 10, 1923 – May 3, 1937 William S. Knudsen – May 3, 1937 – September 3, 1940 Charles E. Wilson – January 6, 1941 – January 26, 1953 Harlow H. Curtice – February 2, 1953 – August 31, 1958 John F. Gordon – September 1, 1958 – May 31, 1965 James M. Roche – June 1, 1965 – October 31, 1967 Edward N. Cole – November 1, 1967 – September 30, 1974 Elliott M. Estes – October 1, 1974 – January 31, 1981 F. James McDonald – February 1, 1981 – August 31, 1987 Robert C. Stempel – September 1, 1987 – July 31, 1990 Lloyd E. Reuss – August 1, 1990 – April 6, 1992[note 1] John F. "Jack" Smith Jr. – April 6, 1992 – October 5, 1998 G. Richard Wagoner Jr. – October 5, 1998 – March 29, 2009 Frederick A. "Fritz" Henderson – March 31, 2009 – December 1, 2009[72] Dan Ammann – January 2014 – January 2019 [73] Mark Reuss – January 1, 2019[74] Criticism Nazi collaboration In August 1938, before World War Two, a senior executive for General Motors, James D. Mooney, received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle for his distinguished service to the Reich. "Nazi armaments chief Albert Speer told a congressional investigator that Germany could not have attempted its September 1939 Blitzkrieg of Poland without the performance-boosting additive technology provided by Alfred P. Sloan and General Motors".[75][failed verification] During the war, GM's Opel Brandenburg plant produced trucks, parts for Ju 88 aircraft, land mines and torpedo detonators for Nazi Germany.[19] Charles Levinson, formerly deputy director of the European office of the CIO, alleged in his book, Vodka-Cola extensive collaboration and information sharing between US and German divisions of General Motors during the war.[76] Sloan's memoir presents a different picture of Opel's wartime existence.[77] According to Sloan, Opel was nationalized (along with most other industrial activity owned or co-owned by foreign interests) by the German state soon after the outbreak of war.[16] Sloan presents Opel at the end of the war as a black box to GM's American management—an organization that the Americans had had no contact with for five years. According to Sloan, GM in Detroit debated whether to even try to run Opel in the postwar era, or to leave to the interim West German government the question of who would pick up the pieces.[77] But Opel was never factually nationalized and the GM-appointed directors and management remained unchanged throughout the war, dealing with other GM companies in Axis and Allied countries including the United States.[78] In April 1939,[79] defending the German investment strategy as "highly profitable", Alfred P. Sloan had told shareholders that GM's continued industrial production for the Nazi government was merely sound business practice. In a letter to a concerned shareholder, Sloan said that the manner in which the Nazi government ran Germany "should not be considered the business of the management of General Motors....We must conduct ourselves as a German organization.… We have no right to shut down the plant."[75] “In other words, to put the proposition rather bluntly,” Sloan said in the letter, “such matters should not be considered the business of the management of General Motors.”[79] After 20 years of researching General Motors, Bradford Snell alleged that, "General Motors was far more important to the Nazi war machine than Switzerland ... Switzerland was just a repository of looted funds. GM's Opel division was an integral part of the German war effort. The Nazis could have invaded Poland and Russia without Switzerland. They could not have done so without GM."[75] The day before the German invasion of Poland, which was aided by Nazi soldiers who drove in GM Blitz vehicles, Sloan reportedly told shareholders that GM was “too big” to be impeded by “petty international squabbles.”[79] However, a letter which Mooney wrote to shareholders in June 1940 confirmed that Nazi Germany had nationalized the Opel plant by this point in time.[79] In the summer of 1940, a senior GM executive wrote that “the management of Adam Opel A.G. is in the hands of German nationals,” while also noting that it was still “actively represented by two American executives on the Board of Directors.”[79] In April 1941, Walter Carpenter, a GM board member and vice president of DuPont, advised Sloan, who used South America as a way of keeping business relations with Nazi Germany following U.S. sanctions against the country, to end the business relations, stating "If we don’t listen to the urgings of the State Department in this connection, it seems to me just a question of time ... The effect of this will be to associate the General Motors with Nazi or Fascist propaganda against the interests of the United States ... The effect on the General Motors Corporation might be a very serious matter and the feeling might last for years.” Around this time, Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle would successfully urge the FBI to investigate GM.[79] The investigation would find no evidence of disloyalty to American policy, but would also name both Sloan and Mooney in the final report and detail Mooney's ties to Nazi Germany.[79] Mooney, who was in charge of GM's multinational operations, had resigned from the company in 1940.[80] Great American streetcar scandal theory Main article: Great American streetcar scandal The Great American Streetcar Scandal is an unproven theory developed by Robert Eldridge Hicks in 1970 and published by Grossman Publishers in 1973 in the book Politics of Land, Ralph Nader's Study Group Report on Land Use in California at pp. 410–412, compiled by Robert C. Fellmeth, Center for Study of Responsive Law, and put forth by Bradford Snell again in 1974, in which GM, along with road-builders, is alleged to have engaged in a policy that triggered the shift from the mass transportation of the previous century to the 'one-person-one-car' trip of today.[81] The theory states that in order to expand auto sales and maximize profits GM bought local mass transit systems and privately owned railways, following which it would proceed to eliminate them and replace them all with GM-built buses.[82] Alternative versions of the events have been put forth by scholars in the field.[83][84][85] Slater, Cosgrove and Span all put forth evidence that counters Snell's theory. Ralph Nader Consumer advocate Ralph Nader issued a series of attacks on vehicle safety issues from GM—particularly the Chevrolet Corvair—in his book Unsafe at Any Speed, written in 1965. This first major work undertaken by Nader established his reputation as a crusader for safety. GM was accused of sending spies after him. The company was questioned at a Senate hearing in March 1966 about its attempted intimidation of Nader. Senators Robert Kennedy and Abe Ribicoff questioned CEO James Roche. In the end, the CEO apologized to Nader. The hearings led to legislation which created the United States Department of Transportation and predecessor agencies of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration later that year.[86] Nader sued GM in November 1966 for invasion of privacy, winning the case on appeal in January, 1970.[87] Top-level management In 1980, J. Patrick Wright wrote a book named On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors. This book, which critics acclaimed "blows the lid off the king of carmakers" was about the allegations of corruption, "mismanagement and total irresponsibility" at the top level of the company, as seen by John Z. DeLorean, the Vice-President, who, in 1973, resigned from his position in spite of a brilliant and meteoric rise. He was earning $650,000 per year and was expected to be the next President of GM. EV1 Main article: General Motors EV1 See also Cars portal Companies portal History portal flag United States portal Fisher P-75 Eagle FM/F2M Wildcat F3M Bearcat (none actually built) TBM Avenger McLaughlin Carriage Company Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (1875–1966) was one of the most influential executives in twentieth century American manufacturing. As chief executive officer, president, and chairman of the board for the automaker General Motors (GM) over several important decades, Sloan was responsible for implementing strategies and practices that helped GM emerge as one of the most successful American companies of the century. In 1998, over thirty years after Sloan's death, GM still held the number one position in American business, leading Fortune magazine's list of the Top 500 American enterprises. Sloan was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1875, the son of Alfred P. Sloan Sr. and Katherine Mead Sloan. His father was a machinist with investments in a number of businesses, including a tea and coffee import company. When Alfred Jr. was five the family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he excelled academically in its public schools. As a teen, he passed the entrance examination for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but was denied admission because of his youth. He was allowed to enter at the age of seventeen and earned his degree in electrical engineering within three years. Sloan married Irene Jackson and maintained a home on New York's Fifth Avenue. According to the profiles of him published during his lifetime in magazines like Time and Forbes, Sloan was the quintessential mid-century auto executive, with no interests or hobbies outside of the office. He and his wife had no children, but Sloan was close to a half-brother, Raymond, who was eighteen years his junior. When Raymond died in the 1940s, Sloan was deeply saddened, and increased the funding and time he gave to the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. His half-brother had been a hospital administrator and had drawn Sloan into medical philanthropy. Sloan was also known to be generous with his resources when he learned of a GM family in trouble; he once spent a Christmas holiday working toward finding the best medical care for the burned child of a plant manager, neither of whom he had ever met. He also refused to publish his autobiography, My Years with General Motors, until all of the people mentioned had passed away. Sloan himself died just two years later on February 17, 1966, and is buried in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Sloan's father was an investor in a New Jersey business called the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company, which made billiard balls. After Sloan Jr. received his degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1895, he went to work at Hyatt as a draftsman. In just under a decade he had risen through the ranks to become its president. Part of the reason for both his and Hyatt's success came from Sloan's recognition of Hyatt's ability to expand its business by producing steel roller bearings for the auto industry. Through his sales to the executives who were usually the founders of their firms and pioneers in the auto industry, Sloan came to know many of the most important names in the business; Henry Ford (1863–1947) for example, was both a customer and a friend of Sloan's. Hyatt Roller Bearing's success in making and marketing the anti-friction bearings used in the auto industry led to an investment involvement with one automaker, the United Motors Corporation. This company had originated a practice of linking to its parts suppliers in a mutually beneficial relationship. Sloan and Hyatt teamed with United in 1916 to become its only supplier of steel roller bearings. The investment of $13.5 million made Sloan a vice president when United Motors merged with General Motors two years later. AD The General Motors Company had been founded in 1908 by William C. Durant (1861–1947), a promoter and salesman. Durant's erratic management style and his determination to expand the size of the company regardless of the business climate caused the company to go into receivership in 1910. A consortium of bankers ran the company until Durant regained control with financial backing from the chemical industry magnate, Pierre Du Pont. Durant hired Sloan as a vice president and director of the GM Corporation. Sloan's management style, in contrast to Durant, was methodical and organized. Sloan nearly quit in 1920. He was not the only member of GM's management who was frustrated with Durant. He encouraged his close friend Walter P. Chrysler (1875–1940), who was head of the Buick operations, to strike out on his own and launch what would become the number three auto maker, the Chrysler Corporation. AD In 1920 Sloan went on a trip to Europe with his wife and returned prepared to resign only to learn that Pierre Du Pont had helped to ease Durant into retirement. Du Pont took over as Chief Executive Officer. During this period Sloan developed a critique of the amorphous management culture at GM. When he became head of the company in 1923 he helped moved GM in the direction of rational and predictable growth. During his first years as president in the 1920s, GM doubled its manufacturing output and broke sales records. It also absorbed much of its competition, and some of the smaller carmakers either folded or were merged into General Motors during this time. Its biggest competitor was another Detroit–run operation, the Ford Motor Company, and under Sloan's direction GM surpassed Ford in just a few years. AD Sloan's talent for running a thriving financial enterprise is one of the most significant success stories in twentieth century American business. GM was so financially sound that it was barely affected by the Great Depression; despite the Wall Street crash of 1929, its stock continued to pay shareholder dividends. In 1937 Sloan was elected board chair, and continued as both chair and CEO until 1946; he remained chairman of the board of directors until 1956, when he officially retired. Sloan's restructuring of GM earned him a reputation for excellence both as a practical manager and as a management theorist. Automobile management theory before Sloan was most strongly influenced by Henry Ford. "Fordism" was dedicated to the mass production of a single product. Ford was reported to have said that the customer could have any color Model T that he wanted, as long as it was black. "Sloanism," on the other hand, paid attention to the customer as a choice–maker. Sloan encouraged diversity in product choices. But diversity did not mean chaos. His management accomplishments involved shaping the company rather than allowing the separate automobile companies that GM owned to go off in their own directions, guided by their own autonomous decisions in design, engineering, and production. Thus, Sloan transformed GM from a conglomerate of different companies overlapping each other in price range, technology, and product into a company guided by a single intelligence applied to five separate but interlocked divisions, each producing and marketing cars aimed at a particular segment of the market. On the low end was the affordable Chevrolet. In the middle range were Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick. On the high end were the elegant Cadillacs. The divisions were able to share development, production, and engineering costs among themselves, which added greater profit to the higherpriced luxury models. And the design feature of automobile manufacture became an important generator of car sales through the institution of annual model changes. AD When Sloan became chair of GM's board of directors in 1937, he was the highest-paid executive in the country. The mammoth size and economic success of General Motors led to labor unrest and the founding of the United Auto Workers union. Sloan's refusal in 1936 to meet with its representatives to address grievances over job security, wages, and safety resulted in a sit-down strike at GM plants, and the eventual legal recognition of the United Auto Workers a year later, a significant moment in American labor history. Not surprisingly, Sloan was a staunch supporter of Republican politics. Sloan would also be remembered as a great philanthropist. At the height of the Great Depression in 1934, he founded the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. It gave grants primarily for research into science and technology; in 1996 it bestowed $53 million. The auto executive also endowed the Sloan School of Management at his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At its founding in 1931, it was one of the first graduate programs of its kind for executives already established in their careers. He also endowed the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research at New York City's Memorial Hospital. See also: Walter P. Chrysler, Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, General Motors, United Auto Workers AD FURTHER READING Drucker, Peter. "The Best Book on Management Ever." Fortune. April 23, 1990. Flint, Jerry. "Alfred Sloan Spoken Here." Forbes. November 11, 1991. Forbes, B.C. and O.D. Foster. Automotive Giants of America: Men Who Are Making Our Motor Industry. New York: B.C. Forbes Publishing Co., 1926. Rae, John B. Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography; The Automobile Industry; 1920-1980. New York: Facts on File, 1989, s.v. "Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr." Sloan, Alfred P. My Years With General Motors. New York: Doubleday, 1964. according to the profiles of him published during his lifetime in magazines like time and forbes, sloan was the quintessential mid-century auto executive, with no interests or hobbies outside of the office. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr Views 2,316,176 Updated May 29 2018 Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. The American automobile executive Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. (1875-1966), pioneered in automotive innovation and built General Motors into one of the world's largest companies. AD Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., was born on May 23, 1875, in New Haven, Conn., the son of a prosperous businessman. In New York City he attended the Brooklyn public schools and the Polytechnic Institute, where he passed the exams to enter the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but he was refused admission because he was too young. At the age of 17 he did matriculate there and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1895. Sloan obtained a position as draftsman in the Hyatt Rolling Bearing Company at Harrison, N.J. By this time he had married Irene Jackson of Boston. At the age of 26 he became president and general manager of the rapidly failing firm when his father and one other man bought control. Sloan quickly resuscitated the firm by moving into the manufacture of steel roller bearings for the mushrooming automobile industry. While Olds Motor Company was Sloan's first customer, Ford Motor Company became the largest. Hyatt profits ran as high as $4 million annually, but Sloan grew concerned with rumors that General Motors (GM) might produce its own bearings. Instead, William C. Durant, the energetic builder of GM, bought Sloan's firm for $13,500,000 and merged it as part of the United Motors Corporation, with Sloan as president. In 1918 he became a vice president and member of the GM executive committee. AD Durant lost control of GM in 1920 to the Du Ponts, but Pierre Samuel du Pont, the new president, knew nothing about automobiles and made Sloan vice president in charge of operations. Three years later Sloan became president of GM and a director of the Du Pont Company. In 1920 GM held a 12 percent share of the market; by 1956, when Sloan retired, the market share stood at 52 percent. He accomplished this not only by innovations such as four-wheel drive, crankcase ventilation, and knee-action brakes but, more importantly, by adopting the staff principle of management. He centralized administration and decentralized production and put each product in its own division and eliminated intracompany competition. Sloan made a great philanthropic contribution in 1937, when he endowed the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation with $10 million; to 1966, his gifts totaled over $305 million. Major recipients were the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He died Feb. 17, 1966, in New York City. Further Reading The only full-length works on Sloan are autobiographical. An early account of himself, written with Boyden Sparkes, is Adventures of a White-collar Man (1941). Sloan's My Years with General Motors (1963) is an illuminating book on business history and his role in it. Paul Franklin Douglass, Six upon the World: Toward an American Culture for an Industrial Age (1954), includes an essay on Sloan and his significance. Alfred P. Sloan was the mastermind behind the rise of General Motors during the 20th century. Sloan was born in 1875 in New Haven, CT. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated in 1895. After graduation, Sloan began what he later described as “the most discouraging period of his life” while he was searching for employment.  After much effort, he obtained a position as a draftsman at the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company. He became general manager in 1899 after his father purchased the company. Recognizing that Hyatt could play a vital role in the emerging automotive industry, Sloan began to diversify the company’s interests. Oldsmobile became Hyatt’s first automotive customer in 1916, with many more following. Hyatt later merged with several other companies to become the United Motors Company, which became part of General Motors Corporation.  Sloan was named vice president of Operations for GM in 1920. Three years later, at a time when General Motors was still struggling to define itself, Sloan was named president. Sloan began methodically examining all facets of GM’s operations. Over the next decade, he transformed GM from a loose confederation of companies into an efficient, carefully coordinated manufacturer. Sloan is credited with innovations such as annual styling changes for vehicles and a pricing structure that organized the Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac brands from least to most expensive. This ensured that the brands did not directly compete and encouraged customers to continue buying GM vehicles even as their purchasing power and personal preferences changed.  Under Sloan’s management, General Motors became the industry sales leader and one of the world’s largest industrial entities. He was made chairman of the Board of GM in 1937, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 1956. Sloan attributed his success at GM to one factor: “The ability to get people to work together is of the greatest importance.”  1875 Alfred P. Sloan was born in New Haven, CT 1895 Graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1899 Was named the general manager of his father’s company, Hyatt Roller Bearing Company 1916 Developed a partnership between Hyatt and Oldsmobile and eventually merged with General Motors 1920 Sloan was hired as vice president of Operations for General Motors 1923 Sloan was promoted to president of GM 1937 Was named chairman of the GM Board 1947 Received a Distinguished Service Citation Award from the Automotive Hall of Fame 1956 Sloan retired from General Motors 1966 Sloan passed away at the age of 90 1967 Sloan was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame Many management scholars consider Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. as the greatest business leader in American history.  If we exclude company founders, Sloan has few peers among those who led companies they did not found.  After running a smaller company for twenty years, he sold the company to General Motors (GM).  Sloan became President of GM in 1923 and continued in active leadership until 1956.  In 1922, the year before Sloan took charge, General Motors made a net profit of $53 million on sales of $464 million.  Those profits were less than half the $120 million earned by arch-rival Ford.  In Sloan’s last full year serving as Chairman of General Motors, 1955, company profits were $1.19 billion on sales of $12.4 billion.  That 1955 sales figure, having grown at over 10 percent per year for thirty-three years, was double the next largest company on earth.  Profits in 1955 were 50% higher than those at each of the next largest companies, Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil), Royal Dutch Shell, and American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). These results led business leaders around the world to study and attempt to mimic Sloan and his methods.  Corporation after corporation adopted his theories and policies.  Sloan is today far less known than such business luminaries as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, or the late Steve Jobs, though all have applied some of his ideas, whether they knew it or not. Thousands of pages of books and articles have been written about Alfred Sloan and his management style and decisions.  Renowned management thinker Peter Drucker’s third book, The Concept of the Corporation (1946), was an in-depth look at the company and propelled Drucker to fame.  The first book written by the greatest business historian, Alfred Chandler, Strategy and Structure (1962), was in part the story of GM.  At the age of eighty-eight, Sloan published his own magnum opus, My Years with General Motors (1963), reportedly the bestselling business book in history at the time.  Bill Gates has said that if you are only going to read only one book about business, it should be Sloan’s book, which served as an inspiration to Gates in building Microsoft. Sloan can be a challenging man to understand and portray.  Many pages have been written on the history of General Motors and Sloan’s role in that history, but writers have been frustrated by the lack of personal details about Sloan and his life.  The man wanted it that way.  Here we take a somewhat different approach to Sloan’s life, taking the measure of the man.  Unlike most of those who have written about him, your writer has the added perspective of having built and run companies worked for top management at huge enterprises, and served on boards of directors of public companies.  Here, from our vantage point, is the story of Alfred Sloan, his life, his work, and his legacy. Beginnings Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr. was born in New Haven, Connecticut on May 23, 1875 to coffee and tea merchant Alfred Sloan and his wife Katherine, the first of five children.  Ten years later the family moved to Brooklyn to be near the father’s Manhattan-based business, Bennett, Sloan, & Company.  The young man developed a Brooklyn accent that stayed with him for life. Sloan, the son, grew up in the era of Edison.  New inventions were everywhere.  The telephone and electricity were coming into widespread use at the same time the automobile was being invented.  Like many young men of the era, these developments attracted the bright boy’s interest.  He tried to get into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but was too young.  Finally admitted at the age of seventeen, Sloan completed the course in electrical engineering in three years, the youngest graduate at age twenty. In 1895, the nation was still recovering from the intense depression of 1893.  Jobs were hard to find.  Sloan’s father arranged an interview for his son with the father’s friend, John Searles, head of the big American Sugar Refining Company in Brooklyn.  Searles found a job for Sloan in a small company Searles had invested in, the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company in New Jersey.  Alfred would start work as a mere draftsman. Hyatt Roller Bearing The Hyatt Roller Bearing Company made bearings that made machines function more smoothly, with less friction.  The company’s products were tubular bearings which could carry a heavier load than traditional ball bearings.  These unusual bearings had been invented and patented by company founder John Wesley Hyatt, who also pioneered the commercial development of celluloid, used to make billiard balls, piano keys, and false teeth.  The roller bearings were used in bicycle gears and in the systems of pulleys and belts employed in factories, but the company was not particularly successful. When Sloan arrived at the New Jersey plant, he found a shack-like structure next to a smelly dump.  When it rained, the whole area became a sea of mud.  The business lost money, its bookkeeper Pete Steenstrup returning week after week to Searles’ office, asking for more money to cover expenses.  Sloan and the Norwegian Pete became close friends, continually discussing how they could improve the Hyatt Company’s prospects were they in charge. Sloan was a serious, ambitious young man.  He wanted to marry Irene Jackson, but his career outlook was too bleak for him to consider marriage.  This lack of progress led him to leave Hyatt after two years, in 1897.  Alfred joined a company developing a refrigeration system for hotels and apartment buildings.  Refrigeration was another technology just coming into its own.  Working for inventor Michael Wood excited the twenty-two-year-old Sloan.  The company’s idea was to have a central cooling system that circulated cold to individual ice boxes in each room or apartment.  Sloan designed the circulation system.  He also built up the courage to marry Irene, in September 1898. But soon after, the refrigeration company failed.  Luckily for Sloan, Hyatt investor Searles had financial troubles and wanted to sell the money-losing Hyatt Roller Bearing Company.  Equally fortunately, Sloan’s father and a friend had the $5,000 required to buy the struggling business and limited additional funds to invest until the company became profitable.  They wanted Alfred to return to Hyatt and take over, which he did, at the age of twenty-three. Sloan and Pete Steenstrup took over the business, Alfred did the engineering and Pete handled sales.  Both realized that the emerging auto industry, then in its infancy, held great opportunities for Hyatt.  Pete was soon visiting every major automaker.  Pete tried to get Alfred to spend more time making sales calls with him because Pete could not talk the language of their engineer customers.  At first, Sloan resisted but eventually started visiting Detroit and meeting industry leaders, including Henry Ford and Billy Durant, the colorful founder of General Motors. A key event in Sloan’s life took place when he met with Henry Leland, the head of Cadillac.  Cadillac was formerly the Ford Company, before the investors fired Henry Ford and he left to start the company which today bears his name.  Leland was called “the master of precision” and had higher standards than any other automaker.  He complained to Sloan that Hyatt’s bearings were insufficiently consistent, that Cadillac required interchangeable parts with tolerances within a few thousandths of an inch.  Alfred got the point.  He returned to New Jersey and improved Hyatt’s manufacturing processes and systems, rising to Leland’s challenge. In the ensuing years, Alfred Sloan and Pete Steenstrup built Hyatt into a much larger, profitable company.  While Pete retired, Alfred and his father became majority owners of the company and continued building it.  Over half of the company’s revenue came from the Ford Motor Company, especially after the 1908 introduction of the Model T.  Most of the remaining sales came from General Motors and its Buick, Oldsmobile, Oakland, and Cadillac divisions, which GM’s Billy Durant had acquired in a haphazard fashion. Being at the mercy of two giant customers made Sloan nervous.  He knew either company could make their own bearings, or switch to another supplier.  Hyatt’s patents were set to run out, making the company’s position even more tenuous.  Maybe Hyatt should sell out to a larger company if the opportunity arose. Selling Out Billy Durant was a born salesman and wheeler-dealer.  He had bought a troubled Buick and turned it into the largest auto brand, before Henry Ford’s Model T took over the lead.  Buying every auto maker that caught his attention, usually for stock, his General Motors had emerged as the second largest automaker, out of hundreds in the market.  At the time, the automobile companies were primarily assemblers, buying most components including axles, bodies, and engines from other companies.  Based on his experience making horse-drawn carts before entering the auto business, Durant liked controlling key suppliers, assuring his company’s needs could be fulfilled.  This led Durant to create the United Motors Company in 1916 by buying up some of the best auto parts makers and combining them into one firm.  Included in the combine were Remy Electric of Anderson, Indiana, New Departure Bearings of Bristol, Connecticut, Dayton Engineering Laboratories (DELCO) of Dayton (inventor of the electric starter), and Perlman Rim of New York. Billy Durant wanted Hyatt Roller Bearing to be included in United Motors.  Alfred Sloan convinced his skeptical board to ask for $15 million, a price they thought unrealistic.  Durant, well-known for his generosity when buying companies, negotiated minimally and the final price was $13.5 million.  As best we can tell, Alfred and his father evenly split $8-9 million of this (about $100 million each in 2021 dollars), making both men wealthy beyond their dreams.  However, the purchase was made with a combination of United Motors stock and cash.  Sloan Senior and the other partners wanted mostly cash, so Alfred had to settle on taking more United Motors stock than the others.  He was stuck with most of his personal wealth tied up in stock in a new company in an industry that many thought was highly risky. With over 3,000 employees and sales of about $9 million, Hyatt was a gem in the United Motors portfolio.  Alfred Sloan thus felt it important to make sure United Motors succeeded.  Fortunately, Durant made forty-one-year-old Sloan the President of United Motors and left him alone to manage and build the company.  Sloan soon added Harrison Radiator and Klaxon Horns to the group.  He also created United Motors Service, an organization that set up dealers across the nation to sell replacement parts made by the company.  Above all else, Alfred started to test ideas and develop management policies to maximize United Motors’ success. Two years later, in 1918 General Motors bought United Motors with GM stock.  Alfred P. Sloan was now on the GM board of directors and head of all “accessory” (parts) divisions.  He was forty-three years old and had twenty years of experience running businesses behind him.  He was also a large shareholder in General Motors. Initiation into General Motors By 1918, Billy Durant has already been in and out of General Motors, losing control to eastern bankers, then creating the very successful Chevrolet, selling Chevy to GM, and regaining control.  He was brilliant at putting deals together, even agreeing to buy out Henry Ford before Durant’s bankers refused to finance the purchase.  But Durant was not a good manager.  Rather than studying the data and making logical conclusions, he relied on his intuition and flew by the seat of his pants.  He assigned tasks to whoever was at hand, ignoring their backgrounds and fit.  He made operating decisions without asking the opinions of the key operating people involved. Interested in expanding overseas, the General Motors management team, including Alfred Sloan and Buick’s brilliant chief Walter Chrysler, sailed for Europe with their wives in July of 1920.  Their charter was to evaluate the purchase of France’s Citroen.  While Citroen did not meet their standards for a well-run business, the men had long conversations about how they would make GM more successful if they ran it.  They all expressed concerns with Durant’s leadership style.  General Motors needed to be better organized and managed.  Alfred Sloan and Walter Chrysler became lifelong best friends, even after Walter tired of Durant and left GM to become a major competitor.   After the end of World War I, inflation took off.  But then prices fell back down and the nation went into a deep recession in late 1920 and throughout 1921.  Sears, Roebuck almost went bankrupt, but was saved by personal investments by owner Julius Rosenwald.  General Motors posted a loss of almost $25 million, the first loss in company history.  The company ended 1921 with $200 million worth of unsold cars.  The stock crashed, and the ever-optimistic Durant bought shares to try to prop up the market, going deeper and deeper into margin debt to buy the shares.  (Though Sloan’s personal wealth was tied up in GM stock, he never sold one share as the stock dropped from $85 per share to $7.  The man had faith in the future.) GM Stock Certificate Engraving The DuPont family, owners of the giant chemical company, had first invested in General Motors in a few years before.  With large profits made in their gunpowder business during the war, they had continued to buy into GM.  To rescue their investment, the DuPont’s paid off Billy Durant’s debts.  He left GM for the final time.  Pierre S. DuPont reluctantly took over the Presidency of GM.  (DuPont interests ultimately owned over half of General Motors stock,) At the same time, Sloan wrote up his ideas on how best to organize General Motors.  He sent his “Organization Study” to DuPont and did not at first get much reaction, but soon enough DuPont studied the report and liked it.  Pierre DuPont made Sloan his assistant.  DuPont also provided GM with talented managers, especially in the financial area, where the DuPont company excelled.  John Raskob (who later built the Empire State Building with Pierre), Donaldson Brown, and Albert Bradley became General Motors officers.  Also in the top management team were Charles Kettering, founder of DELCO and GM’s inventive genius, and the best auto production man in the industry, William Knudsen, who had started at Ford but left the tyrannical Henry and joined GM. Sloan’s Policies at General Motors Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. served General Motors, its stockholders, employees, suppliers, and customers as President of the company from 1923 to 1943, as Chairman of the Board from 1937 to 1956, and as Honorary Chairman until his death at the age of ninety in 1966.  During that extended period, GM passed up the formerly dominant Ford Motor Company, became the largest company in the world, and served as a model for other big corporations.  Key steps taken by Sloan included the following policies. Re-structuring the organization Sloan’s recommendations for how to structure the management of the company were put in place by Pierre DuPont even before Sloan was elevated to the Presidency, as shown in this 1921 organization chart: This chart is the most important and most-studied organization chart in business history.  (General Motors developed a long history of talking and writing about its policies and procedures for all to see, somewhat unusual in the business world.)  Alfred Sloan achieved world fame as the man behind “decentralization.”  The idea was that the manager of each operating division of the company, such as Chevrolet and Cadillac, had total operating freedom and control over their “profit center.”  Place good leaders at the head of each division, and it would prosper.  Don’t meddle in their business in the way that Billy Durant had. At the same time, “headquarters” (including Sloan) needed to know how each division was doing in order to know if the company had the right people running the divisions.  So this “decentralized system” was accompanied by a system of very centralized financial controls to monitor every aspect of the business. While other companies around the world emulated this system, it was often oversimplified.  Its complexity was not always understood, and the copiers had mixed results in applying the ideas.  In reality, many functions besides financial controls were centralized.  Sloan and his colleagues appointed the eccentric Harley Earl as chief of all design, affecting every operating division and every car and truck the company made.  Charles “Boss” Kettering, the company’s technology chief, created and ran extensive research and development operations, some of the best in the world.  His efforts led to innovation after innovation, leading the auto industry in new features.  Fast-drying paint developed by Kettering and the DuPont Company permitted the mass production of colorful automobiles.  Kettering also developed the first successful diesel-electric railroad locomotive and thus GM dominated that industry. Many other important functions were likewise centralized, including legal, patent management, market research, purchasing of supplies, real estate, and factory design.  Sloan’s system was a complex structure based on the logic of what worked best and which executives had the requisite talents. At the head of the organization was a complicated system of committees, with the finance committee, executive committee, and operating committee at the top.  Few if any key decisions were made by individuals.  Alfred Sloan brought together the best minds in the company to deal with each issue.  His system focused on separating key policy decisions, such as where to invest more capital, how to differentiate the five car brands, and how to finance the company, from operating decisions.  In other words, the committees determined what to do (and why) while the operators carried out the plans, the “how to do it.”  Throughout the company, the authority to make decisions was closely aligned with responsibility and accountability for results.  Those managers who produced results were well compensated.  In the mid-1940s, GM President Charles Wilson was paid a salary of $352,000; fifteen other executives were paid $100,000 per year or more ($1.5 million in 2021 dollars).  DuPont, paralleling GM policies as was often the case, had twelve executives earning over $100,000.  By comparison, the head of #2 industrial company Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil) was paid $123,000 and no other executive there received over $100,000.  At General Electric, the chief (also named Charles Wilson) made $125,000 and two others made over $100,000.  General Motors executives were also awarded with stock, Sloan himself becoming one of the richest Americans thanks to taking GM stock starting with the 1918 sale of United Motors to GM.    Financial Controls and Information Systems Under Billy Durant, headquarters had little idea of how each division operated and whether it was truly profitable or not.  The over-production of cars in the 1920-21 recession proved that.  Sloan and his team, led by Donaldson Brown and the men from DuPont, developed the most sophisticated approach to how a company makes a profit yet developed.  Key was the idea of “asset turnover,” the realization that tying up capital in excess inventory was unprofitable, and that return on investment was a more important figure than profits alone or dividends paid to shareholders. The “DuPont Formula” Sloan was obsessed with data, with the facts, and trained his colleagues on the use of them.  The vast operating parts of the company religiously submitted various reports every ten and thirty days.  But Sloan always wanted to learn more, to find more useful types of information. For example, he realized that the company did not actually know how many cars were being sold by the dealers, sometimes resulting in making too many or too few cars.  He hired a company to tally all new automobile registrations, by brand and by state, from government public records.  Sloan had tens of thousands of surveys sent to auto buyers, asking them what they wanted in a car, and what they liked and didn’t like about GM’s products.  Other automakers followed in his steps.    Most importantly, General Motors acted on the facts that they discovered. Marketing Not only did GM listen to what customers wanted.  Sloan developed the idea of a car “for every purse and purpose.”  When Sloan rose to power, many within GM thought it pointless to compete with Henry Ford’s low-priced Model T.  Management considered dropping the Chevrolet line, priced just above the Model T, believing Chevy would never be very profitable.  But Sloan believed in Chevy and kept it alive, under the manufacturing wizard William Knudsen and talented sales manager Richard Grant.  Chevrolet had more features than the Model T for a slightly higher price.  Chevy also moved more quickly to all-weather, closed-body cars than Ford, which still made many open cars.  By 1927, the Model T was dead and Chevrolet took the lead in the low-priced field.  Having produced fifteen million Model T’s, Ford shut down his plant for months to retool and introduce the Model A.  General Motors took the lead in terms of the total number of cars produced and sold each year and kept the lead in most years for decades. Alfred Sloan and 1927 Chevrolet, dethroning the Model T In the Model T era, almost every new car buyer was a first-time car buyer.  GM had to “invent” the idea of the used car trade-in, as well as pioneer time payments for cars with the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC). To carry out Sloan’s idea of a car for every purse, General Motors “laddered” its products, Chevrolet making starter cars, Pontiac offering a step up, Oldsmobile and Buick even higher, and Cadillac at the top, with slightly overlapping pricing. ($1000 in 1926 equals about $15,000 in 2021 Dollars) A Car for Every Purse and Purpose, 1955 Alfred Sloan also came to realize that the auto dealers often didn’t know if they were making a profit or not, or how much.  General Motors developed accounting systems for its dealers that vastly improved their prosperity.  (Henry Ford never put any emphasis on his dealers; they were forced to take however many cars Ford wanted to ship to them, no matter whether they had ordered more or ordered less.) At General Motors, Harley Earl’s “Art & Color” department led the industry, by the 1950s making cars lower, longer, and finned.  Other makers followed GM’s lead. Chrysler follows General Motors: For Every Purse, with Fins GM developed new ideas to keep the public interested, such as the “concept cars” in which Earl and his designers made “cars of the future” and took them on national tours.  Futurama exhibits were the biggest hits at World’s Fairs in Chicago and New York. Harley Earl in the 1938 Buick “Y-Job” Concept Car Futurama, 1939-40 New York World’s Fair Fair Visitors on Moving Chairs Inside Futurama, 1939-40 General Motors pioneered the annual model change, sometimes (perhaps inaccurately) labelled “planned obsolescence.”  GM’s laboratories and engineers were continually developing new features, such as automatic transmissions, power steering and brakes, and better engines.  Sloan realized that these improvements would have the most impact if they were introduced all at one time, in newly designed models, once a year.  GM’s annual Motorama tours of the new models were televised and toured the country. Motorama, launched each year at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel before touring America Building a Global Transportation Equipment Company Durant and DuPont had both favored international expansion.  Alfred Sloan intensified this process, developing General Motors into an important car producer or importer in Canada, England, Australia, Japan, and many other countries.  In 1929, GM bought Germany’s largest car maker, Adam Opel, which was far larger than Mercedes or BMW at the time. In addition to Charles Kettering’s development of the diesel-locomotive, GM made trucks and was the leading maker of buses.  Under Sloan, the company invested in the burgeoning aviation industry and made Allison aircraft engines.  The company produced a multitude of car parts, selling them to other automakers and to service stations as aftermarket, replacement parts.  Batteries, radios, generators, and radiators poured out of GM factories. Using its marketing and manufacturing talent, GM took Durant’s odd acquisition of a small refrigerator company and turned it into the best-selling Frigidaire line. Putting the Policies Together The combination of a new organizational structure, financial controls, great marketing, and product line expansion led GM to become the largest industrial enterprise on earth under Alfred Sloan.  Under his leadership, the company never lost money in the Great Depression.  General Motors was also the largest supplier to the United States military during World War II, serving as the most important single company in America’s “Arsenal of Democracy.”  The company blew past the competition: Alfred Sloan the Man In the many pages written about Sloan and his life, he is usually portrayed as being a man of steel, with ice water running through his veins.  He cared nothing about people, had no life or interests outside of his work.  He is depicted as formal and stiff, humorless, cold and heartless.  Man as machine.  Profit was all he cared about. But we believe, if one sincerely tries to put themselves in Sloan’s shoes at head of a company upon whom hundreds of thousands of families depend, if one reads his own writings closely enough, another picture of the man emerges. Most consider Sloan the ultimate organization man, “the man in the grey flannel suit” to use a mid-20th-century phrase.  But Sloan spent eighteen years building Hyatt Roller Bearing from nothing into an important company.  The man was at heart an entrepreneur, with entrepreneurial instincts.  Sloan is sometimes described as a remote executive, more interested in organizational structures than in technical details.  Yet Sloan spent his youth and his early Hyatt years as an engineer, designing complex systems, improving manufacturing processes, and using his engineer’s love of math and logic.  Not unlike George Eastman of Kodak fame and Steve Jobs at Apple, Alfred Sloan rose from a technical background to become an astute marketer.  Even in his early years at Hyatt, he complained to his automaker customers that they did not emphasize “eye appeal” enough.  He thought design important, as did the later leaders of IBM and Apple.  Sloan was not artless.  Perhaps Alfred Sloan, like many other industrial pioneers, was too complex for most observers to fully understand. There is no question that in many ways Sloan was, as one might expect, a child of the 19th century.  For most of his life, he was always formally and immaculately attired in spats and a stiff white collar.  Everyone addressed him as “Mr. Sloan” and he likely addressed them in the same manner.  This was not the era of casual dress Fridays and paternity leave. Sloan left no love letters and had no children.  Yet we do know that Sloan dedicated his first book, a 1941 autobiography, to his wife, Irene.  When she preceded him in death after fifty-five years of marriage, he was distraught and did not hide it. Irene and Alfred Sloan The man had a wry sense of humor.  When he was pressed to admit before a Congressional investigation that GM was so ambitious that it wanted to sell a car to everyone in America, Sloan simply answered, “No, two.” Sloan did not smoke, did not party hard, and seldom drank alcohol.  But his best friend, Walter Chrysler, was a renowned “party animal,” to use a more current phrase.  The two men and their wives vacationed together.  Sloan enjoyed watching Chrysler make gargantuan bets in casinos, something Sloan was unlikely to do.  The two reportedly did not talk business in their many conversations. At work, Sloan was obsessed with objectivity, fairness, and honesty.  He readily promoted people he did not personally like and fired people he liked.  He worked hard to “keep personality out of decisions.”  He did not socialize with fellow board members and executives.  Pierre DuPont, the man who made Sloan President of GM and served alongside him on the board of directors, had one of the most fabulous estate gardens in America, Longwood Gardens outside of Philadelphia.  Yet Sloan reportedly never visited DuPont’s home or gardens.  Most telling about Sloan is that he surrounded himself with diverse, even eccentric individuals.  Harley Earl wore suits that matched the color of the car he drove that day and kept a duplicate suit at the office in case he spilled something on his clothes.  Donaldson Brown, the finance man, was known to be unintelligible to most people as he spoke in a combination of philosophy and algebra.  Technologist Charles Kettering butted heads with Sloan over some of his inventions, but the two men were close enough to fund New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center together. Anyone who has worked in a large corporation for any amount of time has witnessed some corporate politics and turf battles.  Yet Alfred Sloan brought together a large team of diverse individuals who worked together smoothly for decades.  Once a committee made an important decision, the full force of the company got behind and carried out that decision. Sloan did not believe there was such a thing as being “a good judge of people.”  He thought that the most important task of management was to put the right people in the right positions, adjusting for their strengths and weaknesses; that the only way to judge people was by their results.  Alfred readily spent hours on picking “the right man” even for lower level management positions. In his efforts to build a great business, Sloan continually travelled the nation in his private railroad car.  Rather than asking dealers to come to his office, he visited them at their dealerships, asking probing questions, finding out how General Motors could help them prosper.  He also visited GM factories around the world as he travelled. The best clue to Alfred Sloan’s management style was that he was always the last one to talk in the thousands of meetings he attended.  He asked probing questions, studied the data, and listened to every viewpoint.  He did not give orders, he listened and sought consensus.  He often supported decisions that he did not agree with.  While Sloan must have had enormous self-confidence, it appears his ego was never visible.  His own personal needs never came ahead of those of General Motors, its stockholders, employees, and customers. While the man had a temper, the strongest curse he uttered was, “That’s horse apples.”  Evidence indicates that he controlled his temper, closing his office door when upset.  Sometimes the person he was upset with not only kept their job, but got promoted if their results were good. From everything we have read, Alfred Sloan must have been an exceptional boss.  And for those other executives at GM who respected fairness, objectivity, and making data-based decisions, the work must have been a joy. While Sloan was an intense competitor, he believed in a strong industry and enjoyed the competition.  When key GM executive Walter Chrysler left the company, Sloan urged Chrysler to start his own company, which Chrysler did.  When Henry Ford died after World War Ii and left his company in a weakened position, Alfred Sloan told grandson Henry Ford II which General Motors executives to hire to rebuild the Ford Motor Company, which Henry II did. Henry’s son Edsel Ford, Alfred Sloan, and Walter Chrysler Controversies The many authors who have attempted to understand and describe Sloan and General Motors’ success have the advantage of hindsight.  It takes some effort to put oneself in Sloan’s shoes and in his era. Many pages have been written about GM’s resistance to the unions, a position shared by almost all the other automakers.  Union organizers at Ford had their heads bashed in.  But when the unions staged an illegal sit-down strike in 1937 at GM plants in Flint, Michigan and Anderson, Indiana, Sloan prohibited the use of violence.  Management felt a sense of disappointment: General Motors was already paying among the highest wages of any big American manufacturing company, continually adding benefits.  GM went on to successfully negotiate generous contracts with the United Auto Workers (UAW).  In any case, Sloan and his colleagues created a company that ultimately employed over 800,000 people, 600,000 of them in the United States.  The company put a lot of food on the table and cars in the garage for many families, even more if one includes the thousands of GM dealers and suppliers.  General Motors also paid enormous federal, state, and local taxes. General Motors’ German Opel division supported the German government in the years leading up to World War II.  Sloan and his team did not think it was the place of a business to get involved in local politics.  When America declared war on Germany, the Nazi’s took control of Opel, which became an important part of the Nazi war machine.  After the war, GM somewhat reluctantly took back Opel, which had been severely weakened by the war. Sloan, like the majority of big business leaders, opposed the New Deal, especially as the government took control of a greater and greater share of the economy.  He personally funded organizations to fight FDR’s policies.  However, he was opposed to General Motors as a company getting involved in politics.  Only when senior GM executive John Raskob became a national figure in the Democratic party did Sloan come out publicly in favor of Herbert Hoover in the 1932 Presidential election.  He did not want the public to think GM was “only a Democrat company,” saying, “I want to sell cars to Republicans, too.” As Chairman, he and GM President Charles Wilson led GM to support FDR in World War II.  Wilson had become President when Sloan’s original successor, William Knudsen, quit GM to run the war production effort.  Knudsen showed no favoritism to GM in awarding contracts, echoing Sloan’s objectivity.  Charles Wilson later left General Motors to become Eisenhower’s Secretary of Defense. As General Motors rose to sell over half the cars sold in America, government anti-trust people came after the company.  Some wanted to break up GM.  The court cases lasted for years, and nothing much came of them.  But Sloan was disgusted by the duplicity of the politicians he met and testified in front of.  He even went so far as to say he would rather turn the company over to the unions than to the politicians.  The national debate about the role of big companies and the role of government regulators in the economy continues to this day.  Some would side with Sloan, some would not. Legacy For the hundreds – or thousands – of management scholars and academics who have studied Sloan, a big question is, if GM “perfected” management systems, why did the company go into decline at the end of the 20th century?  Page after page has been written implying that Sloan’s system had flaws that eventually became apparent. Our own analysis is that Sloan was a man of his era.  He built a company in what was then a growth industry.  All of Sloan’s voluminous writings indicate that he understood that the world was always changing.  He loved the dynamics of the marketplace and the challenges of competition. Rather than try to apply Sloan’s policies to the auto industry today, we would rather ask, “What would Alfred Sloan do if he were alive today?”  Our conclusion is that he would be continually studying the facts, finding great people, and adjusting his policies to meet the current situation.  Might he have adjusted the committee system to act faster?  Might he have been more aggressive in developing and commercializing electric cars, sooner than GM did?  Might he have found better ways to work with the unions?  Might he even have become a more “conscious capitalist?”  Given his never-ending ability to learn, to grow, and to adapt, we think General Motors might have done better in the era leading up to its 2009 bankruptcy had the company found another leader of Sloan’s caliber. Today, Alfred Sloan is most visible from his philanthropy.  In addition to Sloan Kettering, he funded the management school at MIT.  (He was always a believer in education for people at all levels in GM, funding the General Motors Institute and many other programs.)  The Sloan Foundation, created in the 1930s, today funds everything from scientific research to PBS programs with over $100 million a year in grants from its almost two billion dollars in investments. No matter how one views and assesses the life and achievements of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., he will not soon be forgotten by those who lead large, successful enterprises and by those who study the art and science of management.  A Personal Footnote:  Life in a General Motors Factory Town in the Company’s Heyday The time is 1965.  The place is Anderson, Indiana, perhaps the largest General Motors factory town outside of Michigan.  In a city of about 60,000 people, as many as 27,000 work for the GM parts factories here, Delco-Remy and Guide Lamp.  No place on earth has as many people designing, testing, and making automotive electrical systems.  No place has as many engineers who understand batteries, ignitions, headlights, and taillights.  At 3 PM every afternoon, the shift change whistle goes off and can be heard for miles.  When car sales are strong, the factories run three shifts, around the clock.  The United Auto Workers (UAW) Union local is one of the largest in the nation.  Begun with a sit-down strike in 1937, so intense that the governor of Indiana declared martial law, the UAW builds one of the fanciest buildings in town, their union hall replete with a bowling alley, auditorium, and other amenities.  GM workers, often with both parents working, live side by side with doctors and lawyers, whose incomes are the same (though the lawyers’ wives are more often homemakers).  When car sales drop, the newest hires are the first to go, but always get right back in line to try to get on at “the factory.”  The city’s economy is strong: business is good for all the restaurants, grocers, and other businesses which depend on the GM employees for their survival and prosperity.  Crime is low and divorce rare.  The public schools, funded in part by General Motors’ tax payments, are among the best in the state.  Dozens of other manufacturing companies in Anderson provide more jobs as they supply General Motors with boxes, copper wire, label printing, and tools. General Motors brought prosperity to the city; it was life itself.  The greatest company on earth would continue to grow and prosper, probably forever, the people of Anderson thought.  Residents referred to the company as “Generous Motors.” Today, Anderson has zero General Motors employees.  GM donated about seven million square feet of abandoned factory buildings to the city.  GM, which had for decades been the greatest, largest, and most profitable manufacturing company in the world, eventually descends into bankruptcy in 2009.  The fine UAW hall is now a Baptist Christian School.  Most retirees are in fine shape, with good benefits and retirement packages.  But no new jobs are being created. Anderson survived and lives on, as does General Motors.  Both have been reshaped by their history, today into forms almost unrecognizable in 1965. (Anderson, Indiana is where your writer spent the first eighteen years of his life, during General Motors’ glory days.  His grandfather was a skilled laborer for GM, retiring in 1948.  His observation of GM led your writer to a lifelong interest in business and business history, the nagging questions being, “What makes companies rise and fall?  How does that affect the bigger society?”) Alfred P. Sloan Jr., who shaped the General Motors Corporation into one of the world's largest manufacturing enterprises, died of a heart attack yesterday afternoon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center here. He was 90 years old. Mr. Sloan had been in excellent health until Tuesday, when he complained of not feeling well. He was taken to the hospital, which his philanthropy helped to establish, on Wednesday afternoon from his home at 820 Fifth Avenue. He succumbed yesterday at 2:35 P.M. With him at the hospital was his brother, Raymond P., special lecturer in the School of Public Health and Hospital Administration of Columbia University. Mr. Sloan was acclaimed last night as one of the great captains of industry of his age, not alone for his managerial skills but also for the pioneering automotive advances that he oversaw. These included four-wheel brakes, ethyl gasoline, crankcase ventilation and knee-action front springs. In a joint statement Frederic G. Donner, chairman of General Motors, and James W. Roche, its president, said: "His contributions to science and education and those of the foundation that bears his name were matched only by his accomplishments in business and industry." Mr. Sloan made his mark, his associates said, "as a planner, organizer and administrator." Roy Abernathy, president of the American Motors Corporation, called Mr. Sloan "the most advanced practitioner of modern management of our time." A friend in the industry, Lynn A. Townsend, president of the Chrysler Corporation, said last night that Mr. Sloan's "services to our nation and our industry cannot be measured." In Detroit, Henry Ford 2d, chairman of the Ford Motor Company, extolled Mr. Sloan as "one of the small handful of men who actually made automotive history." "Under his leadership," Mr. Ford said, "General Motors developed from a loosely organized group of companies into the present highly efficient giant corporation." At his death Mr. Sloan was honorary chairman of General Motors, and in this capacity he had attended a board of directors meeting here last month. Associates who talked with him then said yesterday that he participated in the session with his usual acuity. Mr. Sloan headed General Motors as president and then chairman from 1923 to 1956. His Work, His Hobby, His Love In the nineteen-thirties when Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. was chief executive officer of the General Motors Corporation a friend told him that a man of his position ought to own a yacht. After some hesitation, the slim, dandily dressed industrialist agreed and bought a 236-footer for $1 million. He incorporated it, christened it Rene, hired a crew of 43 at an annual cost of $119,609 and embarked on a few cruises. But life afloat quickly bored him, and the yacht was virtually laid up until he sold it in 1941 to the Maritime Commission for $175,000. This nautical flying was notable in Mr. Sloan's life because it was one of the few ventures that did not turn a handsome profit and because it was a leisure-time caper. Indeed, it was perhaps his only frivolity, for Mr. Sloan did not smoke, rarely drank, read little for pleasure and never engaged in golf or any other sport. A functional, frill-less man, he was convinced that sports were a waste of a man's time. Such dissipations, moreover, interfered with his work, his hobby, his love--the running of General Motors. Even in retirement, when Mr. Sloan was administering his multimillion dollar medical and educational benefactions, his sole relaxation was an evening's television watching. When Mr. Sloan became vice president of operations of General Motors in 1920 the company accounted for less than 12 percent of motor vehicle sales in the nation; when he stepped down as chairman in 1956 its share was 52 per cent. Moreover, General Motors had expanded into one of the world's largest companies. It was also among the most profitable and, operationally, one of the smoothest. These accomplishments were credited to Mr. Sloan's management policies. He centralized administration and decentralized operations, grouping together those that had a common relationship. He also realigned the company's products so that one brand of automobiles did not conflict with another. Each product--cars, electric iceboxes or whatever--was set apart in its own division. It was part of Mr. Sloan's genius that he was familiar with every detail of each division. Along Staff Lines In his 14 years as president of General Motors (1923-37) and in almost 20 years as chairman of the board (1937-56) Mr. Sloan ran the company on the staff principle, with himself as chief. But despite the eminence of his position he did not comport himself like an autocrat, nor did he hoot and holler. (He was known throughout the organization as "Silent Sloan.") He also refrained from ordering underlings about. "I never give orders," Mr. Sloan once said. "I sell my ideas to my associates if I can. I accept their judgment if they convince me, as they frequently do, that I am wrong. I prefer to appeal to the intelligence of a man rather than attempt to exercise authority over him." An associate likened him to a roller bearing--"self-lubricating, smooth, eliminates friction and carries the load." A typical workday bore out this portrayal. Mr. Sloan arrived at his office in the General Motors Building, 1775 Broadway (at 57th Street) at 9:30 A.M. (In winter he drove from his 14-room apartment on Fifth Avenue; in summer he commuted to Pennsylvania Station from his 25 acres in Great Neck, L.I., and rode the subway to West 59th Street.) Father Was Well-to-Do With metronomic precision he ticked off the day's conferences. He was restless, squirming in his chair, gesturing, putting his small, well-shod feet on the table. When he talked, it was in a quiet voice that curled out of the side of his mouth with a trace of a Brooklyn accent. When he listened, it was with the extra intentness of the deaf. By 5:30 he was ready to depart for home with a briefcase under his arm; and after dinner with his wife he usually worked for a few hours and was in bed at 10 o'clock. Two weeks a month he spent in Detroit, where he rarely stirred out of the gray G.M. building, not even to a hotel. Summarizing his recipe for success, Mr. Sloan said: "Get the facts. Recognize the equities of all concerned. Realize the necessity of doing a better job every day. Keep an open mind and work hard. The last is most important at all. There is no short cut." He was born in New Haven on May 23, 1875. His father was a well-to-do coffee and tea importer, and later a wholesale grocer. The Sloans moved to 240 Garfield Place, Brooklyn, when Alfred Jr., was 10. He attended public school until he was 11, when he entered Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute where he established a reputation as a prodigy in mechanics and engineering. At 17 he enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and by grinding away every possible minute he graduated in three years. With his father's help Alfred got a draftsman's job in the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company at Harrison, N. J. The company was not doing very well, but Alfred had confidence that it could be made to show a profit. He persuaded his father and another man to put up $5,000 and place him in control. In the first six months the business yielded $12,000 in profits. It was the automotive industry, however, that made the company's fortune. Automakers had been using a heavily greased wagon axle until Mr. Sloan persuaded the Olds Motors Company to try his bearings. Henry Ford and the other manufacturers soon followed suit, and Hyatt Bearing started making money hand over fist. By 1916 the company was doing a gross business of $10-million a year and making profits as high as $4-million. Of equal importance, Mr. Sloan had made a name for himself in Detroit as a knowledgeable and reliable business man with keen insights into the auto industry. His First $5-Million By that year General Motors, replacing Ford, had become Mr. Sloan's largest customer, and there was some hint that it might make its own bearings. Instead, General Motors, which had been stitched together from several independent auto concerns by the mercurial William Crapo Durant, bought Hyatt for $13.5-million. He promptly merged it with some other parts and accessory companies into the United Motors Corporation and installed Mr. Sloan as president. In the process Mr. Sloan pocketed his first $5-million, a start on a fortune that was to rise to $250-million. Late in 1918, through the initiative of John J. Raskob, General Motors took over United Motors as its own parts division, and Mr. Sloan went along as its executive head. Successively, he was named a member of the G. M. board of directors and a vice president. Meanwhile, Mr. Durant, his backer and sponsor, was swept out of the company through stock purchases by the du Pont interests. Two and a half million shares passed to them in a single day. Pierre S. du Pont thereupon became president of General Motors, but being unfamiliar with the motor-car business he leaned on Mr. Sloan, who became vice president of operations in 1920. Three years later Mr. du Pont left the presidency and put Mr. Sloan in the chair. The corporation's net sales were then $698-million; six years later there were $1.5- billion. In the process, General Motors' Chevrolet displaced Ford as sales leader in the low-price field, and the market price of its stock was up 480 per cent. This growth cost Mr. Sloan much leg work. "It may surprise you to know," he said at the time, "that I have personally visited, with many of my associates, practically every city in the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico. "On these trips I visit from 5 to 10 dealers a day. I meet them in their own places of business, talk with them across their own desks and solicit from them suggestions and criticisms as to their relations with the corporation." And a Sloan visit was not soon forgotten, for Mr. Sloan was 6 feet tall and weighed 130 pounds. He arrived dressed in what was then the height of fashion--a dark, double- breasted suit, a high starch collar, conservative tie fixed with a pearl stickpin, a handkerchief cascading out of his breast pocket and spats. It was enough to awe any dealer. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933 Mr. Sloan at first cooperated with the New Administration, becoming a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration. When the dollar was devalued, however, the New Deal lost a friend and gained a persistent critic. Early in 1937 Mr. Sloan encountered one of the major crises of his business life when newly organized workers in General Motors plants staged a 44-day sitdown strike to obtain union recognition. The industrialist haughtily refused to deal with the strikers while they "continue to hold our plants unlawfully." He joined the chorus of those assailing John L. Lewis, head of the Committee for Industrial Organization, as seeking to dominate the motor industry. President Roosevelt rebuked him, public sympathy ran against him and he beat a retreat, which was signalized when Gov. Frank Murphy of Michigan brought labor and management together. Mr. Sloan, however, did not carry on the negotiations personally. He remained in New York, delegating the distasteful job to William S. Knudsen, then vice president in charge of operations, and other executives. A few months later he turned over the company presidency to Mr. Knudsen and became chairman of the board. A month later, in June, 1937, Mr. Sloan was in the headlines again when Treasury experts reported to a Congressional committee that he and his wife had avoided payment of $1,921,587 in income taxes over a three-year period through personal holding companies. Although there was no Government charge that this means of tax avoidance was illegal, the implications were so unpleasant that Mr. Sloan issued a statement denying that he ever sought to evade a just share of the tax burden. He said that he and his wife had received in 1936 income totaling $2,876,310. Their Federal and state income taxes, he asserted, ate up $1,725,790, and the remainder--$1,150,520--was divided evenly between charity and themselves. Toward the end of the year Mr. Sloan made a substantial foray into philanthropy by endowing the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation with $10-million. In announcing the benefaction, he said: "Having been connected with industry during my entire life, it seems eminently proper that I should turn back, in part, the proceeds of that activity with the hope of promoting a broader as well as a better understanding of the economic principles and national policies which have characterized American enterprise down through the years." Up to 1966 the value of Mr. Sloan's gifts to the foundation and those of his wife, Irene, totaled $305-million, of which about $130-million has been given away. The gifts have not been restricted to economic studies. One of the foundation's first large benefactions was in 1945--provision of $2.56-million for the establishment of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York, a component of the Memorial Cancer Center. Grants of $300,000 annually were also made at the same time to help finance research. Charles F. Kettering, the co-sponsor of the institute, was a close friend of Mr. Sloan's and director of the General Motors Research Laboratory. Until his death he was an institute trustee. Additional funds were given the institute over the years, and it and the hospital were eventually reorganized as the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, with a medical and scientific staff of 1,500 persons. Another recipient of Mr. Sloan's benefactions was M.I.T., his alma mater. These included a laboratory for study of automotive and aircraft engines and aeronautical engineering problems. In 1945 he gave $350,000 for an industrial management professorship and four years later he donated $1-million for a metals processing laboratory. In 1950 the Sloan Foundation gave M.I.T. $5.25-million for a School of Industrial Management, subsequently named the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. Mr. Sloan gave the school $1-million for management research in 1952. The foundation also gave M.I.T. $5-million to establish a Center for Advanced Engineering Study, whose students are practicing engineers and professors of engineering. Two years ago Mr. Sloan established the Alfred P. Sloan Fund for Basic Research in the Physical Sciences at M.I.T. The fund included a personal gift of $5-million from Mr. Sloan and an equal amount from his foundation. Last year a similar fund was established at the California Institute of Technology. As a further venture into education, the Sloan Foundation in 1958 established a program under which four-year scholarships are awarded to outstanding college students. Forty- five institutions now participate in the project, in which 600 students are enrolled. In an official biographical sketch issued by Mr. Sloan's office in 1966, his attitude toward philanthropy was outlined. "As chairman of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation," the sketch said, "Mr. Sloan has the responsibility of establishing the fact that every proposed grant is a sound investment in some area of human need, and not in any sense of the word a 'giveaway'; further, that adequate responsibility exists to administer the program intelligently. Here is Mr. Sloan's description of what a foundation should be--a well- organized, efficiently managed business enterprise with a wholesome respect for every dollar at its disposal." A friend once put it more directly, saying, "He's no Scrooge, but he still knows the value of a dollar." In World War II General Motors, under Mr. Sloan's direction, converted its automotive plants to the manufacture of armaments. A total of 102 plants was involved, and from February, 1942, to September, 1945, no automobiles were produced. Reconversion was a back-breaking process, but it was accomplished more smoothly than many observers had predicted, for virtually all G.M. lines were back in civilian production by the end of 1945. After the war General Motors expanded its activities in the household appliance field and in diesel motors. The company also developed overseas plants and outlets. In 1946 Mr. Sloan stepped down as the company's chief executive officer after 25 years in that post. He remained as chairman of the board until 1956, when he was elected honorary chairman, a position he held until his death. Held Corporate Posts Although Mr. Sloan's business life was centered on General Motors, he was a director of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., the Pullman Company, J. P. Morgan & Co., the Kennecott Copper Corporation, the Johns Manville Corporation and the Braden Copper Company. In retirement, Mr. Sloan turned his mind to writing a book. "My Years With General Motors" was published in 1964 by Doubleday. A documented insider's story of the management of General Motors. It sold more than 50,000 hard-cover copies. In it, he told why one management is successful and another is not. "The causes of success or failure are deep and complex," he wrote, "and chance plays a part. Experience has convinced me, however, that for those who are responsible for a business, two important factors are motivation and opportunity. The former is supplied in good part by incentive compensation, the latter by decentralization." Mr. Sloan also took time to reply to critics of General Motors and its success. "General Motors has become what it is because of its people and the way they work together, and because of the opportunity afforded those people to participate in an enterprise which combined their activities efficiently. "The field was open to all; technical knowledge flows from a common storehouse of scientific progress; the techniques of production are an open book, and the related instruments of production are available to all. The market is world-wide, and there are no favorites except those chosen by the customers." Also in retirement, Mr. Sloan devoted himself to his foundation. He maintained daily hours at its offices, 630 Fifth Avenue. On days when he had no luncheon engagement, he ate in his paneled office. His fare was a homemade sandwich, which he had brought with him, neatly wrapped in paper, in his coat pocket. The office was always brightened by fresh flowers and it contained a portrait of his wife, the former Irene Jackson, whom he married in 1898. She died in 1956. They had no children. In addition to Raymond, Mr. Sloan is survived by two other brothers, Harold S. and Clifford A., both of New York, and sister, Mrs. Katherine Sloan Pratt of Syossett, L.I. A funeral service will be held tomorrow at 11 A.M. in Christ Church Methodist, 520 Park Avenue. There will be no pallbearers. Until the funeral, his body will be at Frank E. Campbell's, Madison Avenue at 81st Street. Burial will be private at St. John's Cemetery, Cold Spring Harbor, L.I. Sloan began his career as a draftsman for the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company. Sloan’s efficiency was soon recognized and the struggling company appointed him president in 1899. Under his supervision, Hyatt bearings became a standard in the automobile industry and the company grew rapidly. In 1916, William Durant, founder of General Motors, purchased Hyatt Roller Bearing and merged it with several other companies under the name United Motors Corporation. He appointed Sloan President of United Motors. By 1918, United Motors became a part of G.M. and Sloan became Vice President in charge of accessories and a member of G.M.’s Executive Committee. In 1923, Sloan became President and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. He developed a management procedure based on a principle of a centralized policy for the corporation coupled with a decentralized administration of the various G.M. divisions. He set up broad principles and goals and encouraged individuality in the management of the division. Under his leadership, G.M. became the world’s largest leading automaker, a position it still holds. Sloan became Chairman of the Board of G.M. in 1937 and retained his title of C.E.O. until 1946. He resigned his chairmanship in 1956, at which time the Board of Directors named him Honorary Chairman. Sloan was known as a tireless worker who spent little time on hobbies or leisure. Yet, he was not above recognizing the needs of others. In 1934 he established the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to provide grants for science and technology research and promoted education and careers in science and technology. He also provided major contributions to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Research Institute. In 1954 the founders of the Flint Cultural Center named the Sloan Museum in his honor. Sloan died on February 16, 1966, at the age of 90.

PicClick Insights - General Motors Scarce Signed Book Alfred Sloan Hardcover Fantastic Autograph PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 1 watcher, 0.1 new watchers per day, 20 days for sale on eBay. Normal amount watching. 0 sold, 1 available.
  •  Best Price -
  •  Seller - 808+ items sold. 0% negative feedback. Great seller with very good positive feedback and over 50 ratings.

People Also Loved PicClick Exclusive