| | '''General Motors''' (GM) automobile manufacturing company was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, and rose to become the world's leading auto manufacturers from the 1920s to 2008, with plants in the [[United States]], [[Canada]] and [[Europe]]. In 2006, over 9 million GM cars and trucks were sold. Since then a series of massive losses have brought GM into bankruptcy. Where once it had a 50% share of the market for new vehicles in the United States, the company hopes at best to at least hang on to its current 18% share in the face of fierce competition from Asian makers, and a [[Recession of 2008|recession]] that has forced millions of people to postpone major purchases. GM in July 2009 emerged from bankruptcy after 40 days having shed many debts, dealer, employees, and plants, kept alive with government loans and the hope that it will have electric cars on the road and find its niche market. From 2010-2013, it was owned and operated by the U.S. government as a "bail-out," but the government sold the last of its shares in the company in 2013.<ref>https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/12/09/government-treasury-gm-general-motors-tarp-bailout-exit-sale/3925515/</ref> | | '''General Motors''' (GM) automobile manufacturing company was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, and rose to become the world's leading auto manufacturers from the 1920s to 2008, with plants in the [[United States]], [[Canada]] and [[Europe]]. In 2006, over 9 million GM cars and trucks were sold. Since then a series of massive losses have brought GM into bankruptcy. Where once it had a 50% share of the market for new vehicles in the United States, the company hopes at best to at least hang on to its current 18% share in the face of fierce competition from Asian makers, and a [[Recession of 2008|recession]] that has forced millions of people to postpone major purchases. GM in July 2009 emerged from bankruptcy after 40 days having shed many debts, dealer, employees, and plants, kept alive with government loans and the hope that it will have electric cars on the road and find its niche market. From 2010-2013, it was owned and operated by the U.S. government as a "bail-out," but the government sold the last of its shares in the company in 2013.<ref>https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/12/09/government-treasury-gm-general-motors-tarp-bailout-exit-sale/3925515/</ref> |
| − | | + | More so than the other car manufacturers in the [[Big Three]], General Motors has bet heavily on the [[electric car]] market and, as of 2023, had stumbled in trying to ramp up production of electric vehicles.<ref>https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/lengthy-uaw-strike-could-buy-gm-time-to-address-nagging-ev-issues/ar-AA1gQrEo?ocid=00000000&cvid=b71168e4b46a466aa89318f639d6b732&ei=36</ref> |
| | General Motors was originally formed by joining several independent companies: the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, owned by Ransom E. Olds, (maker of the [[Oldsmobile]]); Cadillac Automobile Company owned by Henry M. Leland; Buick Motor Company, founded by David Dunbar Buick, and the Oakland Motor Car Co, the original maker of the Pontiac. | | General Motors was originally formed by joining several independent companies: the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, owned by Ransom E. Olds, (maker of the [[Oldsmobile]]); Cadillac Automobile Company owned by Henry M. Leland; Buick Motor Company, founded by David Dunbar Buick, and the Oakland Motor Car Co, the original maker of the Pontiac. |