Chevrolet History
For all Chevrolet fans and aficionados, here is a brief history of the Chevrolet automobile company for your information.
November 1911: Chevrolet Motor Company of Michigan is incorporated by Louis Chevrolet, William Little and Edwin Cambell, William Durant's son-in-law. Headquarters are in Detroit.
September 13, 1915: Durant incorporates the Chevrolet Motor Co. of Delaware. This new corporation includes the original Chevrolet Motor Company. It becomes a holding company for the automobile companies Durant put together after he lost control of GM
1916: Durant announces Chevrolet owns 54.5% of GM's outstanding shares. He takes over as GM president from Charles W. Nash (he'd been GM president from 1912 to 1916)
May 1918: General Motors purchases the operating assets of Chevrolet Motor Company
1921: GM proceeds with commercial application of Kettering's 'copper-cooled' engine, which is intended as a replacement for the traditional piston engine and to install it in all of Chevrolet Division's cars. The program officially terminated in 1923. There were fewer than 800 copper-cooled engines ever produced. Only 300 were sold to dealers, of which all are recalled by GM.
1923: General Motor's first European assembly plant is established in Copenhagen, Denmark under the name General Motors International A/S. It is to build Chevrolets to sell in Scandinavian countries, the Baltics, and Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary and Russia. The first General Motors vehicle assembled outside the U.S. and Canada is a Chevrolet utility truck, which rolls off the Copenhagen assembly line on Jan 7, 1924.
1924: William S. Knudsen is elected president of Chevrolet and joins the GM Board of Directors.
1929: Chevrolet introduces the new 6-cylinder engine for commercial vehicles, nicknamed 'the cast iron wonder' for its remarkable durability.
1935: Chevrolet introduces the half ton Suburban Carryall, a truck with seating capacity for 8.
1950: The Powerglide transmission is introduced, as Chevrolet becomes the first competitor to offer fully automatic shifting in the low-price field.
1953: The Corvette, the first volume production sports car and the first production car with a plastic body is introduced.
1954: Chevrolet introduces the small-block V-8 engine for 1955 trucks.
1958: The El Camino is introduced as a 1959 model. It is designed to combine the comfort of a big car with the utility of a pickup truck.
1959: The Corvair is introduced by Chevrolet.
As part of the 1962 model year, the Chevy II, a new line of smaller cars, is introduced.
1962: The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice charges General Motors and 3 Chevrolet dealer trade associations with criminal and civil lawsuits for violating the Sherman Act. This was for restricting Chevrolet sales in the Los Angeles area to discount houses.
1963: Chevrolet introduces its mid-size Malibu 1964 model.
1966: The F-body Camaro introduced as a 1967 model. The U.S. District Court for S. California enters its final judgment enjoining GM from conspiring with any group or association of Chevrolet dealers for limiting sales by dealers, through discount houses or referral services.
1968: Six truck and passenger car assembly plants which were previously operated by Fisher Body and Chevrolet Motor Division are then transferred to the management of General Motors Assembly Division.
1969: Chevrolet announces discontinuation of Corvair production.
October 1975: Chevrolet introduces the Chevette. This T-car, first designed by Opel is also manufactured by General Motors subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil and England. It is sold under the names Kadett, Chevette, Gemini and K-180.
September 1976: General Motors introduces its downsized Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillacs.
1979: General Motors introduces front-wheel-drive compacts, the Buick Skylark, Chevrolet Citation, Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix X-body models.
1981: General Motor's new worldwide Truck & Bus Group is formed. Their responsibility is for the design, engineering, manufacture, sales and service of all General Motors trucks, vans and buses in North America and worldwide.
1982: Truck manufacturing and assembly operations of GM Assembly Division, Chevrolet Motor Division, as well as GMC Truck and Coach Division are merged. They now form Truck & Bus Manufacturing Division with the headquarters for both located in Pontiac, Michigan.
1983: General Motors and Toyota agree to form a joint venture. The New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) will produce a small Chevrolet automobile in the Fremont, California assembly plant.
1984: Chevrolet Corvette 1984 model is introduced, with its first major styling change for 15 years.
1988: Chevrolet Geo line of small vehicles is introduced, with Geo Metro, Spectrum and Tracker.
1993: General Motors and Toyota sign an unprecedented supply and sales agreement where GM will build right-hand drive Chevrolet Cavaliers in the U.S. and Toyota will purchase them from GM to sell in Japan.
2001: Chevrolet Cruze launched in Japan. Developed by General Motors with its alliance partner Suzuki, the Cruze is the first GM vehicle to be built in Japan since the 1930s.
It is announced by General Motors that its Ste. Therese, plant in Quebec, which builds the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird will close in Sept 2002 in conjunction with the Camaro and Firebird models being discontinued.
2002: Chevrolet Corvette celebrates its 50th anniversary.
2003: GM announces the 2005 model year GMC Envoy XL, Envoy XUV and Chevrolet trailblazer EXT will be the first vehicles to showcase its Displacement on Demand fuel-saving technology. This is said to enhance fuel economy without compromising performance or heavy load carrying ability. Displacement on Demand will be a standard feature in these vehicles' optional Vortec 5300 V-8 engine. This technology, which boosts the Vortec engine's fuel efficiency by 8%, is also set to be introduced in other GM engines in the 2006 model year.
General Motors Powertrain introduces the new Ecotec 2.4-litre 4-cylinder engine. This is set to be available on the all-new 2005 model year Chevrolet Cobalt. By bringing variable valve timing to the Ecotec engines for the first time, the Ecotec 2.4-litre engine offers improved low-end torque and lower emissions than the 2.2-litre version.
2004: For a record 6th time, Chevrolet Corvette is chosen as the official pace car for the classic Indianapolis 500 race.
General Motors introduces the world's first full-size hybrid pickup truck to Miami-Dade County during the 10th National Clean Cities Conference. The hybrid Chevrolet Silverado produces up to 12% fuel economy improvement over comparable pickups. This gives it the best highway fuel economy of any full-size truck on the market. Also scheduled to go on sale in the fall are hybrid versions of both the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Silverado pickup.
Source: General Motors Corporation
Chevrolet Trucks
