Gm biography

His short 4-year tenure highlighted the need for strategic changes at GM regarding compact cars and consumer safety assurances. Richard C. Gerstenberg stepped into the CEO role in when America's automotive giant faced heavy pressures, including new emissions controls regulations and high inflation straining sales. Through his short tenure, Gerstenberg pursued ambitious expansions including acquisitions of key manufacturers to gain non-automotive sources of revenue.

By lateGerstenberg handed over leadership as a reluctant auto industry entered the uncharted territory of significantly boosted fuel-efficiency standards. Thomas A. Murphy took GM's wheel during deeply troubled times in latewith soaring inflation and gasoline prices stemming from oil embargoes devastating US auto sales. Facing relentless pressures, Murphy cut costs drastically via layoffs and plant closings while acquiring Electronic Data Systems to diversify GM's sagging revenues.

However, GM's slumping US market share ultimately rebounded partly due to Murphy's key support for renewed emphasis on smaller, fuel-efficient cars to meet changing consumer demands.

Gm biography: Under the leadership of William C.

Though GM's strength remained significantly sapped after historic losses during his term, Murphy did guide the firm's realignment with societal shifts through tumultuous economic conditions in the s. Murphy captained GM during uniquely harsh storms for US automakers, making tough choices to transform operations while sailing into unexpected modern regulatory and consumer headwinds.

Roger B. Smith took the CEO reins at GM infacing intense Japanese auto import competition plus a punishing recession threatening Detroit's industry foundations. To retool GM's aging car lines, Smith invested heavily in automation and radical reorganization, though his sweeping changes brought extensive job losses sparking resentment. Dogged by strong criticism of his costly restructuring and shift from GM's manufacturing core, Smith retired in just as sinking US market share signaled significant strategic problems ahead.

Smith led GM through a pivotal decade that brutally transformed both the firm's operations and American automaking jobs to brace against fiercer global market forces. InGM engineer Robert Stempel stepped into the CEO role already beset by heightened global competition and consumer concerns over automobile defects. Despite GM pushing flex-fuel vehicles and electric car research as progress, Stempel's tenure sank as oil prices soared and consumers flocked to Japanese cars with higher reliability scores.

Frustrated losses and sliding market share shares led GM's board to oust Stempel in amid concerns of sinking too much funding into EV models while strained managers struggled. Stempel's brief term saw once-dominant GM the target of increased consumer agitation and disaffection culminating in 's Board rebellion. After she quickly showed promise as a leader, GM awarded her a fellowship to earn a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.

Inshe became Executive Director of Vehicle Manufacturing Engineering at GM, where she integrated six independent groups into one operation in order to streamline product development. She served as Vice President of Global Human Resources for two gm biographies, changing outdated policies and redefining leadership development, compensation, and benefits at the company.

Beginning inBarra led the Global Product Development Division, where she was responsible for overseeing design, engineering, purchasing, supply chain and logistics. Retrieved December 11, General Motors. Archived from the original on December 16, Retrieved December 10, Archived from the original on February 5, Retrieved February 6, Archived from the original on December 14, Helsinki Times.

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Archived from the original on November 8, Retrieved November 29, Archived from the original on June 13, Retrieved June 13, Archived from the original on October 25, Sloan Jr. Hertzjoined the board of directors of GM; it acquired the remainder of the company in Inthe company introduced the Pontiac brand and established the General Motors Group Insurance Program to provide life gm biography to its employees.

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. GM acquired Allison Engine Company [ 16 ] [ 38 ] and began developing a 1, horsepower liquid-cooled aircraft engine in In the lates, Charles Kettering embarked on a program to develop a lightweight two-stroke diesel engine for possible usage in automobiles.

InGM acquired Packard Electric [ 16 ] [ 41 ] not to be confused with the Packard car company, which merged with Studebaker years later. In Flint, police attempted to enter the plant to arrest strikers, leading to violence; in other cities, the plants were shuttered peacefully. Walter E. Jominy and A. Boegehold of GM invented the Jominy end-quench test for hardenability of carbon steel ina breakthrough in heat treating still in use today as ASTM A Inthe company founded Motors Insurance Corporation and entered the vehicle insurance market.

InGM's William S. Knudsen served as head of U. Politically, Sloan, as head of GM at the time, was an ardent opponent of the New Dealwhich bolstered labor unions and public transport. Sloan admired and supported Adolf Hitler. Eisenhower as United States Secretary of Defense. In DecemberGM acquired Euclid Trucksa manufacturer of heavy equipment for earthmovingincluding dump trucksloaders and wheel tractor-scraperswhich later spawned the Terex brand.

Alfred P. Sloan retired as chairman and was succeeded by Albert Bradley in April InGM introduced the first ever turbocharged production car in the world in the Oldsmobile Cutlass Turbo-Jetfire. The company used the mark as their main corporate identifier until GM released the Electrovan inthe first hydrogen fuel cell car ever produced. In the s, GM was an early proponent of V6 enginesbut quickly lost interest as the popularity of muscle cars increased.

GM demonstrated gas turbine vehicles powered by kerosenean area of interest throughout the industry, but abandoned the alternative engine configuration due to the oil crisis. Inthe Oldsmobile Toronado was the first retail car sold with a passenger airbag. Gerstenberg in November GM installed its first catalytic converters in its models.

From toGM 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 V variable-cylinder engines. GM sold Frigidaire in Robert Lee of GM invented the neodymium magnetwhich was fabricated by rapid solidification, in Inin conjunction with AeroVironmentGM built the Sunraycerwhich 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. 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 model year and was available only via lease from certain dealers in California and Arizona.

In —, 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? In NovemberJohn F. Smith Jr. Inin a return to its automotive basics, GM completed the corporate spin-off of Electronic Data Systems. In DecemberGM announced that it would begin phasing out Oldsmobile. The brand was eventually discontinued inseven years after it had become the first American car brand to turn Later, the company debuted another hybrid technology, co-developed with DaimlerChrysler and BMWin diesel-electric hybrid powertrain manufactured by Allison Transmission for transit buses.

GM began adding its " Mark of Excellence " emblem on all new vehicles produced and sold in North America in mid However, after the reorganization inthe company no longer added the logo, saying that emphasis on its four core divisions would downplay the GM logo. InEdward 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,he retired from General Motors after 44 years. He was replaced by Michael Simcoe. InGM introduced a bright yellow fuel cap on its vehicles to remind drivers that cars can operate using E85 ethanol fuel. InGeneral Motors committed to engineering half of its manufacturing plants to be landfill-free by recycling or reusing waste in the manufacturing process.

In latethe world's largest rooftop solar power installation was installed at GM's manufacturing plant in Zaragoza. The Zaragoza solar installation has about 2, square feetm 2 of roof at the plant and contains about 85, solar panels. The installation was created, owned, and operated by Veolia Environment and Clairvoyant Energy, which leases the rooftop area from GM.

General Motors filed for a government-backed Chapter 11 reorganization on June 8, In Julyafter 40 days of bankruptcy protection, the company emerged from the government-backed General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization. As mandated by its bailout agreement, GM began the process of shedding its poorest-performing brands in June Hummer, Saab, Saturn, and Pontiac.

While GM agreed to shed its underperforming Pontiac brand as part of its bailout agreement, the company explicitly opted not to sell it to another company. GM was more successful in its attempts to sell Saab Automobile : the company closed a sale to Dutch automaker Spyker Cars in February GM's precarious financial situation, exacerbated by impending bankruptce, and the reluctance of the US government rescuers to address overseas issues, left few options.

GM executives stated that SAIC Motor's involvement facilitated access to Chinese banking sector funding, which would have been challenging to secure independently. Akerson replaced him as gm biography, while continuing as CEO, in January InGM introduced the Chevrolet Volt as an extended-range electric vehicle EREVan electric vehicle with backup generators powered by gasoline, a type of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Barra also joined the GM board. In MarchGM acquired Cruisea San Francisco self-driving vehicle start-up, to develop self-driving cars that could be used in ride-sharing fleets. In OctoberGM began production of the Chevrolet Bolt EVthe first-ever mass market all-electric car with a range of more than miles km. On January 8,GM introduced a new logo alongside the tagline "EVerybody in", with the capitalized "EV" as a nod to the company's commitment to electric vehicles.

On January 28,GM announced that it will end production and sales of fossil-fuel vehicles including hybrids and plug-in hybrids by as part of its plan to reach carbon neutrality by InGM announced plans to establish an automotive battery and battery pack laboratory in Michigan. An existing GM facility at Brownstown Township was chosen to be upgraded as a battery pack plant.

In mid, GM abandoned its goal of North American electric vehicle deliveries ofunits from by mid It had previously set the timeline of by end of CEO Mary Barra pointed to failures in the scaling of battery module production while simultaneously blaming lack of consumer demand. LG Chem Ltd. Provided materials to the automaker will be enough for 5 million electric vehicles.

In JanuaryGM announced it would once again manufacture a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle PHEV while it aims to balance supply of battery electric vehicles with demand. On April 15,GM announced that it would relocate its global headquarters from the Renaissance Center to the nearby Hudson's Detroit development in 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. The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is the only entry in the series. InChevrolet became the first brand to reach wins. Holden won the Bathursta record 36 times between and and the Australian Touring Car Championship 23 times.

In NovemberGM and TWG Global reached an agreement in principle to enter the Formula One World Championship under the Cadillac name with the Ferrari engine, [ ] [ ] and would enter as an engine supplier at a later date. Evolution of the GM logo through the years: [ ]. The key trends for GM are as of the financial year ending December 31 : [ ] [ ].

General Motors was the largest global automaker by annual vehicle sales for 77 consecutive years, fromwhen it overtook Ford Motor Companyuntil 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. Inthe third-largest individual country by sales was Brazil, with someGM vehicles sold.

InGeneral Motors sold 6. InGeneral Motors ranked second worldwide with 8. Invehicle sales in China by GM rose The Chevrolet brand was the main contributor to GM performance, with 4. Based on global sales inGeneral Motors was ranked among the world's largest automakers. In MayGM recorded an Annual worldwide sales volume reached 10 million vehicles in Weak product line-up and below par service quality were the reasons for the poor showing by GM in India that year.

Notable members of the board of directors of the company are as follows: [ 2 ]. From until it was terminated inphilanthropic activity was carried out via the General Motors Foundationa c 3 foundation. General Motors has a close relationship with the Nature Conservancy and has fundraised for and donated cash and vehicles to the charity. SinceGM 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.

The — Flint sit-down strike against General Motors changed the 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 inthe 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, focusing on GM's production complex in Flint, Michigan.

Gm biography: The company originated as a

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 Mortimerthe 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 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 BuicksPontiacsand Oldsmobilesand another in Cleveland that produced Chevrolet parts.

Gm biography: The story of General Motors

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, The strikers inside the plant pelted them with hinges, bottles, and bolts. 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. 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. 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 gm biography on February 11,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.

The tool and die strike ofalso known as the "strategy strike", was an ultimately successful attempt by the UAW to be recognized as the gm biography representative for General Motors workers. In addition to representation rights, the UAW, working jointly with the Congress of Industrial Organizations CIOsought to resolve existing grievances of skilled workers.

From November 21,until March 13,days the UAW organized ", hourly workers" to gm biography a US-wide strike against the General Motors Corporationworkers used the tactic of the sit down strike. However, the strike ended with the dissatisfaction of Walter Reuther and the UAW, and the workers received only a The first US-wide strike against GM since 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. Two car assembly plants in Oshawa, Ontario and a transmission facility in Windsor closed on September 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.

On September 15,after talks broke down to renew their contract, which expired earlier that day, the UAW announced that GM employees would begin striking at pm. The strike launched by the UAW was the first strike against all three major American automakers in history. Then-recently elected UAW president Shawn Fain stated that he was "fed up" with the current situation between workers and automakers; Fain specifically blasted the tiered workers system at automakers, failure for automakers to keep wages up with inflation, pensions, as well as the introduction of a four-day workweek as opposed to the five-day workweek.

Between andGM allegedly deliberately monopolized the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines NCL and its subsidiaries, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act ofintending to dismantle streetcar systems in many cities in the United States and make buses, sold by GM, the dominant form of public transport. Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Naderpublished inis 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 — 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 hotand if one inflated the tires equally, as was standard practice for all other cars at the time, the result was dangerous over-steer. In early Marchseveral media outlets, including The New Republic and The New York Timesalleged that GM had tried to discredit Ralph Naderhiring private detectives to tap his phones and investigate his past, and hiring prostitutes to trap him in compromising situations.

Nader's lawsuit against GM was ultimately decided by the New York Court of Appealswhose opinion in the case expanded tort law to cover "overzealous surveillance". NHTSA conducted a series of comparative tests in studying the handling of the Corvair and four contemporary cars — a Ford FalconPlymouth ValiantVolkswagen Beetleand Renault Dauphine — along with a second-generation Corvair with its completely redesigned, independent rear suspension.

The 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. NHTSA went on to contract an independent advisory panel of engineers to review the tests. This review panel concluded that 'the —63 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles used in the tests Journalist David E.

Davis said that despite Nader's claim that swing-axle rear suspension were dangerous, PorscheMercedes-Benzand Volkswagen all used similar swing-axle concepts during that era. InGM along with other multinational corporations was sued by a group of South Africans represented by the Khulumani Support Group. General Motors paid compensation for deaths linked to the faulty switches.

The recall involved about 2. Inthe Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused at least 82 major brands, including General Motors, of being connected to forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang. General Motors has come under criticism for collecting highly detailed driver data and selling the personal information to insurance companies without consumers' consent or knowledge.

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