The largest of the Detroit "Big Three," General Motors (GM) was founded by William C. Durant on September 16th, 1908. Prior to the formation of GM, Durant had bought out Buick Motor Company in 1904 and 4 years later attempted to merge it with Ford Motor Company, and a few other companies that have long since faded into the pages of history before forming GM.
General Motors was formed by Durant for the purpose of created one large corporation that could cover the car market from top to bottom. Below are the car companies bought out by Durant and the coniciding years:
- Buick Motor Company (1904)
- Oldsmobile Motor Company (1908)
- Oakland Motor Company/Pontiac (1909)
- Cadillac Automobile Company (1909)
- Ford Motor Company (1909; No, it obviously wasn't bought out...it almost was, but bankers rejected the deal)
- Rapid Motor Vehicle Company/GMC (1909)
- Chevrolet (1915; Holding company, there were a few companies made by Durant when he lost control of GM for a time, they were all swallowed up by GM once he regained power, and I'm not going to detail them here since Durant was trying to make another GM which was called, Durant Motors)
- Saturn (1989; Created by GM as competition to Japanese imports)
- Saab (199x; Saab was going bankrupt)
- Isuzu (1999; GM owns 49% of the company)
- Subaru (200x; GM owns 33% of the company)
Sources
Hendry, Maurice. Cadillac - Standard of the World - The Complete 75 Year History. Princton: Princton Publishing Inc. 1973.
http://www.automuseum.com/