Automotive News - September 15, 2008 - (Page 2)

CONTENTS 94 from the past, 6 looking ahead 1 In the beginning . . . . Horseless carriages spewed fumes and spooked the horses, but supersalesman Billy Durant knew a sure thing when he saw one. He created General Motors in 1908 and began one of the world’s grandest corporate adventures. . . . . . . . 10 © GM Corp. photos 17. Boss Ket: GM’s wizard of the lab Charles Kettering’s boundless curiosity and love of all things mechanical produced a steady stream of innovations, including the self-starter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 18. Bill Knudsen and the rise of Chevy 2. Durant’s wild ride Empire builder Billy Durant cobbled together an automotive empire — then lost it, won it back and lost it again. . . . . . . . 20 After a clash with Henry Ford, William S. Knudsen moved across town to GM and turned the Chevrolet brand into a sales powerhouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 3. Putting it together, brand by brand Billy Durant’s vision was a multifaceted company that could offer a vehicle for every buyer. During the early years of the 20th century he made a dizzying array of deals that put many of GM’s current brands in his stable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 19. Order from chaos: The Sloan era As the auto business boomed after World War I, GM got too complex for Billy Durant’s frenetic management style. Alfred Sloan’s reorganization plan gave birth to the structure of the modern corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 4. Henry Leland: Precision and luxury Machinist Henry Leland, founder of Cadillac, achieved manufacturing precision that became a world benchmark. He founded two luxury brands — Cadillac and Lincoln – but took his lumps in the corporate world. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 20. Locking in the talent A clever 1923 plan by Alfred Sloan induced GM’s best and brightest to invest in GM’s future and ignore those tempting job offers from across town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 21 A new model every year . 5. The Ford deal that fell apart Billy Durant came within a whisker of adding Ford Motor Co. to the GM family. But Henry Ford wanted $2 million in cash up front, and Durant’s skeptical bankers wouldn’t provide it. . . . 30 Alfred Sloan was smart enough to know that a car isn’t just a ride; it’s a symbol of affluence and status. He cashed in on America’s hunger for novelty in the Roaring Twenties by instituting the annual model change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 6. Billy’s buying spree In his carriage-making days, Billy Durant found a way to keep suppliers in line and boost profits through vertical integration: He bought them. He carried on the practice in his auto career, swelling GM’s corporate roster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 22. Birth of the proving ground By the 1920s it no longer was practical to do all auto testing on the streets of Detroit and Flint. So in 1924 GM bought 1,125 acres of hilly farmland 40 miles west of Detroit. Today the Milford Proving Ground covers 4,000 acres. . . . . . . . . 70 7. The Durant era ends Extensive acquisitions meant heavy debt. That was no problem as long as rising sales kept generating cash. But when things got tight in 1920, Billy Durant’s lenders swarmed, and he lost GM for the second and final time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 23. Around the world with Buick How do you prove your car is tough enough? Drive it all the way around the world. Buick did, in 1925, and got some great publicity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 24. An overseas buying binge 8. Cadillac, king of innovation If it was an automotive first, odds are good that it came from Cadillac. Among the breakthroughs: the self-starter, the V-8 and the standard enclosed body. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 General Motors developed an overseas empire by buying established companies. Among them: Vauxhall in England, Opel in Germany, Holden in Australia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 25. Kettering University: A talent farm 9. C.S. Mott: A giant from Flint Charles Stewart Mott got rich making axles for GM, then used his wealth for the public good. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 In 1919, Charles Kettering helped found the school that would provide much of General Motors’ engineering talent. . . . . . 76 26. GM in Japan 10. Chevrolet: The racer, the brand After Billy Durant lost GM in 1910, he needed another car company to get back in the game. His partnership with racer Louis Chevrolet led to a corporate comeback and the birth of one of the world’s best-selling auto brands. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 General Motors got a strong, early start in the country that would produce its most formidable competitors. But nationalism and a world war got in the way. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 27. Moving the metal: A retail network GM’s distribution system became a benchmark. . . . . . . . . 80 1 1. Walter Chrysler becomes a rival Railroad mechanic Walter Chrysler rose to star status at GM, then went out on his own to head one of the world’s great auto companies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 28. Harley Earl and the rise of design With the arrival of Harley Earl in 1927, styling shifted from merely an engineer’s afterthought to an important part of developing and selling vehicles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 12. ‘Body by Fisher’: A family affair 6 sons of an Ohio carriage maker became a vital part of the GM tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 29. Riding out the Depression When the Great Depression chilled the nation’s economy, GM laid off workers and closed plants, but still managed to make a profit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 13. GMAC and the rise of credit Suddenly, buying a car didn’t require saving for one — and sales soared. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 30. Planes and trains, too GM didn’t just make cars; it was a major player in the railroad and aviation industries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 14. GM’s research powerhouse From humble beginnings in an Ohio barn, GM’s r&d organization became one of the nation’s foremost centers for scientific research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 31. Ford vs. Chevy Like all great rivalries, the annual bare-knuckles brawl between Ford and Chevrolet for the U.S. sales title is a mixture of respect, animosity and good stories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 15. Leading the way in the lab It’s no surprise, given the company’s size, that many of the most important innovations in the auto industry came from GM. Here’s a partial list. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 32. Grudgingly, GM accepts the UAW After a bitter strike in 1936-37, General Motors bowed to the inevitable: Workers would have collective bargaining rights and a say in plant conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 16. DuPont and the great transition In 1920, at age 50, Pierre DuPont wanted to set aside the stressful life of a corporate executive and work in his garden. But the DuPont family had a huge investment in GM, which needed a guiding hand after the departure of Billy Durant. So DuPont delayed his gardening and went back to work, as GM’s chairman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 33. Bill Mitchell, a styling giant Designer Bill Mitchell came to GM in December 1935 and made his mark less than two years later with an automotive classic: the 1938 Cadillac Sixty Special. It was the first of many triumphs in a 42-year GM career. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 September 15, 2008 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

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Automotive News - September 15, 2008

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