Chevrolet (/vrle/ shev-r-LAY), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the

Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of

the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet and ousted General
Motors founder William C. Durant started the company on November 3, 1911 [2] as the
Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a
controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918 and
propelled himself back to the GM presidency. After Durant's second ousting in 1919, Alfred
Sloan, with his maxim "a car for every purse and purpose," would pick the Chevrolet brand to
become the volume leader in the General Motors family, selling mainstream vehicles to
compete with Henry Ford's Model T in 1919 and overtaking Ford as the best-selling car in the
United States by 1929.[3]
Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide, with the notable
exception of Oceania, where GM is represented by its Australian subsidiary, Holden. In 2005,
Chevrolet was relaunched in Europe, primarily selling vehicles built by GM Daewoo of
South Korea with the tagline "Daewoo has grown up enough to become Chevrolet", a move
rooted in General Motors' attempt to build a global brand around Chevrolet. With the
reintroduction of Chevrolet to Europe, GM intended Chevrolet to be a mainstream value
brand, while GM's traditional European standard-bearers, Opel of Germany, and Vauxhall of
England would be moved upmarket.[4] However, GM reversed this move in late 2013,
announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe, with the exception of the
Camaro and Corvette[5] in 2016. Chevrolet vehicles will continue to be marketed in the CIS
states, including Russia. After General Motors fully acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create
GM Korea, the last usage of the Daewoo automotive brand was discontinued in its native
South Korea and succeeded by Chevrolet.
In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact
automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the prominence and name
recognition of Chevrolet as one of General Motors' global marques, Chevrolet, Chevy or
Chev is used at times as a synonym for General Motors or its products, one example being
the GM LS1 engine, commonly known by the name or a variant thereof of its progenitor, the
Chevrolet small-block engine.

Contents

1 History

2 International operations

3 Vehicle models

4 Sport

5 Marketing

6 Watches

7 See also

8 Notes

9 References

10 External links

History

First logo of the company (1911).

On November 3, 1911, Swiss race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet cofounded the Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit with William C. Durant and investment
partners William Little (maker of the Little automobile), James H. Whiting,[6] Dr. Edwin R.
Campbell (son-in-law of Durant) and in 1912 R. S. McLaughlin CEO of General Motors in
Canada.
Durant was cast out from the management of General Motors in 1910 for five years. He took
over the Flint Wagon Works, incorporating the Mason and Little companies. As head of
Buick Motor Company prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Louis Chevrolet to drive
Buicks in promotional races.[7] Durant planned to use Chevrolet's reputation as a racer as the
foundation for his new automobile company. The first factory location was in Flint, Michigan
at the corner of Wilcox and Kearsley Street, now known as "Chevy Commons" at coordinates
43.0086339N 83.7099114W, along the Flint River, across the street from Kettering
University.
Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six, was drawn up by
Etienne Planche, following instructions from Louis. The first C prototype was ready months
before Chevrolet was actually incorporated. However the first actual production wasn't until
the 1913 model. So in essence there were no 1911 or 1912 production models, only the 1 preproduction model was made and fine tuned throughout the early part of 1912. Then in the fall
of that year the new 1913 model was introduced at the New York auto show.

The "bowtie" emblem, introduced in 1913.

1929 Chevrolet Firebrigade, Porto

Chevrolet first used the "bowtie emblem"[8] logo in 1914 on the H series models (Royal Mail
and Baby Grand) and The L Series Model (Light Six). It may have been designed from
wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel room.[9] More recent research by historian Ken
Kaufmann presents a case that the logo is based on a logo of the "Coalettes" coal company.[10]
[11]
An example of this logo as it appeared in an advertisement for Coalettes appeared in the
Atlanta Constitution on November 12, 1911.[12] Others claim that the design was a stylized
Swiss cross, in tribute to the homeland of Chevrolet's parents.[13] Over time, Chevrolet would
use several different iterations of the bowtie logo at the same time, often using blue for
passenger cars, gold for trucks, and an outline (often in red) for cars that had performance
packages. Chevrolet eventually unified all vehicle models with the gold bowtie in 2004, for
both brand cohesion as well as to differentiate itself from Ford (with its blue oval logo) and
Dodge (who has often used red for its imaging), its two primary domestic rivals.[14]
Louis Chevrolet had differences with Durant over design and in 1914 sold Durant his share in
the company. By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough with successful sales of the cheaper
Series 490 to allow Durant to repurchase a controlling interest in General Motors. After the
deal was completed in 1917, Durant became president of General Motors, and Chevrolet was
merged into GM as a separate division. In 1919, Chevrolet's factories were located at Flint,
Michigan; branch assembly locations were located in Tarrytown, N.Y., Norwood, Ohio, St.
Louis, Missouri, Oakland, California, Ft. Worth, Texas, and Oshawa, Ontario General Motors
of Canada Limited. McLaughlin's were given GM Corporation stock for the proprietorship of
their Company article Sept. 23, 1933 Financial Post page 9.[15] In the 1918 model year,
Chevrolet introduced the Series D, a V8-powered model in four-passenger roadster and fivepassenger tourer models. Sales were poor and it was dropped in 1919.
Beginning also in 1919, GMC commercial grade trucks were rebranded as Chevrolet, and
using the same chassis of Chevrolet passenger cars and building light-duty trucks. GMC
commercial grade trucks were also rebranded as Chevrolet commercial grade trucks, sharing
an almost identical appearance with GMC products.
2008 GMC Sierra