Wikipedia

Chevrolet

American automobile division of GM

Chevrolet, also known as Chevy, and formally the Chevrolet Division of the General Motors Company, is a car company owned by General Motors. Chevrolet is known for producing popular, affordable cars. An example is the infamous Corvette.

Chevrolet Motor Division
IndustryAutomotive
FoundedNovember 3, 1911; 111 years ago (1911-11-03)
FounderArthur Chevrolet, Louis Chevrolet, and William C. Durant
FateBought by General Motors in 1918
HeadquartersDetroit, Michigan, U.S.
Louis Chevrolet racing in 1910

HistoryEdit

1910s to 1930sEdit

Chevrolet was founded on November 3rd, 1911 by race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet (who was 32 at the time) along with Arthur Chevrolet, William C. Durant, William Little, James H. Whiting, Dr. Edwin R. Campbell, and R.S. McLaughlin. The company was formerly named "Chevrolet Motor Company" during the time it was founded. The first ever factory created by the Chevrolet Motor Company was located in Flint, Michigan. The place is now called Chevy Commons, which is a 60 acre land.

The first ever Chevrolet that was put into production was the Chevrolet Series C Classic Six, which had a 299 cubic inch engine producing 40 horsepower. It also came with a base price of $2,250 at the time. The car was originally drawn by Etienne Planche. However, there were no 1911-1912 models due to Chevrolet releasing the first pre-production model months before it was incorporated. It was then shown at the 1913 New York Auto show. Chevrolet's logo at the time was a "bow-tie" emblem with the words "Chevrolet" inscribed into it along with two horizontal lines at the top and bottom in a light blue color. The logo was first used on the Chevrolet Series H and the Chevrolet Light Six. Speculations say that the logo might have originated from a French Hotel, a logo that gave inspirations for Chevrolet from the 'Coalettes" company. Over the years, the bow-tie emblem was used in different colors, each representing the type of vehicle (A blue version for passenger vehicles, gold for full-size trucks, and red for high-performance versions of existing vehicles). The logos were united 19 years ago in 2004 to avoid confusion with the logos of Ford and Dodge, Chevrolet's two rivals.

In 1916, Chevrolet had enough profit to allow Durant to become General Motors' president due to the high sales of the Chevrolet Series 490, selling approximately 800,000 sales at the time. Then, in 1918, Chevrolet merged into General Motors as a division of GM. One year later in 1919, Chevrolet produced more factories at New York (state), Ohio, Missouri, California, and Canada (Ontario). In 1919, cars from GMC (Originally called Grabowsky Motors Corporation) were rebadged as Chevrolets with the exact same chassis as the Chevrolets. In 1921, the headquarters for Chevrolet were relocated from 57th and Broadway to the Cadillac Place in Detroit. Chevrolet continued throughout the years competing with Ford, Dodge, and Plymouth (automobile), which was founded in 1928 by Walter Chrysler. Chevy, Ford, and Plymouth were called the "Low-Priced Three" due to how inexpensive their automobiles were. In 1929, Chevrolet was ahead of Ford due to the new-at-the-time "Chevrolet Stovebolt engine" 6-cylinder engine, while Ford was still using a flathead 4-cylinder engine for their vehicles. 4 years later in 1933, Chevrolet sold the cheapest six-cylinder car at the time, the Chevrolet Standard Six. During the Great Depression, three cars that Chevrolet newly produced, which were the Chevrolet Master (Introduced a streamline like appearance), Chevrolet Deluxe, and Chevrolet Fleetline, which were very popular with many buyers during the period.

1950s to 1990sEdit

Chevrolet's growth and influence on the American Automobile Market was during this time. This influence was caused by cars like the Chevrolet Corvette, it's first fuel injected engine on the 1953-1962 Chevrolet Corvette and Chevrolet Bel Air (Rochester Ramjet option) with a cost of $484 at the time, and joining the "compact" segment of the automobile market with the Chevrolet Corvair. In 1963, approximately one-tenth of every automobile in the United States was a Chevrolet. During the 60s and 70s, Chevrolet released even more revolutionary cars like the Chevrolet Impala (Today, the Impala still holds the world record for the most number of cars sold in a year, which is more than 1 million units/cars in 1965), the Mid-Sized Chevrolet Chevelle and Chevrolet Monte Carlo, cheap-priced Chevrolet Chevy II / Chevrolet Nova, and the middle-end Chevrolet Camaro muscle car. These cars were extremely popular and successful during the time for many reasons, one of them including different variants (sedans, station wagons, sporty coupes, and convertibles). Due to the 1973 oil crisis, Chevrolet introduced the Chevrolet Vega and the Chevrolet Chevette. During the 80s, Chevrolet borrowed many Japanese models and rebadged them due to the lack of small cars. Examples included the Isuzu Gemini and Suzuki Cultus, which were competitors to the popular Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. During the 90s, Chevrolet and Toyota partnered to produce the Geo Prizm and the Chevrolet Corsica. More cars that were introduced were the Chevrolet Lumina, Chevrolet Venture, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, and the 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS.

2000s to 2020sEdit

During the 2000s, Chevrolet brought back the 2000-2005 Chevrolet Impala, launched the Chevrolet Marque in Europe in 2005 (18 years ago), produced the Chevrolet Volt (which received many awards during release and is currently the world's best-selling plug-in hybrid) and Chevrolet Bolt.

ModelsEdit

CurrentEdit

Some of these vehicles also come, or used to come in, hybrid-electric versions.

DiscontinuedEdit

Other websitesEdit

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