Although he didn't create General Motors, Alfred Sloan is widely credited with GM's massive success and is often considered one of the best American businessmen of all time.

Listen to a recap of Alfred Sloan's autobiography, titled 'My Years with General Motors.'

Listen to the story of how General Motors beat out the Ford Motor Company to become the largest car manufacturer by 1931.

Longtime General Motors CEO Alfred Sloan used the motto 'a car for every purse and purpose' to represent the value of having multiple car brands with different target audiences under one company.

Owning a large catalog of brands with distinct purposes and customer bases helped General Motors overtake Ford Motor Company as America's leading car manufacturer, something that still sets the company apart today.

Read the founding story of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, named after longtime General Motors CEO Alfred P. Sloan and research director Charles Kettering.

In 1919, General Motors created the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) to offer car loans and payment plans, revolutionizing America's relationship with debt by offering one of the very first buy now, pay later programs.

See a timeline of important moments in General Motors' history, including its early automatic innovations in creating electrical systems in cars and the birth of the American muscle car in 1964.

Charles Kettering, the person who invented the electric starter on cars, helped develop the diesel locomotive engine while working as head researcher at General Motors.

Read what professors at Harvard Business School think led to General Motors' 2009 bankruptcy.

After being the country's largest automaker by sales volume for nearly 100 years, Toyota surpassed General Motors as the top automobile manufacturer in the US—representing a shift in the American economy that once heavily depended on domestic manufacturing.

Despite founding General Motors, one of the most successful car companies in the world, William Durant lost his multimillion-dollar fortune before he died.

Listen to a reflection on General Motors' role in American life.

General Motors President Charles Wilson is often quoted as saying, 'What's good for General Motors is good for America,' in 1953—but a closer examination of the records reveals a different message.

See a timeline of the US government's investments and restructuring efforts of General Motors following the Great Recession.

One of Henry Ford's early failed business ventures later became Cadillac

Henry Ford pioneered the first moving assembly line, building on earlier iterations of the manufacturing method

Learn about how General Motors dismantled America's streetcars

After delisting and going private for nearly two years in the midst of the Great Recession, General Motors went public for the second time in 2010 in what was then the largest IPO in history.

Mary Barra became the first female CEO of General Motors in 2014, making her the first woman to hold the office in the largely male-dominated automobile industry overall.

Motown Records used an assembly-line approach to songwriting, inspired by founder Berry Gordy's time at Ford Motor Company.

In 1965, consumer advocate Ralph Nader released 'Unsafe At Any Speed,' a scandalous exposé on the risks of cars, prompting backlash from leading automakers including General Motors, which gave way to some of the earliest automobile regulations.

One of Henry Ford's early vehicle prototypes broke an all-time speed record and got him the money to start Ford Motor Company

Watch someone drive a Model T Ford, which feels like driving 'a tractor with the soul of a sewing machine'—and learn how to operate one.

After investing more than $10B in less than 10 years, General Motors abandoned its controversial robotaxi development efforts in 2024.

The Model T's simple but functional design helped the car become popular

Abandoned Detroit: the decline of America's car mecca

During one large strike, 9,000 General Motors workers walked out for 54 days in 1998 over management's decision to hire outside contractors for equipment removal and fears of widespread job losses.

Read how Fordism helped invent the American middle class

Henry Ford built a plastic car from soybeans in 1941

In 2023, the United Auto Workers launched the 'Stand Up Strike,' a six-week strike against all of the 'Big Three' automakers, to bargain for cost-of-living pay increases, end a tiered workforce structure, and more.

Robber barons grew monopolies over their respective industries through a combination of aggressive vertical and horizontal integration strategies.

'Profits made out of the distress of the people are always much smaller than profits made out of the most lavish service of the people at the lowest prices that competent management can make possible.'

See Walt Disney's corporate strategy document from 1957, complete with a plethora of Mickey Mouse illustrations.

Tesla's lack of business savvy and inability to commercialize led to his obscurity

Listen to an overview of the Gilded Age and the robber barons—including some of the most famous figures from the time and their lasting impact on American society and the economy.

Ray Kroc proposed the idea of franchising McDonald's as a way to sell more of his Multimixers 7 years before buying the McDonald's brothers out of the company for $2.7M.

David Ogilvy—one of history's most famous and influential advertising executives—wrote multiple books, including 'Ogilvy on Advertising,' a career memoir full of his favorite copywriting advice.

Some of the robber barons, including Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, were among America's greatest philanthropists.

BYD overcame Tesla via state backing, cheaper cars, and vertical integration

Standard Oil used vertical integration to create an empire

Adolf Hitler deeply admired Henry Ford, citing him as an inspiration for "Mein Kampf"

Wealthy Americans are keeping car dealerships afloat

Learn about the relationship between Thomas Edison and Henry Ford

Over-the-air updates, pioneered by Tesla, have become the industry standard

In 1965, Warren Buffett took over Berkshire Hathaway, a failing textile company

In February 2014, General Motors recalled more than 2.6 million cars—part of a record 30 million vehicles it recalled that year—over faulty ignition switches that had caused multiple deaths, ultimately costing the company more than $4B in repair costs, victim compensation, and other expenses.

Walt Disney's visit to a Ford factory helped inspire the layout for Disneyland

How Standard Oil created Chevron and ExxonMobil

George Pullman popularized tipping in the US with his Pullman sleeping car business

Despite meeting as ambulance drivers in WWI, Ray Kroc and Walt Disney weren't the driving forces behind McDonald's and Disney's numerous business partnerships.