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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Learn about how General Motors dismantled America's streetcars

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.

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.

How Standard Oil created Chevron and ExxonMobil

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

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

The Coca-Cola Company also owns Sprite, Smartwater, and many more brands

Explore the brands owned by Estée Lauder Companies

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

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

Abandoned Detroit: the decline of America's car mecca

How Cadillac joined F1 as the first new team in a decade

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.

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

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.

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.

Auto and consumer goods companies absorbed billions in costs due to President Trump's 2025 tariffs.

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

These famous brands used to have different names

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

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

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 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.

Even iconic companies can get dropped from the Dow

As of January 2025, Tesla is the second best-selling EV company in the world

Henry Ford built a plastic car from soybeans in 1941

Wealthy Americans are keeping car dealerships afloat

BYD Auto is the largest EV maker in China, overtaking Tesla

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

Many of luxury holding company LVMH's acquisitions were due to chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault's search for undervalued companies.

See every brand that LVMH—the world's largest luxury goods holding company—owns, from luxury fashion and jewelry brands like Tiffany & Co., Fendi, and Louis Vuitton to beauty supply store Sephora and the hotel group Belmond.

LVMH's roughly 75 brands are categorized into six distinct business groups

Tesla's production of a high-performance electric vehicle revived the EV industry

GE’s removal marked the end of an era for the Dow

Explore a list of well-known monopolies