WORLD BEST CARS SEELING COMPANIES HISTORY

Chevrolet

Type	Division of GM
Industry	Automotive
Founded	November 8, 1911
Founder(s)	Louis Chevrolet, William C. Durant
Headquarters	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Products	Cars, trucks, CUV, SUV
Parent	General Motors Company
Website	Chevrolet.com

Chevrolet (pronounced /ˌʃɛvrəˈleɪ/), also known as Chevy (pronounced /ˈʃɛvi/), is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company (GM). Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 8, 1911,^[1] Chevrolet was acquired by General Motors in 1917. Chevrolet was positioned by Alfred Sloan to sell a lineup of mainstream vehicles to directly compete against Henry Ford's Model T in the 1920s, and continues to hold its position as General Motors' highest-selling brand to the present day, with "Chevrolet" or "Chevy" being at times synonymous with GM. In North America, Chevrolet offers a full range of automobiles, from subcompact cars to medium-duty commercial trucks.

History

North America

Chevy was founded by Louis Chevrolet, a racecar driver and son of Cooper Chevrolet, William Little and Dr. Edwin R Campbell, William Durant's son-in-law. William Durant (founder of General Motors), had been forced from the management of GM in 1910. Durant took over the Flint Wagon Works, incorporating both the Mason and Little companies. Chevrolet Motor Car Co. was incorporated in November 1911. He wanted to use Chevrolet's name as a racer to rebuild his own reputation. As head of Buick Motor Company, prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races.^[2] Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six was drawn up by Etienne Planche, following the instructions of his old friend Louis. The first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was actually incorporated.

Chevrolet first used its "Bowtie emblem"^[3] logo in 1913. It is said to have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel. More recent research by historian Ken Kaufmann presents a compelling case that the logo is based upon a logo for "Coalettes".^[4] Others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross, in honor of the homeland of Chevrolet's parents.^[5]

Chevrolet logo, ca. 1943

In control, Durant was in the process of setting up Chevrolet production facilities in Toronto, Canada. Later that year, during a luncheon meeting in New York with "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin, whose McLaughlin Motor Car Company manufactured McLaughlin-Buick cars, it was agreed that Chevrolets with McLaughlin-designed bodies would be added to the Canadian company's product line. Three years later, the two operations (Chevrolet was by then a part of GM in the United States) were bought by GM to become General Motors of Canada Ltd.^[6]

By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough to allow Durant to buy a majority of shares in GM. After the deal was completed in 1917, Durant was president of General Motors, and Chevrolet was merged into GM, becoming a separate division. In the 1918 model year, Chevrolet introduced the Model D, a V8-powered model in four-passenger roadster and five-passenger tourer models. It also started production of a overhead valve in-line six. Most cars of the era had only low compression flat head engines. These cars had 288in³ 55 hp (41 kW) engines with Zenith carburetors and three-speed transmissions.

Chevrolet continued into the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s competing with the Ford brand, and after the fairly new Chrysler Corporation formed Plymouth in 1928, Plymouth, Ford, and Chevrolet were known as the "Low-priced three"

Chevrolet had a great influence on the American automobile market during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957, Chevy made their first fuel injected engine^{[citation needed]}. In 1963, one out of every ten cars sold in the United States was a Chevrolet.^[7]

Chevrolet Camaro 2010

The basic Chevrolet small-block V-8 design has remained in continuous production since its debut in 1955, longer than any other mass-produced engine in the world, although current versions share few if any parts interchangeable with the original. Descendants of the basic small-block OHV V-8 design platform in production today have been much modified with advances such as aluminium block and heads, electronic engine management and sequential port fuel injection, to name but a few. Descendants of the small-block V-8 in the form of the LT V-8s, and had influence in the design of the LS V-8s, both of which are still installed in Chevrolet vehicles. The original small-block design is simplistic compared to the overhead-cam V-8 that Ford Motor Company used and continues to use in its line of larger cars and light trucks. Depending on the vehicle type, Chevrolet V-8s are built in displacements from 4.3 to 9.4 litres with outputs ranging from 110 horsepower (82 kW) to 720 horsepower (540 kW) as installed at the factory. The engine design has also been used over the years in GM products built and sold under the Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Opel (Germany),Hummer and Holden (Australia) nameplates.

In 2010, General Motor replaced the ad agency Campbell-Ewald, which served Chevrolet for 91 years, with Publicis Worldwide. Campbell-Ewald of Interpublic Group of Companies had served Chevrolet since 1919.^[8]

In May 2010 Chevy's advertising account was awarded to Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/account-activity/e3i3b8cb13fe213cb8339474ab7c48c6148

Outside the United States and Canada

Mexico

Mexico has a mix of Chevrolet models from different GM brands and platforms but branded as Chevrolet. The variety of models comes from Chevrolet USA, Opel Europe, and other origins. Examples of Opel Sourced vehicles are Vectra, Astra, Corsa, Meriva and Captiva. Mexico also has some cars of its own, such as the Chevy C2, which is a reworked previous generation Corsa. Vehicles based on US platforms are the Avalanche, the Suburban, the Equinox, the Tahoe, the Cheyenne (which is similar to the Silverado but with minor differences), the Aveo, the HHR, the Traverse, the Malibu and the Corvette. The Chevrolet Optra, assembled in South Korea by GM Daewoo, is also sold in Mexico. The European Epica is sold as a Business only vehicle.

Asia

China

In 2009, China became Chevrolet's third largest market, with sales 332,774 vehicles, behind only the United States and Brazil (1,344,629 and 595,500 vehicles respectively).^[9]

India

Chevrolet is among the newest brands in India launched by GM's India operations. Until June 6, 2003 (the official birthday of Chevrolet), GM India (which was originally a joint venture with Hindustan Motors) sold the Opel Corsa, Opel Astra, and the Opel Vectra. The Corsa and Astra were built at a plant in Halol, Gujarat.

Since then, Chevrolet currently sells the Chevrolet Cruze, Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Optra, Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet Tavera, Chevrolet Captiva, Chevrolet SRV , Chevrolet Beat and Chevrolet Aveo U-VA. The Chevrolet Forester, a rebadged Subaru, was imported directly from Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan until 2005. The Optra and Tavera are built at the Halol plant. The Chevrolet launched in India the Chevrolet Captiva SUV. The latest models launched by Chevrolet is the Chevrolet Beat & the Chevrolet Cruze.

Chevrolet also is the sole Engine supplier for the Formula Rolon single seater series in India.

Japan

In the mid 2000s, Suzuki imported and marketed the TrailBlazer and the Chevrolet Optra wagon in Japan. General Motors Asia Pacific (Japan) currently distributes and markets the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Camaro, and Corvette in limited numbers. Suzuki, a GM partner, also assembles and markets