GMC (General Motors division)

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:GMC logo.png GMC, formerly known as GMC Truck, is a United States-based brand name of trucks, vans, and SUVs. GMC is a division of General Motors. Its vehicles are marketed in North America and the Middle East.

1 History
2 GMC models
3 See also
4 External links

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History

Image:GMCTrucks1919.jpg In 1900, Max Grabowski established a company called the "Rapid Motor Vehicle Company," which developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed. The trucks utilized one-cylinder engines. In 1909, the company was purchased by General Motors to form the basis for the General Motors Truck Company, from which GMC Truck was derived.

Another indepedent manufacturer purchased by GM that same year was Reliance Motor Car Company. Rapid & Reliance were merged in 1911, and in 1912 the marque "GMC Truck" was first shown at the New York Auto Show. 22,000 trucks were produced that year, though GMC's contribution to that total was a mere 372 units.

In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in 5 days and 30 minutes.

During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the U.S. military. In 1996 GM dropped the word 'truck' from the GMC Truck name, thus creating the GMC name as we know it today.

In 2002, GMC released a book entitled, GMC: The First 100 Years, that explained the company's complete history.

GMC currently manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty trucks. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes (1973-1978), and transit buses.

In 2007, the company will introduce the Acadia, a crossover SUV, which will be the company's first unibody vehicle.

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