One of the nation’s largest corporations is 105 years old today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. General Motors (GM) was conceived by William Durant of Flint, Mich. Durant co-founded Chevrolet — named after noted racing car drivers Louis and Gaston Chevrolet, originally from Switzerland, and Durant promoted Buick to prominence on early racetracks.
Over the years, Durant headed — and then lost control of General Motors not once, but twice. In addition to Oldsmobile, GM has made several brands that are no longer around, including the Marquette, Oakland and LaSalle.
In 1908, when GM was founded, there were just 198,000 cars and trucks in the U.S. Today, domestic manufacturers produce that many cars alone in just over 25 days.
