Chevrolet  (colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company) is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941), Arthur Chevrolet (1884–1946) and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant (1861–1947) started the company on November 3, 1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918, and propelled himself back to the GM presidency. After Durant’s second ousting in 1919, Alfred Sloan, with his maxim “a car for every purse and purpose”, would pick the Chevrolet brand to become the volume leader in the General Motors family, selling mainstream vehicles to compete with Henry Ford‘s Model T in 1919 and overtaking Ford as the best-selling car in the United States by 1929 with the Chevrolet International.

Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide.

In Oceania, Chevrolet was represented by Holden Special Vehicles, having returned to the region in 2018 after a 50-year absence with the launching of the Camaro and Silverado pickup truck (HSV was partially and formerly owned by GM subsidiary Holden, which GM retired in 2021). In 2021, General Motors Specialty Vehicles took over the distribution and sales of Chevrolet vehicles in Oceania, starting with the Silverado. In 2005, Chevrolet was relaunched in Europe, primarily selling vehicles built by GM Daewoo of South Korea with the tagline “Daewoo has grown up enough to become Chevrolet”, a move rooted in General Motors’ attempt to build a global brand around Chevrolet. With the reintroduction of Chevrolet to Europe, GM intended Chevrolet to be a mainstream value brand, while GM’s traditional European standard-bearers, Opel of Germany and Vauxhall of the United Kingdom, would be moved upmarket. However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe from 2016 onward, with the exception of the Camaro and Corvette. Chevrolet vehicles were to continue to be marketed in the CIS states, including Russia. After General Motors fully acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea, the last usage of the Daewoo automotive brand was discontinued in its native South Korea and succeeded by Chevrolet.

In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the prominence and name recognition of Chevrolet as one of General Motors’ global marques, ‘Chevrolet’, ‘Chevy’ or ‘Chev’ is used at times as a synonym for General Motors or its products, one example being the GM LS1 engine, commonly known by the name or a variant thereof of its progenitor, the Chevrolet small-block engine.

Chevrolet history and history video

 “Chevy Runs Deep, for the first 100 years and into the next

 The brand was founded in Detroit, in November 1911, by racer Louis Chevrolet and General Motors founder William C. “Billy” Durant, who developed cars that quickly earned reputations for performance, durability and value. Those traits remain at the core of Chevrolet, which is the world’s fourth-largest automotive brand.

From the very start, Chevrolet brought technology and features typically reserved for more expensive cars to its lineup of affordable cars and trucks. The first Chevrolet — the Series C Classic Six — offered an electric starter and electric headlamps at a time when both were rarities among even luxury cars. In the decades that followed, innovations such as safety glass, fuel injection, anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control systems were used on Chevrolet models at the same time as more expensive vehicles. As one of the largest-selling brands in the industry, Chevrolet’s early adoption of landmark technologies fundamentally changed the way they were applied to new vehicles.

Chevrolet also made performance affordable. Its early four- and six-cylinder engines were known for durability and strong performance, but it was the 1955 introduction of Chevrolet’s small-block V-8 that opened a new era in attainable high-performance. The engine would power millions of cars and trucks in next 50 years, with its legacy passed on to a new generation of small-block V-8s that is used in today’s trucks and SUVs, as well as performance cars including the Camaro SS and Corvette.

The performance characteristics of the small-block V-8 helped establish Chevrolet as a force in almost all forms of motorsports. Chevrolet-powered race cars were immediate contenders in the fledging stock car and drag racing worlds of the 1950s, growing to dominate them in the next decades. Chevrolet is the winningest brand in NASCAR and has collected more NHRA Pro Stock Manufacturers Cups than any other brand.

Design heritage

Design has been a cornerstone of Chevrolet and many of its models have become icons of American culture. The soaring fins of the 1957 Chevy Bel Air epitomized the optimism of the Jet Age, while the sleek 1963 Corvette Stingray is regarded by many automotive historians as one of the best-looking cars ever designed.

Other Chevrolet models’ designs had cultural impacts that resonated for decades. The Camaro, introduced in 1967, brought great design and affordable performance, to younger customers. The heritage-inspired design of the fifth-generation model, introduced for 2010, quickly became the best seller among its primary competitors.

In the truck world, Chevrolet design innovations helped drive changes and create new markets in the industry. The Suburban was introduced in 1935 and continues as the longest-running automotive nameplate in industry history. Its concept of delivering greater passenger and cargo capacity has remained true for 76 years.

In 1955, the special-edition Chevrolet Cameo Carrier introduced smooth rear fenders for the first time to a mainstream pickup. The styling gave the truck a flowing, upscale appearance that differed greatly from the traditional “step side” design of other contemporary trucks. Within a few years, the entire industry was transformed. The smooth cargo bed sides, which became known as “fleetside” styling, were found on every truck on the market.”

*Information from Chevrolet.com

**Video published on YouTube by “Chevrolet”

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