GMC is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM) that primarily focuses on trucks and utility vehicles. The company sells pickup and commercial trucks, buses, vans, military vehicles, and sport utility vehicles marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors. In January 2007, it was GM’s second-largest-selling North American vehicle division after Chevrolet, ahead of Pontiac.
History of GMC
General Motors was founded by William C. Durant on September 16, 1908, as a holding company for Buick. In 1909, GM purchased the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, forming the basis of the General Motors Truck Company, from which the “GMC Truck” brand name was derived. The Reliance Motor Car Company was also purchased that same year by GM. Rapid and Reliance were merged in 1911, and in 1912 the marque “GMC Truck” first appeared on vehicles exhibited at the New York International Auto Show. Some 22,000 trucks were produced that year, though the company’s contribution to that total was a mere 372 units.
In 1916, a one of their trucks crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes. During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the United States Armed Forces.
GMC currently manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, light-duty trucks, and medium duty trucks. In the past, GMC also produced fire trucks, ambulances, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, motorhomes, and transit buses.
