GMC (automobile)

GMC Division of General Motors LLC

Type	Division
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1912
Founder	William C. Durant
Headquarters	Detroit, United States
Area served	North America Middle East
Products	Automobiles Commercial vehicles Trucks
Services	Vehicle financing Vehicle insurance
Parent	General Motors
Website	gmc.com

GMC, formally the GMC Division of General Motors LLC, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM) that primarily focuses on trucks and utility vehicles. GMC sells pickup and commercial trucks, buses, vans, military vehicles, and sport utility vehicles marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors.

History

GMC truck, from a 1919 advertisement

General Motors was founded by William C. Durant on September 16, 1908, as a holding company for Buick.^[1] 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. (Rapid was established on December 22, 1901, by Max Grabowsky. The company developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed, and utilized one-cylinder engines.) The Reliance Motor Car Company (another independent manufacturer) 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 GMC's contribution to that total was a mere 372 units. GMC had some currency within GM referring to the corporate parent in general. Later "GMC" would become distinct as a division brand within the corporation, branding trucks and coaches; in contrast, the abbreviation for the overall corporation eventually ended up as "GM".

GMC maintained three manufacturing locations in Pontiac, Michigan, Oakland, California, and Saint Louis, Missouri.

In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC 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.

In 1925, GM purchased a controlling interest in Yellow Coach, a bus manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois which was founded by John D. Hertz. After purchasing the remaining portion in 1943, GM renamed it GM Truck and Coach Division. The Division manufactured interurban coaches until 1980. Transit bus production ended in May 1987. The Canadian plant (in London, Ontario) produced buses from 1962 until July 1987. GM withdrew from the bus and coach market because of increased competition in the late 1970s and 1980s. Rights to the RTS model were sold to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation, while Motor Coach Industries of Canada purchased the Classic design.^[2] In 1998, GMC's official branding on vehicles was shortened from "GMC Truck" to simply "GMC".

In 2002, GMC released a book entitled, GMC: The First 100 Years, a complete history of the company.

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.

Similarity to Chevrolet

2006 GMC Sierra

2010 Chevrolet Silverado

1946 Chevrolet Pickup

1941 GMC Model 9314

1919 GMC Tanker

1920 Chevrolet tow truck

Starting in 1920, GMC and Chevrolet trucks are virtually identical except for the grilles and nameplates, though their differences have varied over the years. From 1955 through 1959 small (less than 2 ton) GMC trucks with gasoline V8s were equipped with Pontiac V8s. Chevrolet trucks were marketed towards private ownership, while GMC was focused towards commercial uses. New Chevrolet vehicles are sold exclusively at Chevrolet dealerships, GMC light trucks have recently been made available to Buick and Cadillac dealerships with previous Pontiac and Oldsmobile dealerships also having similar arrangements, and separate franchises exist for medium and light-duty commercial models as well. This crossover allowed GM dealers that did not sell Chevrolets to offer full lineups of both cars and trucks by offering GMC's trucks alongside "non-truck" divisions. Between 1962 and 1972, most GMC vehicles were equipped with quad-headlights, while their Chevrolet clones were equipped with dual-headlights. In 1973, with GM’s introduction of the new "rounded line" series trucks, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became even more similar, ending production of GMC’s quad-headlight models, and setting the standard for the Chevrolet/GMC line of trucks for over thirty years. During this period, the companies' sister models (Silverado/Sierra, Blazer/Jimmy, Tahoe/Yukon, etc.) shared everything except for trims and prices. GM has recently begun a divergence in design between the two lines with the 2007 model Silverados and Sierras, which have some differences in sheet metal and style.

In 1996, GM merged GMC with the Pontiac division in order to give Pontiac dealerships a line of trucks mainly to allow Pontiac dealers to compete with Chevrolet, which offered a full lineup of vehicles. While many GMC and Chevrolet trucks are mechanically identical, GMC is positioned as a premium offering to the mainstream Chevrolet brand, with luxury vehicles such as the Denali series. The profitability of the GMC brand helped its survival in 2009 during the General Motors Chapter 11 reorganization, and after the discontinuation of the Pontiac brand, many Buick franchises also sell GMC light-duty vehicles in the United States and Canada.

In 2007 GMC introduced the Acadia, a crossover SUV, which was the division's first unibody vehicle whose predecessor, the GMT-360 based Envoy, was discontinued with the closure of GM's Moraine, Ohio plant on December 23, 2008. In 2009 GMC introduced the Terrain, a mid-size crossover SUV based on GM's Theta platform which slots below the Acadia as GMC's smallest crossover, replacing the Pontiac Torrent and sharing no sheetmetal with the Chevrolet Equinox.

GMC models

Light-duty trucks

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
C and E series[3]	1941	1947	Little difference with the Chevrolet Art Deco trucks
New Design series	1947	1955	Little difference with the Chevrolet Advance-Design trucks
Blue Chip series	1955	1959	Pontiac Powered, similar to the Chevrolet Task-Force trucks
C and K Series	1960	1998	half–, three-quarter– and one-ton trucks, with Sierra, Sierra Grande, High Sierra, and Sierra Classic trim lines
Sprint	1971	1977	Coupe utility - GMC version of the 1971 to 1977 Chevrolet El Camino
Caballero	1978	1987	Coupe utility - GMC version of the 1978 to 1987 Chevrolet El Camino
S-15	1982	1990	Became the Sonoma in 1991
Sonoma	1991	2004	Formerly the S-15 1982-1990
Syclone	1991	1991	High performance version of the Sonoma
Sierra	1996	current	GMC version of Chevrolet Silverado medium- and heavy-duty pickup
Canyon	2004	current	GMC version of Chevrolet Colorado midsize pickup

Medium-duty trucks

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
Varies, first letter denotes production year: A=1939-1940, C=1941-1945, E=1946, F=1947-1950, Z=1954, Y=1955, X=1956, T=1957, S=1958-1959, N=1960; Second letter denotes cab style: C=cab behind engine, F=cab over engine	1939	1959	Line sold to Navistar, now marketed under the WorkHorse brand.
L-Series	1960	c.1984	Steel Tilt Cab
TopKick	1980	1996
C-Series	1960	2009
Forward	1980s	2010
W-Series	late 1980s	2010	Rebranded Isuzu Elf
T-Series	1994	2010
TopKick	2003	2009	Model used for Ironhide in the Transformers film series

Heavy-duty trucks

A 1972 GMC HM-7500 truck carrying a medium-sized excavator.

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
DLR/F/“Crackerbox”	1959	1968	Aluminium Tilt Cab
B-Model	1960	1966
7500	1963	1978
9500	1966	1978
Astro 95	1968	1988
General	1977	1988
Brigadier	1978	1988

Buses

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
P-series	1940s	1980	“Parlor” (highway) coaches
“Old Look”	1940	1969	transit
“New Look”	1959	1986	transit
RTS	1977	1987	transit
Classic	1982	1987	transit
B-series	1966	2003	school bus
S-series	1986	1989	school bus (forward control)

Vans

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
Handi-Van	1964	1970
Handi-Bus	1964	1970
Rally	1970	1996	GMC version of the Chevrolet Sportvan
Vandura	1970	1996	GMC version of the Chevrolet Chevy Van
Safari	1985	2005	GMC version of the Chevrolet Astro
Savana	1996	current	GMC version of the Chevrolet Express

SUVs

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
Suburban	1937	current
Jimmy	1969	2005	GMC version of the Chevrolet Blazer
S-15 Jimmy	1983	2005
Tracker	1989	1991	Canada only
Typhoon	1992	1993	High performance version of the S-15 Jimmy
Yukon	1992	current
Envoy	1998	2009
Yukon XL	2001	current
Envoy	2002	2009
Acadia	2007	current
Terrain	2010	current

Motorhomes

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
GMC motorhome	1973	1978

Military vehicles

Model	Introduced	Discontinued	Notes
CCKW/CCW	1941	1945
AFKWX	1941	1945	Cab over engine
DUKW	1942	1945	Amphibious

Gallery

• 

  1947 GMC cabover truck

• 

  A 1966 GMC K1500 converted for railroad service in Pennsylvania.

• 

  New York City Omnibus 2969 is an “Old Look” TDH-5101 built in 1949.

• 

  A 1968-vintage Suburban-type New Look bus.

• 

  A 1948 PD-3751 bus built for Greyhound Lines.

• 

  CCKW 353

• 

  AFKWX-353 C.O.E.

• 

  DUKW Amphibian

See also

• General Motors
• History of General Motors

References

1. Jacobs, Timothy (1992). A History of General Motors. New York: Smithmark Publishers. p. 10. ISBN 0-8317-4480-4.
2. Stauss, Ed (1988). The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses. Woodland Hills, CA: Stauss Publications. pp. 29–32, 87, 102–105. ISBN 0-9619830-0-0.
3. "A Brief Outline of the First Century of GMC Truck History". GM Heritage Center. Retrieved 5 February 2015.

External links

• GMC Homepage
• Canadian GMC Homepage
• GMC History (GM's website)
• Official GMC Middle East