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Ten Pan na zdjęciu poniżej dokładnie 105 lat temu założył General Motors



William Crapo Durant (ur. 8 grudnia 1861 w Bostonie – zm. 18 marca 1947)

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Durant was the grandson of Michigan governor Henry H. Crapo. William dropped out of high school to work in his grandfather's lumberyard, but by 1885 he had partnered with Josiah Dort to create the Coldwater Road Cart Company. He started out as a cigar salesman in Flint, Michigan, and eventually moved to selling carriages. He founded the Flint Road Cart Company in 1886, eventually transforming $2,000 in start-up capital into a $2 million business with sales around the world. By 1890 the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, based in Flint, Michigan, had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles, which ultimately became number one in the world. Durant also conceived the modern system of automobile dealer franchises.When approached to become general manager of Buick in 1904, he made a similar success and was soon president of this horseless-vehicle company. In 1908 he arranged the incorporation by proxies of General Motors and quickly thereafter sold stock, and with the proceeds acquired Oldsmobile. The acquisitions of Oakland, Cadillac, and parts companies followed in short order.

Originally, Durant was highly skeptical of cars, thinking that they were stinky, loud, and dangerous, to a point where he would not let his daughter ride in one. By 1900, there was significant public outcry for government regulation of gas-powered horseless carriages. Durant heard this outcry, and rather than relying on government regulations to improve their safety, saw an opportunity to build a successful company by improving on the safety of these new machines. In order to accomplish this, he sought out the purchase of Buick, a local car company with few sales and large debts.

General Motors

In 1904 Durant began realizing his vision of building the car industry. Starting from virtually nothing, he used his sales skills to enter Buick (which had only built 37 cars to date) into a New York auto show, returning with orders for 1,108 cars.[1] Durant and Samuel McLaughlin of Canada signed a 15-year contract to build Buick powertrains at cost plus; they were called McLaughlin Buicks until 1942. Durant went back to Detroit to start General Motors (GM) Holding Company at the suggestion of his partner McLaughlin, CEO of General Motors of Canada (founded November 20, 1907). Durant founded General Motors Holding Company on September 16, 1908, with $500,000 in Buick stock that Durant traded McLaughlin for $500,000 of McLaughlin stock, making McLaughlin one of General Motors' biggest shareholders.

On October 26, 1909 General Motors acquired the Cartercar Company, founded four years earlier in Jackson, Michigan by Byron J. Carter. In explaining the reason he purchased Cartercar, Durant said:

"They say I shouldn't have bought Cartercar. Well, how was anyone to know that Carter wasn't to be the thing? It had the friction drive and no other car had it. How could I tell what these engineers would say next?" By the time Durant had regained control of General Motors in 1915, the GM board had already decided to discontinue the Cartercar, largely because sales never approached the 1000-2000 annually that Durant had predicted. The GM board decided to use the factory instead to produce the Oakland.

Durant had arranged an $8 million deal to buy Ford in 1910, but the bankers turned him down and the board of directors of General Motors dismissed him.

Both Durant and rival Henry Ford foresaw the automobile becoming a mass market item. Ford followed the course of the basic Model N, and had said "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."[4] Durant however, drawing on his experience in the carriage business, sought to create automobiles targeted to various incomes and tastes. This brought about his plans to merge Buick with various other companies to serve this purpose. He purchased Cadillac, and in 1908 formed General Motors by consolidating 13 car companies and 10 parts-and-accessories manufacturers.

żródło: wikipedia

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