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GMC Truck
Dave Arbogast
GMC is "professional grade" with our fine line of GMC
models: GMC Sierra, GMC Canyon, GMC Acadia, GMC Yukon, GMC Envoy
and GMC Savana (as well as
GMC Conversion Vans).
GMC History
In 1901, Max Grabowski
established a company called the "Rapid Motor Vehicle Company",
which developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever
designed. The trucks utilized one-cylinder engines. In 1909, the
company was purchased by General Motors to form the basis for
the General Motors Truck Company, from which GMC Truck was
derived.
Another independent manufacturer purchased by GM that same year
was Reliance Motor Car Company. Rapid & Reliance were merged in
1911, and in 1912 the marque "GMC Truck" was first shown 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.
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 5 days and 30 minutes.
During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks
for use by the U.S. military.
In 1925, GM purchased the 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, and it
manufactured transit and inter-urban buses in Canada and the
United States until the 1980s. GM faced increased competition in
the late 1970s and 1980s and stopped producing buses soon after.
In 1987, GMC later sold their bus models to Transportation
Manufacturing Corporation (also under Motor Coach Industries in
Canada) and later NovaBus.
In 2002, GMC released a book entitled, GMC: The First 100 Years,
that explained the company's complete history.
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.
Although GMC and Chevrolet trucks are almost identical, their
differences have varied throughout the years. Traditionally, the
GMC has had different trim from the Chevrolet (i.e. grill,
emblems, etc.), larger engine options, and a generally higher
price. Between 1962 and 1972, most GMC vehicles were equipped
with quad-headlights, while their Chevrolet counterparts were
equipped with dual-headlights. Starting 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 sister models of the two companies
(Silverado/Sierra, Blazer/Jimmy, Tahoe/Yukon, etc) shared
everything except trims and price. GM has recently begun a
divergence in design between the two lines with the 2007 model
Silverados and Sierras, which have slight differences in the
shapes of their body panels and overall looks.
Today, for the most part, GMC offers the same trucks available
under the Chevrolet brand. A Sprint, for example, was a rebadged
Chevrolet El Camino, the Sierra is a rebadged Chevrolet
Silverado, etc. In the United States GMC is usually sold by
dealers in combination with Buick or Pontiac, typically at lower
volumes than the equivalent Chevrolet trucks. GMC trucks are
positioned as the Professional Grade versions of the equivalent
Chevrolet vehicles. GMC's trucks, vans, and SUVs offer more
options and standard features than Chevrolet, while Chevrolet is
often offered as an entry-level car. In Canada, GMC is sold by
Pontiac-Buick-GMC dealerships, usually at volumes equivalent or
greater than the comparable Chevrolet trucks.
RTS BusIn 2007, GMC introduced the Acadia, a crossover SUV,
which is the company's first unibody vehicle.
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