General Motors facts
While investigating facts about General Motors Stock and General Motors Strike, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Judge Doom's scheme to dismantle the street cars in favor of freeways in Who Framed Roger Rabbit was based on a real life conspiracy from General Motors
how general motors started?
Chevron and General Motors bought the patents for NiMH car batteries and used them to block electric vehicle development in the 90s and 00s
What general motors plants are closing?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what general motors owns. Here are 50 of the best facts about General Motors Careers and General Motors Diet I managed to collect.
what happened at general motors?
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Prior to WWII, Los Angeles had one of the most advanced and efficient light rail systems in the country. This privately-run rail system was purchased by a company owned by General Motors, and slowly dismantled in order to drive demand for more cars and buses.
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After the band Chumbawamba was paid $100,000 by General Motors for the use of their song "Pass it Along" in an ad, they then donated 100% of the proceeds to activist groups for the purpose of beginning information and environmental campaigns against GM.
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After Ralph Nader Published "Unsafe at any Speed" in 1965, General Motors kept trying to discredit him, including hiring a prostitute to seduce him, but he turned her away. So they hired detectives to prove he was gay, but they were caught when Nader entered Congress and they tried to follow.
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When General Motors unveiled the Camaro name in 1966, automotive press asked Chevrolet product managers, “What is a Camaro?” and were told it was “a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.”
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In October, 2014, General Motors complained that the newly sourced Flint water supply was causing corrosion at a local engine plant. GM switched back to Detroit's Lake Huron supply, meanwhile residents complained about the smell and taste of their drinking water, which they were assured was safe
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General Motors pays its CEO more than it pays in US taxes
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The cars in Oprah's famous car giveaway back in 2004 were actually donated by General Motors and weren't from Oprah herself
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Ralph Nader sued General Motors for harassment in 1970 after GM attempted to blackmail him to suppress his outspoken criticism of automobile safety. He won and used the $425m judgement to found an organization which was instrumental in the creation of OSHA and the Freedom of Information Act.
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Who framed Roger Rabbit is loosely based off of a true conspiracy by General Motors to purchase & dismantle streetcar systems in American cities between 1938-1950
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Companies such as General Motors (fronting as National City Lines) bought out companies that operated electric streetcars across the USA and fully replaced them with buses, which were reliant on foreign oil.
General Motors data charts
For your convenience take a look at General Motors figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
Why general motors failed?
You can easily fact check why general motors is closing plants by examining the linked well-known sources.
In the 1950's General Motors was the biggest employer in the United States and paid their employees an average of $50 per hour. Today Walmart is the biggest employer in the U.S. and pay an average of just over $8 per hour.
General Motors chemist Thomas Midgley Jr. invented both chlorofluorocarbons and leaded gasoline, having "more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history." - source
A $0.57 faulty ignition switch in General Motors cars has killed 124 people. - source
General Motors and other companies would buy street cars and trains and scrap them to decrease public transportation competition
In the 1970's, General Motors designed the Chevy Vega specifically so it could be shipped pointed downwards. The fluid reservoirs were designed so fluid did not leak when the cars were tipped on end. This allowed them to ship 30 automobiles on a single rail car. - source
When is general motors going back to work?
I learned that General Motors, Standard Oil, Firestone Tire, Mack Trucks, and Phillips Petroleum were all convicted of monopolizing the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines and its subsidiaries in an effort to eliminate the competing electric trolley car.
How general motors failed?
Henry ford was once fired from the automaker bearing his name, the Henry Ford Company. The company was later renamed Cadillac and became part of General Motors, a modern competitor to Ford's next business venture, the Ford Motor Company.
General Motors spilled 1,000,000 gallons of waste per day into the Hudson River from 1896-1996
Charles Kettering, vice president of research for General Motors, assembled a team to study the problem.
Thomas Midgley Jr. of General Motors introduced lead to gasoline. He reportedly said, "Can you imagine how much money we're going to make with this?" while recovering from lead poisoning after demonstrating it was totally safe by inhaling leaded gas for 60 seconds
Delco was sold from United Motors to General Motors in 1918. Kettering became vice president of General Motors research Corporation and held this position until 1947.