Did you know that...
...the
Chevrolet 490, launched in 1915, owes its name to its price? It was pitched
directly against the Ford T model and – like its competitor – could
be had for just 490 US dollars. It was built at various factories linked to the
Chevrolet Motor Company through a franchising system.
...the first
subcompact car manufactured in the U.S. was a Chevrolet? It was the Vega,
launched in 1971. It was followed by the Chevette in 1976, the smallest
Chevrolet ever at that time. This model, a representative of General Motors'
T-Car world car, was initially sold with 1.4 and 1.6-liter engines.
...the Powerglide transmission of 1950 was the first automatic
transmission to be offered in a vehicle below the full-size category? Chevrolet
built more than 300,000 of these transmission units in the first year
alone.
...Louis Chevrolet left the company in 1914 because he had an
argument with his partner Billy Durant about the positioning of the company?
Chevrolet wanted to build exclusive vehicles, Durant was in favor of popular
cars. Who actually won the dispute is no secret because the name Chevrolet has
since become synonymous with good-quality but inexpensive cars and trucks.
...Chevrolet became part of the General Motors Group in
1918?
...the value-brand strategy was featured as early as 1929 in the
advertising slogan "A Six for the Price of a Four“? In the then new
"Stovebolt Six", the customer really got the smoothness and acceleration of a
six-cylinder engine for the price of a four-cylinder unit.
...the first
GM plant outside of North America was built in Denmark in 1923? The then head of
production of GM, William Knudsen, (1879-1948), emigrated from Denmark to the US
in 1899...
...Chevrolet planned to change from water to copper cooled
engines (an air cooled engine using copper fins) in 1921? The revolution failed
due to durability problems, and only about 800 copper cooled cars were built in
total.
...the failure of the copper cooled engine led to the first dedicated
proving ground for testing automobiles? To this day, GM’s Milford Proving
Ground opened in 1924 is the biggest of its kind in the world.
...the
founder of both Chevrolet and General Motors, „Billy“ Durant
(1861-1947) had to leave the company after financial quarries three times in
all. Durant, who at one time amassed a fortune of $ 120 million died as a
manager of a bowling alley.