Editing General Motors (section)

=== Growth and acquisitions ===
In 1926, the company introduced the [[Pontiac (automobile)|Pontiac]] brand and established the General Motors Group Insurance Program to provide [[life insurance]] to its employees.<ref name="story" /> The following year, after the success of the 1927 model of the [[Cadillac]] [[LaSalle (automobile)|LaSalle]] designed by [[Harley Earl]], Sloan created the "Art and Color Section" of GM and named Earl as its first director. Earl was the first design executive to be appointed to leadership at a major American corporation. Earl created a system of automobile design that is still practiced today.<ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1511626 | title=Harley Earl and the Art and Color Section: The Birth of Styling at General Motors |first=David |last=Gartman |journal=Design Issues  | year=1994| volume=10 | issue=2 | pages=3–26 | doi=10.2307/1511626 | jstor=1511626  | issn = 0747-9360 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> At the age of 24, [[Bill Mitchell (automobile designer)|Bill Mitchell]] was recruited by Earl to the design team at GM, and he was later appointed as Chief Designer of Cadillac. After Earl retired in December 1958, Mitchell took over automotive design for GM.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 31, 2011 |title=Bill Mitchell's design vision shaped 5 decades of GM vehicles |work=Automotive News |url= https://www.autonews.com/article/20111031/CHEVY100/310319948/bill-mitchell-s-design-vision-shaped-5-decades-of-gm-vehicles |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Also in 1926 the company acquired [[Fisher Body]], its supplier of automobile bodies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coase |first=R.H. |date=April 2000 |title=The Acquisition of Fisher Body By General Motors |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/467446 |journal=The Journal of Law and Economics |language=en |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=15–32 |doi=10.1086/467446 |s2cid=154712364 |issn=0022-2186|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

GM acquired [[Allison Engine Company]]<ref name="story" /><ref>{{cite news |date=May 25, 1929 |title=Motors Acquires Allison Company; Sloan's Announcement Says the Work on Aviation Engines Will Be "Intensified." Diesel Development Seen Race to Perfect Type Said to Be Indicated – $1,000,000 Expansion Plan Recently Made Public. To Expand Operations. $1,000,000 Airplane Contract. |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/25/archives/motors-acquires-allison-company-sloans-announcement-says-the-work.html |url-access=limited}}</ref> and began developing a 1,000 horsepower liquid-cooled aircraft engine in 1929.<ref name="story" /> The same year, GM acquired 80% of [[Opel]], which at that time had a 37.5% [[market share]] in Europe, for $26 million. It acquired the remaining 20% in 1931.<ref name="selling" />

In the late-1920s, Charles Kettering embarked on a program to develop a lightweight [[two-stroke diesel engine]] for possible usage in automobiles.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/0603dp-gm-diesel-history/ | title=General Motors' Diesel History – Baselines |first=Bill |last=Senefsky |work=Motor Trend |date=March 1, 2006}}</ref> Soon after, GM acquired [[railcar|self-propelled railcar]] manufacturer [[Electro-Motive Diesel|Electro-Motive Company]] and the [[Winton Motor Carriage Company#Winton Engine Company|Winton Engine Co.]], and in 1941, it expanded EMC's realm to locomotive engine manufacturing and created the [[Electro-Motive Division]] (EMD).<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/general-motors-once-built-locomotives-really-good-ones-261607 | title=General Motors Once Built Locomotives – Really Good Ones |first=Aaron |last=Gold |website=Autotrader.com |date=February 7, 2017}}</ref>

In 1932, GM acquired [[Packard Electric]]<ref name="story" /><ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.nytimes.com/1932/04/07/archives/packard-electric-sold-shareholders-ratify-deal-with-general-motors.html | title=Packard Electric Sold; Shareholders Ratify Deal With General Motors by Stock Trade |newspaper=The New York Times | date=April 7, 1932 | url-access=limited}}</ref> (not to be confused with the [[Packard]] car company, which merged with [[Studebaker]] years later). The following year, GM acquired a controlling interest in [[North American Aviation]] and merged it with the [[General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation]].<ref>{{Cite news | url= https://www.autonews.com/article/20080914/OEM/309149825/planes-trains-were-also-part-of-gm-s-grand-plan | title=Planes, trains were also part of GM's grand plan |work=Automotive News |date=September 14, 2008 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The GM labor force participated in the formation of the [[United Auto Workers]] [[labor union]] in 1935, and in 1936 the UAW organized the [[Flint Sit-Down Strike]], which initially idled two key plants in Flint, Michigan, and later spread to 6 other plants including those in [[Janesville, Wisconsin]] and [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]]. In Flint, police attempted to enter the plant to arrest strikers, leading to violence; in other cities, the plants were shuttered peacefully. The strike was resolved on February 11, 1937, when GM recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for its workers and gave workers a 5% raise and permission to speak in the lunchroom.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sit-down-strike-begins-in-flint |title=Sit-down strike begins in Flint |work=History TV network|date=January 27, 2010 }}</ref>

Walter E. Jominy and A.L. Boegehold of GM invented the Jominy end-quench test for [[hardenability]] of carbon steel in 1937, a breakthrough in [[heat treating]] still in use today as [[ASTM International|ASTM]] A255.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.astm.org/a0255-20a.html |title=ASTM A255-10: Standard Test Methods for Determining Hardenability of Steel | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030082759/http://www.astm.org/Standards/A255.htm |archive-date=October 30, 2013 | publisher=ASTM International}}</ref> GM established [[Detroit Diesel]] the next year.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://empoweringmichigan.com/leading-the-way-for-over-83-years/ | title=Leading the way for over 83 years | first=Lauren | last=Owings | work=DTE Energy | date=June 16, 2021}}</ref>

In 1939, the company founded Motors Insurance Corporation and entered the [[vehicle insurance]] market.<ref name="tarp" /> The same year, GM introduced the [[Hydramatic]], the first affordable and successful [[automatic transmission]], for the 1940 Oldsmobile.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a30463122/selling-the-first-successful-automatic-transmission-gms-hydramatic/ | title=Selling the First Successful Automatic Transmission: GM's Hydra-Matic | first=Murilee | last=Martin |work=AutoWeek | date=April 6, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url= https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2014/05/16/oldsmobiles-hydra-matic-first-mass-produced-fully-automatic-transmission-turns-75 | title=Oldsmobile's Hydra-Matic, first mass-produced fully automatic transmission, turns 75 | first=Daniel | last=Strohl | work=Hemmings Motor News | date=May 16, 2014}}</ref>

{{Gallery
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|File:1926 Pontiac Two Door Coach - Automobile Driving Museum - El Segundo, CA - DSC02106.jpg
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 |1926 Pontiac radiator logo
|File:Pontiac New Series 6-28 8240 2-Door Sedan 1928 2.jpg
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 |1928 [[Pontiac Six|Pontiac Series 6-28]] 2-door 5-passenger Coach sedan
|File:1932 Pontiac (32463035).jpg
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 |1932 [[Pontiac Six|Pontiac Series 402 Six]] 2-door 5-passenger Coach sedan
|File:1936-pontiac-archives.jpg
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 |1936 [[Pontiac Six#Second Generation (1935-1940)|Pontiac Master Six Series 6BB]] Coupe
}}

During [[World War II]], GM produced vast quantities of armaments, vehicles, and aircraft for the [[Allies of World War II]]. In 1940, GM's [[William S. Knudsen]] served as head of U.S. wartime production for [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin Roosevelt]], and by 1942, all of GM's production was to support the war.<ref name="Kollewe" /> GM's [[Vauxhall Motors]] manufactured the [[Churchill tank]] series for the Allies, instrumental in the [[North African campaign]].<ref name=story/> GM was also a major manufacturer of aircraft, setting up the [[Eastern Aircraft Division]] with five plants to assemble [[Grumman]]-designed aircraft for the allied navies.  However, its [[Opel]] division, based in Germany, supplied the [[Wehrmacht]] with vehicles. Politically, Sloan, as head of GM at the time, was an ardent opponent of the [[New Deal]], which bolstered [[labor unions]] and [[public transport]]. Sloan admired and supported [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/hitlers-carmaker | title=Hitler's carmaker | first=Edwin | last=Black |work=The Jerusalem Post |date=December 6, 2006}}</ref> Nazi armaments chief [[Albert Speer]] allegedly said in 1977 that Hitler "would never have considered invading Poland" without [[synthetic fuel]] technology provided by General Motors. GM was compensated $32 million by the U.S. government because its German factories were bombed by U.S. forces during the war.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm | title=Ford and GM Scrutinized for Alleged Nazi Collaboration | first=Michael | last=Dobbs |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 30, 1998}}</ref>

Effective January 28, 1953, [[Charles Erwin Wilson]], then GM president, was named by [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] as [[United States Secretary of Defense]].<ref name=story/>

In December 1953, GM acquired [[Euclid Trucks]], a manufacturer of [[heavy equipment]] for [[Earthworks (engineering)|earthmoving]], including [[dump truck]]s, [[Loader (equipment)|loaders]] and [[wheel tractor-scraper]]s, which later spawned the [[Terex]] brand.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1953/08/08/archives/general-motors-moves-to-enter-field-of-offroad-heavy-trucks-offers.html |title=General Motors Moves to Enter Field of Off-Road Heavy Trucks; Offers an Exchange of Stock to the Holders of Shares of Euclid Machinery Co. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 8, 1953 |url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.constructionequipment.com/tangled-web-euclid-and-terex-truck-history | title=The Tangled Web of Euclid and Terex Truck History | first=Tom |last=Berry |work=Construction Equipment |date=February 4, 2014}}</ref>