On November 3, 1911, the Chevrolet Motor Company was founded by a Swiss-French auto-racing phenom and engineer, Louis Chevrolet, and auto-industry veteran William Durant. It was a marriage of practical automobile engineering and driving experience, and seasoned business skills in this nascent industry. And while Chevrolet has become one of the biggest names in the car world, the man who gave it to the company had almost nothing to do with its success.
By the time he co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company, Durant was already well known in the world of automobile manufacturing. He had first come to prominence when he was brought in to manage the Buick Motor Division, a privately held car company out of Detroit Michigan. He grew the brand, and formed an important relationship and formalized alliance with fellow automobile manufacturer, the McLaughlin Carriage Company of Canada, in 1907. Together they formed a holding company called General Motors and began buying up additional brands including Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. In 1910, they were preparing for their biggest acquisition when everything fell apart. While readying an $8 million bid to take over the Ford Motor Company, a deal that would have changed the face of the next century of American automobiles, General Motors was found to be too deep in debt and a bankers’ trust took over the company, sacking Durant. In Durant’s eyes, the battle been lost, but the war was far from over.
Durant resolved to build another car company that could compete with Ford and launch him back into the leadership role of General Motors. He called upon an old acquaintance, auto racer Louis Chevrolet, whom he had first met when he hired him to race under the Buick banner, and the two agreed to work together. Chevrolet designed the company’s first car, simply called The Chevrolet at the time (dubbed the Classic 6 once other Chevrolet models were introduced). It was a triumph of design with a 40 horsepower six-cylinder engine, standard four-door body and came complete with electric headlights and and a starter. It could reach up to 65 miles per hour. The Ford Model T, the best-selling car in America at the time, only generated 20 horsepower and topped out at around 40 miles per hour. And while these metrics were flattering to Chevrolet’s new creation, the Model T won where it counted most: price. A brand new Chevrolet in 1914 would cost $2,500, while the Model T could be had for just $440.
While Louis Chevrolet was content to compete for the luxury segment of the American car market, Durant wanted to sell as many cars as possible. Durant asked Chevrolet to design a version of the Classic 6 that could be sold at a price that would compete with the Model T, but Chevrolet refused. He wanted to build fast, luxurious cars. By 1915, a frustrated Chevrolet sold his shares in the company back to Durant and left altogether. Meanwhile, Durant put out a much cheaper version of the Classic 6 as he had wanted and it was a huge success. Chevrolet Motors grew rapidly, and by 1917 the company carried out a reverse merger with General Motors, with Chevrolet becoming their mass-market division, and Durant taking back the reigns as the head of GM.
Chevrolet is often hailed, often by itself, as a proud American automobile manufacturer. While this is technically true, the whole endeavor was co-founded by a Swiss national and an American, with the intent (at least in Durant’s mind) of using their success to acquire General Motors, a company that was about half-Canadian owned at the time. Chevrolet motors wasn’t founded to make great American cars: it was a business strategy to put Durant back on top of the company that had unceremoniously kicked him out.