GM takes an interest in Oakland Motor Car Corp.
On January 20 1909 newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) buys into the Oakland Motor Car Corporation which later becomes GMs long-running Pontiac division.Oakland Motor Car was founded in 1907 in Pontiac Michigan by Edward Murphy a manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages.The following year another former buggy company executive William Durant founded General Motors in Flint Michigan as a holding company for the Buick Motor Company.GM soon bought other automakers including Oldsmobile and Cadillac.
In 1909 Oakland became part of GM.The first Pontiac model made its debut as part of the Oakland line in the 1920s.The car which featured a six-cylinder engine proved so popular that the Oakland name was eventually dropped and Pontiac became its own GM division by the early 1930s.Pontiac was initially known for making sedans however by the 1960s it gained acclaim for its fast sporty muscle cars including the GTO and the Firebird.
The GTO which was developed by auto industry maverick John DeLorean was named after a Ferarri coupethe Gran Turismo Omologatoand is considered the first classic muscle car.According to The New York Times More than any other G.M.brand Pontiac stood for performance speed and sex appeal.Pontiacs sales reached their peak in 1984 with approximately 850000 vehicles sold (about four times as many as 2008) according to the Times which noted that experts believe GM hurt the Pontiac brand in the 1970s and 1980s by opting for a money-saving strategy requiring Pontiacs to share platforms with cars from other divisions.In 2008 GM which since the early 1930s had sold more vehicles than any other automaker lost its sales crown to Toyota.
That same year the American auto giant hard hit by the global economic crisis and slumping auto sales was forced to ask the federal government for a multi-billion-dollar loan in order to remain operational.On April 27 2009 GM announced plans to phase out the Pontiac brand which had become unprofitable by 2010.A little over a month later on June 1 GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and promised to emerge as a leaner more efficient company.
