William C. Durant is an important person in the history of some of the most well-known car brands and manufacturers in the world. Let’s take a quick look at how he had such as large impact.
Getting Started and the Creation of General Motors Company
Durant started a carriage company (Flint Road Cart Company) in 1886 which grew to the point where it was a $2M business selling carts around the world. The business continued to grow and eventually, the Durant-Dort Carriage Company became the number one horse-drawn vehicle seller in the world. In 1904 Durant was brought in as the controlling investor in Buick, and in just a few years Buick became the top-producing automobile manufacturer in the US. In 1908 Durant formed the General Motors Company to be a holding company that would acquire existing automakers and other companies.
Forced Out
Within the first year General Motors acquired Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Cartercar, Elmore, Oakland (later became Pontiac) and by the end of 1910 had purchased a total of 30 companies. The company ran into some financial troubles as a result of all of the acquisitions which led to Durant being forced out by the corporation’s board.
Durant quickly teamed up with Louis Chevrolet (a Swiss race car driver) and started the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911. The company got off to a good start, but Durant and Louis saw things differently which lead to Durant purchasing Louis’s shares of the company. By 1916, the company was profitable enough to allow Durant to repurchase a controlling interest in General Motors. This led to Durant being president of General Motors and Chevrolet being merged into the company as a separate division. His time in charge did not last long as in 1920 he lost control of General Motors to other shareholders.
Durant Motors and Afterward
In 1921 Durant started Durant Motors and quickly acquired companies with the goal of rivaling General Motors. This company did not bring the same success as he had with General Motors. The Wall Street Crash in 1929 and the Great Depression led to tough financial times for Durant. He lived the rest of his life on a pension provided by a few people on behalf of General Motors and passed away in 1947.