Buick is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobile brands and was the company that established General Motors in 1908. Before the establishment of General Motors, GM founder William C. Durant had served as Buick's general manager and major investor. With the demise of Oldsmobile in 2004, Buick became the oldest surviving American carmaker.
Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produced over 35 million vehicles, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory alone.
The Y platform, or Y body, designation has been used twice by the General Motors Corporation to describe a series of vehicles all built on the same basic body and sharing many parts and characteristics. The first was for a group of entry-level compacts including the conventional front-engine compacts built by GM divisions Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac from 1961 to 1963. The second, and current, incarnation is used for a high-end rear-wheel drive sports-car platform from the 1970s through the 2000s.
The General Motors A platform was an automobile platform, and was GM's original, and oldest, platform used by all early GM products, beginning with the Chevrolet Superior. From this platform, all North American platforms B, C, and D were developed.
The Chevrolet Citation is a range of compact cars that was produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. The first Chevrolet sold with front-wheel drive, a single generation of the Citation was sold from the 1980 to 1985 model years. The successor of the Chevrolet Nova, the Citation was initially slotted between the Chevrolet Monza and the Chevrolet Malibu in the Chevrolet product line, later replaced by the Chevrolet Cavalier and the Chevrolet Celebrity.
The General Motors N platform was a front-wheel drive compact automotive platform produced from 1984 to 2005. The GM N platform was based on the GM J-Body and replaced the GM X platform.
Lansing Car Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Lansing, Michigan. It contained two elements, a 1901 automobile plant in downtown Lansing, and the 1920 Durant Motors factory on Lansing's Far Westside.
Arlington Assembly is a General Motors automobile factory located in Arlington, Texas. The plant has operated for more than 60 years and today manufactures large SUVs from GM's divisions Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac.
Framingham Assembly was a General Motors factory in Framingham, Massachusetts which opened in 1947.
Wilmington Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Wilmington, Delaware. The 3,200,000-square-foot (300,000 m2) factory opened in 1947, and produced cars for GM's Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Opel, Buick and Daewoo brands during its operation. GM closed the plant on July 28, 2009.
Linden Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Linden, New Jersey, United States. The plant operated from 1937 to 2005 and made cars, trucks and SUVs for various GM automotive divisions.
Leeds Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Leeds, Missouri. It was closed in 1988. The factory produced the A-bodies and J-bodies.
The General Motors H platform is an automobile platform used by subcompact cars from the 1971 to 1980 model years. The first subcompact car design developed by GM, the rear-wheel drive H platform initially underpinned the Chevrolet Vega and its Pontiac Astre counterpart. For 1975, the H platform was expanded from entry-level vehicles to sport compacts, adding the Chevrolet Monza, Buick Skyhawk, Oldsmobile Starfire, and Pontiac Sunbird.
Oshawa Assembly is a manufacturing facility in the city of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, that built various automobiles for General Motors Canada.
In the context of the automobile industry, downsizing is a practice used to transition vehicles from one size segment to another. Commenced during the Malaise era, downsizing is done in response to consumer and government demands influencing vehicle design. As vehicle product lines completed their model cycles, automobile manufacturers developed the next generation of a vehicle with a smaller exterior footprint to allow for weight reduction and increased fuel economy, using a shortened wheelbase and body length.
Pontiac Assembly was one of four General Motors assembly plants in Pontiac, Michigan located along Baldwin Avenue. It served as the home factory for GM's Pontiac Motor Division since it was built in 1927. It was across the street from the currently operational Pontiac Metal Center, which was the original location for the Oakland Motor Car Company, which Pontiac evolved out of.
South Gate Assembly was a General Motors automobile plant located at 2720 Tweedy Boulevard in the Los Angeles suburb of South Gate, California. It opened in 1936 to build B-O-P (Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac) cars for sale on the West Coast. It was the first GM plant to build multiple car lines, resulting from a Depression-spawned move to cut production costs by sharing components and manufacturing. South Gate was the first of several B-O-P "branch" assembly plants, part of GM's strategy to have production facilities in major metropolitan cities. The originally Pontiac operated South Gate plant was part of GM's Southern California Division through 1942.
The General Motors X platform is an automobile platform designation that was used for compact cars with rear-wheel drive. Developed by Chevrolet, the architecture was produced from the 1962 to 1979 model years. During the 1970s, the platform was used by multiple GM divisions as the company expanded its use of compact model lines.
Wentzville Assembly is a General Motors automobile assembly facility in Wentzville, Missouri, opened in 1983. Located at 1500 East Route A in Wentzville, the 3.7 million square foot plant sits on 569 acres approximately 40 miles west of St. Louis, just off of I-70.
Chevrolet Assembly Division was a designation used from 1933 to 1965. Fisher Body produced trimmed out bodies and then passed the bodies to the Chevrolet Assembly Division which completed the assembly of the vehicle. To streamline production, the General Motors Assembly Division was created that incorporated both divisions. From 1965 to 1972, GMAD was given responsibility for former Chevrolet / Fisher Body assembly plants.
