GMC is known for manufacturing high end trucks as well as highly customizable sports utility vehicles. The company has been around for slightly more than a century, during which it has had its fair share of takeovers, since it was initially established as the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company in 1901. The initial company was owned by Max Gabrowski and it was the pioneer of the earlier versions of commercial trucks ever built.

Though Gabrowski was the pioneer of commercial truck manufacturing, the company would have not made great strides were it not for the witty Durant who bought the company in 1909 and laid the base for the General Motors Truck Company, before changing it into GMC a few years later.

GM’s ability to buy out smaller companies allowed it to acquire another manufacturer in the same year – Reliance Motor Car Company. The latter was viewed as the missing link in the company’s quest to diversify their manufacturing and was soon merged with Rapid Motors Company to give birth to GMC Truck in 1901. After just one year, GMC displayed its newest brand during the New York International Auto Show.

Having received the necessary attention to go into production, the company focused on building trucks and in 1912 alone, they managed to produce a total of 20,000 trucks. Though the company was registering satisfactory internal growth, it sent a wave of attention with its series of country cross-over. For instance, in 1916, one of the trucks travelled from Seattle to New York on a 30 day trip and 14 years later, another truck drove from New York to San Francisco in 5 day and 30 minutes.

During the end of the First World War, the company opened a new chapter in the car manufacturing industry. The war was a setback to many companies, and those that survived such as GMC had to scavenge for prey. Yellow Coach, a Chicago based bus manufacturing company was partially swallowed by GMC, and by 1943, it had taken total control of the Yellow Coach, which it later transformed into GM Truck and Coach Division. The company also got involved in the production of transit and urban buses from the 70s through to the 80s when production was halted after they were outrun by the competition.

When the Second World War was approaching, GMC returned its focus to the manufacture of Trucks for the US army and they managed to build a total of 600,000 during the war period. The company began to experiment with utility vehicles after the war was over; these included ambulances, fire trucks, as well as heavy duty trucks. Despite the fact that the company had a good reputation at that time, their attempts to expand into other market segments were futile due to failure to meet expectations. The production of pickup trucks, SUV and light trucks were however re-emphasized and have been produced ever since.

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