Founded in 1900 by brothers Max and Morris Grabowsky, the Grabowsky Motor Company (GMC), as it was originally known, was acquired by William Durant and folded into, along with other early commercial truck manufacturers, his General Motor Company under a new “GMC” entity. GMC gained early notoriety as a manufacturer of light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks, particularly during World War I with troop carriers and aircraft support trucks.
Over the decades, the GMC badge was lent to a variety of vehicles like motorhomes, vans, and buses, but their calling was always in trucks and utility vehicles.
Today, GMC carries on the tradition as a premium truck and SUV manufacturer. While mechanically similar to Chevrolet, GMC is positioned as a more up-market offering with variations like the Denali and the all-new GMC HUMMER EV.
HISTORY OF GMC TRUCKS & 4x4s.
Once General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918, GMC and Chevrolet trucks shared similar architecture, platforms, and design – albeit with subtle deviations, including the engines. This allowed GM to market the Chevrolet examples to everyday buyers, while GMC appealed to more commercial buyers and businesses.
However, the vehicles were almost identical. For instance, the Chevrolet El Camino was rebadged as a GMC Sprint / Caballero, the Chevrolet Blazer was rebadged as the GMC Jimmy, both of which were replaced by the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon, respectively, both GMC and Chevrolet shared the C/K nomenclature, and today, the GMC Sierra serves as an upscale variation of the Chevrolet Silverado.
GMC has generally been synonymous with utility over speed, but did offer extremely awesome versions of the Chevy S10 and Chevy S10 Blazer: The GMC Syclone and GMC Typhoon, two low-production models known for bolting off the line thanks to their 4.3L LB4 turbocharged V6 motors.
GMC primarily competes with more upmarket trucks and SUVs from manufacturers like Ford, Jeep, Dodge, RAM, Toyota, and Nissan.
INTRODUCING THE GMC HUMMER.
For 2022, GMC assumed the HUMMER line of ultra-utility vehicles with the announcement of the 2022 GMC HUMMER EV truck and SUV. The HUMMER brand was originally manufactured as a military vehicle, as seen in the Gulf War, by AM General.
The Humvee was later offered as a civilian vehicle and the marketing rights to the Hummer name were acquired by GM in 1999, who would help produced the Hummer H1, Hummer H2, and Hummer H3. Hummer wouldn’t make it out of the 2008 market downturn, ceasing production in 2010. The nameplate was revived in 2022 under GMC as the GMC HUMMER EV.