Last year, the Detroit-based automaker
adopted the tagline "Chevrolet runs deep." Boy, are they
right. Over the past century, the all-American automobile
manufacturer has zoomed from low-cost Ford alternative to
sports-car pioneer to surprisingly brisk seller overseas.
Here, how a car company that began as a thumb of the nose at
rival General Motors became one of GM's post bankruptcy
bright spots.
1911
Ousted GM founder William Durant
and car engineer and racing legend Louis
Chevrolet start the Chevrolet Motor Car Co.
The Chevrolet is the first vehicle to feature a
gearshift in the center of the floor. It costs
$2,150--equal to about $50,000 today.
1913
Durant so admires the wallpaper in a French motel,
he adapts the design for Chevrolet's new
bow-tie logo, according to company lore.
Other designers see it as a stylized Swiss cross,
honoring Louis Chevrolet's homeland.
1953
Chevrolet introduces the Corvette,
the first mass- produced sports car. Three hundred
of the $3,498 autos are manufactured in the first
year. (Today, a 1953 Corvette can run $275,000.)
1955
Chevrolet introduces its small-block V8
engine. It remains in production longer
than any other mass-produced engine in the world.
1974
Chevy marketers craft a new jingle,
"Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet."
The campaign is reintroduced in 2006, adding modern
American favorites such as "macchiatos" to the tune.
2007
The Volt is unveiled as the first
plug-in hybrid concept car by a major manufacturer.
Though $40,000 in price, the EpA rates it the most
efficient compact car in the U.S., averaging 93
miles per gallon in electric mode.
2011
Two years after its parent company, GM, emerges from
bankruptcy, Chevrolet announces an all-time sales
record of 2.35 million cars sold in
the first half of the year, up 16% over 2010. It
seems Chevy is revving up for its second century.