General Motors is the world's largest auto manufacturer - a company that has been gaining strength ever since its introduction in 1897. When General Motors formed, they carried only one brand name - Olds Motor Vehicle Co, Inc. Now, however, the name General Motors encompasses all of the following brands: Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, GMC, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Opel, Vauxhall and Holden. General Motors has manufacturing operations across the world and they currently sell vehicles in more than 200 countries. General Motors also provides a financing service under the name GMAC. General Motors has always been an innovative company; they were the first to offer closed bodies as standard equipment. (http://www.gm.com/company/corp_info) Today they are still adding creature comforts, an example being XM satellite radio.
Ford Motor Company was created by a man named Henry Ford. Ford was born on a small farm in Dearborn or in those days Springwells Township, MI on July 30, 1863. From a young age, Henry enjoyed tinkering with anything with moving parts. As he grew older, Ford seriously considered working on watches for a living. After seeing a combustion engine run however, Ford saw another possible career. He thought if he could build the perfect engine, than an automobile would also be possible. By June 1896, after much work, he had accomplished this feat. The first Ford automobile was born - the motorized quadracycle. Henry Ford had a vision to make an automobile cheap enough so the average man could afford it, yet still very reliable. This vision became a reality when the Model T was created. In Ford's opinion, this small vehicle ran well and was relatively easy to maintain. In 1912 a Model T could be purchased for $600. By 1916, with the help of the assembly line, prices dropped to $360 for the same automobile. For the next few years, Ford Motor Company produced more cars than all of the other automakers combined (Banham, 2002, pp.