EV1 lessees were officially participants in a " real-world engineering evaluation " and market study into the feasibility of producing and marketing a commuter electric vehicle in select U. S. markets undertaken by GM's Advanced Technology Vehicles group.

As a result of GM's toying with the Wankel rotary engine, as used by Mazda of Japan, an export agreement was initiated in 1975.

In 1975, Holden introduced the compact Gemini, the Australian version of the " T-car ", based on the Opel Kadett C. The Gemini was an overseas design developed jointly with Isuzu, GM's Japanese affiliate ; and was powered by a 1. 6-litre four-cylinder engine.

The closest successor to the Torana was the Camira, released in 1982 as Australia's version of GM's medium-sized " J-car ".

On June 3, 2008, one day prior to GM's annual shareholder meeting, Rick Wagoner, GM's CEO at that time, said the brand was being reviewed, and had the possibility of either being sold, having the production line completely redesigned, or being discontinued.

A general opinion quickly formed that the GM's 128-instrument sound set was not large enough.

Changes in the Opel cars under GM's management didn't appear until January 1950, when a face-lifted Olympia was introduced.

Even the idea and concept behind the Ampera was rooted in Opel with Frank Weber, the former " Global Vehicle Line Executive and Global Chief Engineer electric vehicle development ," being originally an Opel employee who was moved to the USA in order to advance the development of this concept in GM's home country instead of the German outpost that is Opel.

However, GM's engines had not reached production when the Pacer was to hit the showrooms.

The biggest problem was GM's reluctancy to sell the fuel injection kits necessary for exports, as they doubted VAZ's ability to pay.

The Pontiac brand was introduced by General Motors in 1926 as the companion marque to GM's Oakland division.

For 1964, the Tempest and LeMans ' transaxle design was dropped and the cars were redesigned under GM's new A body platform ; frame cars with a conventional front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout.

The Holden Ute was scheduled to be launched as the G8 ST before it was cancelled in January 2009 due to GM's financial situation.

Ewing was home to the Inland Fisher Guide Plant, a plant that opened in 1938 for the Ternstedt division of GM's Fisher Body unit.

His memoir and management treatise, My Years with General Motors, was more or less finished around this time ; but its publication was held up for nearly a decade longer by GM's legal staff, who feared that it would be used to support an antitrust case against GM.

Proof that the system did not remain foolproof forever was seen in GM's problems of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

" Sloan was far from the sole author of GM's financial and accounting systems, as GM later had many trained minds in accounting and finance ; but regardless of authorship, GM's financial controls — at one time considered top-notch — eventually proved to have latent drawbacks.

However, Waddell & Bodek's 2005 analysis indicates that this theory was not successfully implemented in GM's practice.

In November, 1983, the Saturn idea was publicized by General Motors ' Chairman Roger B. Smith and GM's President F. James McDonald.

GM's headquarters had genuinely tried to adhere to the 1957 ban, but their Chevrolet division had also constantly tried to work around it, because the other manufacturers had openly circumvented the ban.

DeLorean's version was rejected because of GM's concern that his design would take away sales from the Corvette, their flagship performance vehicle, so instead they forced him to work with the existing Camaro design.

GM's Stabilitrak system was added, and Quadrasteer became available on 2500 series Suburbans, although it never became popular because of its additional cost.

On April 5, however, GM's financial policy committee concluded that " in view of the many uncertainties surrounding the operation of this property, the Corporation is not justified in resuming the responsibility for its operation at this time ..." GM, it seemed, didn't want Opel.

On October 10, 2001, Texaco purchased GM's share in GM Ovonics, and Chevron completed its acquisition of Texaco six days later.

The split grille returned, as well as all-new bodies and a new design of a perimeter-frame chassis for all its full-size models ( something which would be adopted for all of GM's intermediate-sized cars in 1964, and all its full-sized cars in 1965 ).

The Cortina competed fairly successfully there against most of the other small imports of its day, including GM's Opel Kadett, the Renault Dauphine, and the just-appearing Toyotas and Datsuns, although none of them approached the phenomenal success of the Volkswagen Beetle.

With GM's ban on factory-sponsored racing, Pontiac's young, visionary management turned its attention to emphasizing street performance.

Shortly thereafter the union decided that it could not survive by piecemeal organizing campaigns at smaller plants, as it had in the past, but that it could organize the automobile industry only by going after its biggest and most powerful employer, General Motors Corporation, focusing on GM's production complex in Flint, Michigan.

Four years into the larger-sized design, GM's Pontiac finally offered the 1962 Grand Prix and Buick its Wildcat, but neither was an attempt to fully replicate the Thunderbird " luxury " and unique design formula.

Within three years GM's Oldsmobile had rolled out an ahead of its time front-wheel drive Toronado and Cadillac reintroduced its exclusive Eldorado as a long-nose, short-tail 2 + 2 design.

It has been postulated that GM may have made its diesel engines available to Flxible to reduce the criticisms of GM's business practices that some felt were monopolistic.

For the first time, Vauxhall began exporting cars in LHD to other European countries, badged as Opels, which was a boost to GM's confidence in its once-troubled British division.

According to Snell, GM's own testimony had shown that by the mid-1950s, GM and its agents had canvassed more than 1, 000 electric railways and had motorized 90 %— more than 900 systems.

When GM's full-size cars were redesigned for 1971, the Eldorado regained both a convertible model and its fender skirts.

On November 22, 2006 Kerkorian sold 14 million shares of his GM stake ( it is speculated that this action was due to GM's rejection of Renault and Nissan's bids for stakes in the company as both of these bids were strongly supported by Kerkorian ); the sale resulted in GM's share price falling 4. 1 % from its November 20 price, although it remained above $ 30 / share.

Although the Toronado and Troféo were, by this time, as good as GM's designers and engineers could make them, buyers were not buying them since the " SUV craze " was in its infancy and personal luxury coupes, in general, were declining in sales.

The 1987 Allanté, with its removable aluminum hardtop and the industry's first power retractable AM / FM / Cellular Telephone antenna, debuted as sold to fleets and mail companies, with a multi-port fuel injected version of GM's aluminum 4. 1 L HT-Cadillac 4100 V8, along with roller valve lifters, high-flow cylinder heads, and a tuned intake manifold.

For 1971, the Cougar was restyled, weighed less, and had only a one-inch-longer wheelbase than its predecessors ( 112 vs. 111-which was similar to GM's intermediate-sized two-door models, such as the Olds Cutlass ).

Part of GM's mid-size A-body quartet, the Celebrity used the same engines as one of its siblings, the Pontiac 6000.

Australia's Holden, although it often shares planning and hardware with the rest of GM's global empire such as Opel and Isuzu, has generally preferred to assemble its versions of such vehicles locally.

As a result of the EDS acquisition, Perot became GM's largest single shareholder, joined its board of directors, and immediately became a source of friction to Smith and a vocal and public critic of Smith and GM's management.