Chevrolet

History

Chevrolet was founded by Louis Chevrolet, a racecar driver and son of Cooper Chevrolet, and William Durant (founder of General Motors), who had been forced from the management of GM in 1910. Durant took over the Flint Wagon Works, incorporating both the Mason and Little companies. Chevrolet Motor Car Co. was incorporated in November 1911. He wanted to use Chevrolet's name as a racer to rebuild his own reputation. As head of Buick Motor Company, prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races. Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six was drawn up by Etienne Planche, following the instructions of his old friend Louis. The first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was actually incorporated.

Chevrolet first used its "Bowtie emblem"logo in 1913. It is said to have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel. More recent research by historian Ken Kaufmann presents a compelling case that the logo is based upon a logo for "Coalettes". Others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross, in honor of the homeland of Chevrolet's parents.

Chevrolet logo, ca. 1943

In control, Durant was in the process of setting up Chevrolet production facilities in Toronto, Canada. Later that year, during a luncheon meeting in New York with "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin, whose McLaughlin Motor Car Company manufactured McLaughlin-Buick cars, it was agreed that Chevrolets with McLaughlin-designed bodies would be added to the Canadian company's product line. Three years later, the two operations (Chevrolet was by then a part of GM in the United States) were bought by GM to become General Motors of Canada Ltd.

By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough to allow Durant to buy a majority of shares in GM. After the deal was completed in 1917, Durant was president of General Motors, and Chevrolet was merged into GM, becoming a separate division. In the 1918 model year, Chevrolet introduced the Model D, a V8-powered model in four-passenger roadster and five-passenger tourer models. It also started production of a overhead valve in-line six. Most cars of the era had only low compression flat head engines. These cars had 288in³ 55 hp (41 kW) engines with Zenith carburetors and three-speed transmissions.

Chevrolet had a great influence on the American automobile market during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957, Chevy made the first fuel injected engine^{[citation needed]}. In 1963, one out of every ten cars sold in the United States was a Chevrolet.

Audi

Birth of company

The company traces its origins back to 1909 and August Horch. The first Audi automobile, the Audi Type A 10 / 22 hp Sport-Phaeton, was produced in 1910 in Zwickau.^[2]

In 1909, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded.^[2] He then started a new company in Zwickau and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement and the German Supreme Court (Reichsgericht in Berlin)^[3] finally determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company.^[2]

August Horch was barred from using his own family name in his new car business, so he called a meeting with his best business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company. During this meeting Franz's son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Several times he looked like he was on the verge of saying something but would just swallow his words and continue working, until he finally blurted out, "Father – audiatur et altera pars... wouldn't it be a good idea to call it audi instead of horch?"^[4] "Horch!" in German means "Hark!" or "hear", which is "Audi" in Latin. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by everyone attending the meeting.^[5]

Audi started with a 2,612 cc (2.6 litre) four cylinder model^{[clarification needed]} followed by a 3564 cc (3.6 L) model, as well as 4680 cc (4.7 L) and 5720 cc (5.7L) models. These cars were successful even in sporting events. The first six cylinder model,^{[clarification needed]} 4655 cc (4.7 L) appeared in 1924.

August Horch left the Audi company in 1920 for a high position at the ministry of transport, but he was still involved with Audi as a member of the board of trustees. In September 1921, Audi became the first German car manufacturer to present a production car, the Audi Type K, with left-handed drive.^[6] Left-hand drive spread and established dominance during the 1920s because it provided a better view of oncoming traffic, making overtaking safer.[