Two Gs, Two Ms, One C

The name GM and GMC sound very similar, but there is a difference in their meaning. Do you know how they differ?To begin with, GM stands for General Motors which owns the GMC brand.GMC stands for General Motors Company, so you are not wrong in connecting the two together. A trip down memory lane will reveal that GM was the company that built the GMC brand with its heavy-duty trucks.

GMC was originally founded as the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company by brothers Max and Morris Grabowsky in 1902 in Pontiac, MI. They made trucks as a standalone brand until their company was acquired by GM under William Durant seven years later. The division persisted for another two years as a GM subsidiary until it was reorganized into the General Motors Truck Company. 

To avoid confusion, the company applied for the GMTC trademark since GMC at the time stood for its parent company, GM. The company was completely assimilated in 1915 as the GMC Truck Division. It wasn't until 1996 that the division dropped the Truck name as a rebranding effort to target families who favored "passenger car class and comfort" vehicles. This was the birth of GMC.

GMC is one of GM's 13 worldwide brands. The acronym "GM" isn't used to brand the cars but rather the car company. However, you can be certain that any GMC vehicle you see on our car lot is proudly and wholeheartedly GM, and now you know.