Anyone know where I could find a diagram of all the car manufacturers and how they branch into other car manufacturers?

I've seen it before, but can't find it now.

 

GM has their evolution on their history page.

 

I meant the whole industry though, like how VW owns Bugatti, Ford owns Jaguar, etc.

 

http://www.carlist.com/autonews/2005/autonews_149.html

 

Doesn't look like a very trustworthy list. GM does NOT own AM General. And they say GM owns Opel excluding the UK, but then what about Vauxhall? It also doesn't list GMDAT, although it mentioned them in the Chevy section.

 

I didn't write it.

 

I didn't mean to imply you did. I'm just saying, if a guy's looking for family tree, this one has a few termites.

 

It seems about 95% correct.


I've been compiling automotive trivia over the past number of years. Some related items of intrest regarding connections between automobile companies over the years:

Cadillac and Lincoln were created by the same person.

Henry Ford nearly sold the Ford Motor company to General Motors.

Nash-Rambler (later called AMC) was supposed to merge with Packard-Studebaker (fortunately, they didn't).

GM supplied parts may parts to Studebaker for years, including engines at the last couple of years of it's life (when investors sold off Studebaker's foundry).

AMC had close connections to both GM and Chrysler. The 3800 V6 did a stint at AMC and AMC was in with General Motors to market the Rotary engine. AMC used Chrysler's transmission and electronics for years.

AMC also briefly used an engine also used by Porsche.

Ford has been tied to Mazda since at least the 1970s. Ditto Chrysler and Mitsubishi.

GM & Toyota have been working together on and off since the 1980s.

GM has gotten more than the Chevrolet Aveo from Daewoo in Korea. It also got the Pontiac LeMans from the mid-80s

The Chrysler Minivan came about from a rejected idea at GM. The person responsible sold Chrysler management after he jumped from GM to Chrysler. The same person who designed the PT Cruiser also did the HHR. Bob Lutz was the guy in the deciding position in both instances.

Bob Lutz has worked in product development related divisions of all 3 automakers.

Chrysler's Omini & Horizon were essentially Volkswagen Rabbits. Right down to drivetrains and the abandoned Volkswagen factory in Westmoreland Pennsylvania where it was made.

Untill recently, when Ford based OHC engine took over, Rover's V8 engine came from GM. All alumunum. Pushrods. Sold to British Leyland when GM sold or got rid of all their innovative items from their early 60s midsize cars (the V8 was in Pontiac & Oldsmobiles) in favor of cheaper traditional mid size cars. GM sold their V6 during this time as well.

Automotive history is full of branches, twists, and unexpected alliences and roots.

 

Well, that might be okay if these were facts incidental to an article on something else. But when the whole point of the article is to explain corporate ownership, 3 mistakes on just one automaker just isn't acceptable.

I believe you're thinking of Hal Sperlich, who had the idea while at Ford not GM.

AFAIK, the Omnirizons were in no way related the Rabbit. They certainly borrowed heavily in the styling department, and their base engine was originally sourced from VW, but the car itself was a Chrysler Europe design.

 

When's the trivia book comming out Guy?

Also missing from that website is the Porsche-VW connection.

 

Second. Also wasn't Iaccoca at Ford and then later Chrysler to stirr the minivan pots?

 

Somewhere around I have an old book with a US auto industry family tree from the beginning to about 1960. It shows how the hundreds of companies merged down to 4 or 5 (at that time). One of these days, I'll scan it.

 

Still needs lots of polishing and organizing. Probally will need a bit more history behind most of the tidbits.... and ALOT more disipline to sit down at the computer for hours on end.

 

... and then later bought it back.

 

I thought the V-8 that Rover used for years was a Buick engine. And wasn't it aluminum?