What is General Motors?
Global automaker behind Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, OnStar, GM Financial, EVs, software-defined vehicles, and driver-assistance technology.
- Category
- Automotive manufacturing
- Headquarters
- Detroit, MI
- Founded
- 1908
- Employees
- 156,000
- Total funding
- Public company; IPO 2010
- Status
- NYSE: GM; ~$73B market cap
What is General Motors?
General Motors is a global automaker that designs, builds, sells, finances, and services vehicles under Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick. It also operates GM Financial and is building software, EV, battery, connected-services, and advanced driver-assistance businesses around its vehicle portfolio.
GM reported 2025 net sales and revenue of $185.0 billion, driven primarily by North American trucks, SUVs, crossovers, service parts, and GM Financial. The company employed about 156,000 people at year-end 2025, including about 88,000 hourly and 68,000 salaried employees.
GM's automotive operations are organized around GM North America and GM International, while GM Financial provides retail loans, leases, dealer floorplan financing, and related credit products. Its current strategic mix is less about pure EV volume at any cost and more about profitable internal-combustion vehicles, selective EV capacity, battery supply, OnStar, Super Cruise, software services, and personal-vehicle autonomy after winding down Cruise robotaxi development.
For sellers, GM is a massive industrial, software, finance, and dealer-network buyer. The buying map spans manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, software platforms, cybersecurity, cloud, dealer systems, finance, marketing, data, and connected vehicle services.
What does General Motors offer?
GM offers passenger and commercial vehicles, parts, connected services, financing, software features, EVs, batteries, and driver-assistance technologies.
- Chevrolet vehicles· Brands
- GMC trucks and SUVs· Brands
- Cadillac luxury vehicles· Brands
- Buick vehicles· Brands
- GM Financial· Finance
- OnStar and connected services· Software/services
- Super Cruise· Driver assistance
- Ultium battery ecosystem· EV platform
- Parts and accessories· Aftermarket
Sources:GM company siteGM 2025 Form 10-K
How does General Motors make money?
GM makes money by selling vehicles, parts, accessories, services, software-enabled subscriptions, and financing products through dealers, fleet channels, and GM Financial.
GM's largest revenue stream is wholesale vehicle, parts, and accessory sales to its dealer network, fleet customers, and distributors. Vehicle pricing is model, trim, incentive, market, fleet, and finance dependent rather than a SaaS-style public tier; GM also earns from service parts, accessories, connected services such as OnStar, and software-enabled features.
GM Financial monetizes retail installment loans, leases, commercial finance, dealer floorplan lending, and related financing products. In 2025, GM Financial net sales and revenue were $17.0 billion, with revenue coming largely from lease income, retail finance charge income, and commercial finance charge income.
Growth depends on pricing discipline, North American truck and SUV demand, EV capacity utilization, battery cost, software attach, dealer throughput, warranty and quality, China and international execution, and financing penetration. Supplier and technology sellers should expect rigorous cost, quality, safety, cybersecurity, compliance, and long-cycle procurement reviews.
Who leads General Motors?
GM is led by Chair and CEO Mary Barra, with Mark Reuss, Paul Jacobson, and senior product, software, legal, HR, and regional leaders running the operating system around vehicles, finance, manufacturing, software, and policy.
- Mary BarraChair and Chief Executive OfficerCEO since 2014; GM employee since 1980Sets enterprise strategy across vehicles, EVs, software, manufacturing, capital allocation, safety, and culture.
- Mark ReussPresidentPresident since 2019; long-time GM product and engineering leaderKey executive for global product, engineering, quality, and vehicle execution.
- Paul JacobsonExecutive Vice President and Chief Financial OfficerCFO since 2020Leads finance, capital allocation, investor relations, and cost discipline.
- Baris CetinokSenior Vice President, Software and ServicesSenior software leader appointed in 2024Important buyer and strategy owner for software-defined vehicle platforms and digital services.
- Rory HarveyExecutive Vice President and President, Global MarketsSenior executive leadershipOversees market execution, brands, sales, and regional go-to-market priorities.
How do you contact General Motors's leadership?
GM publishes investor, media, shareholder, and customer contact routes, but it does not publish a verified personal executive email pattern. Use official company aliases and forms rather than guessed personal executive addresses.
shareholder.relations@gm.com and investors@gmfinancial.com are public; personal email format not verifiedHow much funding has General Motors raised?
GM is a mature public company, not a VC-backed company: it trades on the NYSE as GM, had a market cap around $73 billion in June 2026, and funds operations through operating cash flow, public debt markets, captive finance, credit facilities, and strategic capital allocation.
GM's modern capital history is defined by its 2009 reorganization, 2010 return to the public markets, subsequent share repurchases and dividends, and continuing use of public debt markets. In 2025, GM generated automotive operating cash flow of $18.7 billion, spent $9.2 billion on capital expenditures, and ended the year with $35.7 billion of automotive available liquidity.
The company also uses targeted financing for strategic needs. In May 2025, GM issued $2.0 billion of senior unsecured notes with maturities from 2028 to 2035 and used proceeds for general corporate purposes, including a term loan to Ultium Cells and refinancing. GM Financial separately issues debt and securitizes receivables to fund vehicle loans, leases, and dealer finance.
Seller signal: GM has large budgets, but capital is actively governed around profitable vehicles, EV realignment, software, safety, quality, manufacturing efficiency, and supply resilience. Vendors need to connect to platform cost, uptime, factory productivity, connected services revenue, warranty reduction, cybersecurity, or dealer/finance performance.
How did General Motors get here?
GM evolved from an early twentieth-century automotive holding company into a global manufacturer, captive finance platform, and software-enabled mobility company.
- 1908General Motors foundedGM is founded by William C. Durant and grows by assembling multiple vehicle brands.
- 1911Detroit headquarters era beginsGM establishes a long-running corporate presence in Detroit.
- 2009ReorganizationGM reorganizes through bankruptcy during the global financial crisis.
- 2010Post-bankruptcy IPOGM returns to public markets in one of the largest U.S. IPOs of the period.
- 2024-2025Autonomy strategy resetGM stops funding Cruise robotaxi development and folds technical work into personal-vehicle autonomy.
- 2025Hudson's Detroit HQ moveGM begins relocating its global headquarters to Hudson's Detroit.
Who are General Motors's competitors?
GM competes with global automakers, EV manufacturers, commercial vehicle companies, auto finance providers, and mobility technology platforms.
- FordClosest U.S. full-line competitor across trucks, SUVs, commercial vehicles, EVs, fleet, and connected services.
- StellantisGlobal automaker competing through Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Peugeot, and other brands.
- ToyotaScale leader with hybrid strength, global manufacturing discipline, and broad passenger-vehicle reach.
- TeslaEV and software-led automaker competing for electric vehicles, charging, autonomy, and digital experience.
- Hyundai Motor GroupFast-growing global competitor across EVs, SUVs, mainstream cars, and Genesis luxury vehicles.
- Volkswagen GroupGlobal multi-brand automaker with broad passenger, luxury, commercial, and EV programs.
General Motors — frequently asked questions
