AM General - Corporate History

Corporate History

AM General traces its roots to the Standard Wheel Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, which expanded in 1903 to include the Overland Automotive Division. In 1908, John North Willys purchased the Overland company, then based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and renamed it Willys-Overland Motors, Inc. In the 1940s, Willys-Overland developed a vehicle to U.S. Army's requirements and later mass produced "America's first four-wheel drive one-fourth-ton tactical utility truck" - the Jeep of World War II fame. In 1953, Kaiser Motors purchased Willys-Overland, and changed the name to Willys Motor Company. In 1963 the company's name changed again to Kaiser-Jeep Corporation. In 1964, Kaiser-Jeep purchased the Studebaker facilities in South Bend, Indiana, and formed the Defense and Government Products Division in 1967, which after American Motors purchased Kaiser-Jeep became what is now AM General.

AM General's roots (and its location in South Bend) also lie with the "General Products Division" of Studebaker, which, along with its substantial defense contracts, was acquired by Kaiser Industries in early 1964 after Studebaker closed its U.S. auto manufacturing operations. At the time, Kaiser had been awarded a US$87 million Army truck contract, and under government pressure agreed to perform the work at the South Bend plant it had recently acquired from Studebaker. Subsequently, American Motors Corporation (AMC) purchased the Jeep Corporation from Kaiser in 1970 when Kaiser itself decided to leave the auto business. In 1971, AMC made the General Products Division of Jeep (producing military trucks, as well as contract and non-commercial vehicles) a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed it AM General Corporation.

AM General produced buses, large trucks, and Jeeps for industrial, military, and government use. In the late 1970s, it developed the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, nicknamed "Humvee") for military use as a heavy-duty replacement for the jeep. The vehicle later became available in a civilian version sold under the Hummer brand name. Another familiar product from the AM General line was the Jeep DJ-5 series—a purpose built "Delivery Jeep" 2-wheel drive (RWD) version of the Jeep CJ-5—used in huge numbers as a right-hand drive mail delivery vehicle by the United States Postal Service. Production of buses lasted only from 1974 until 1979.

American Motors ended its history as an independent automaker in 1982 when controlling interest in the company was purchased by France's Renault. U.S. government regulations at that time forbade ownership of defense contractors by foreign governments, and Renault was partially owned by the French government. Therefore, in 1983, AM General was sold by AMC to the LTV Corporation and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the LTV Aerospace and Defense Company. (As a result, AM General remained an independent company after AMC was purchased by Chrysler Corporation.)

Renco Group bought the company in 1992.

AM General, which remains an independent company and government and military contractor, sold the rights to the Hummer brand to General Motors in 1999. It continued production of the original civilian Hummer (dubbed by GM as the H1) until June 2006 when it ceased production.

AM General built a separate factory to build a new Hummer H2, designed by and marketed by General Motors. The vehicle went on the market in 2002. AM General does not build the Hummer H3 and is not a part of General Motors.

GM was sued early in 2003 by DaimlerChrysler, owners of the Jeep brand, for the Hummer's seven slot grille which resembled the design DaimlerChrysler argued consumers associated with Jeep vehicles. The lawsuit was dismissed due to the past corporate history involving AMC and Jeep.

On August 20, 2004, it was announced that Ronald Perelman's MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings company would form a joint venture with AM General's current owner, Renco Group, to give Perelman 70% ownership of AM General. The deal reportedly cost close to US$1 billion

In 2008, AM General and the Vehicle Production Group, of Troy, Michigan, announced that contracts had been signed for AM General to begin producing purpose-built taxi-cabs, beginning in 2009. Actual production is now expected in 2010.

In May 2010, Azure Dynamics Corp. announced it had chosen AM General to assemble its electric drivetrain into Ford Transit Connect vehicles for the North American market. This product is being produced at AM General's facility in Livonia, Michigan.