100 Years of Automobile experience

Display that badge of more than 100 years of unmatched craftsmanship; adorn the keys of your GMC brand of SUVs, pickups, vans and trucks with exclusive GMC Keychains. These lovely trinkets are available in circular and rectangular Chrome, oval black metal, silver or gold plated leather, and elegant stainless steel (e.g., a miniature steering wheel, the 'Teardrop' and the 'Valet' designs).
GMC, formerly General Motors Truck Company or GMC Truck, is the second largest division of General Motors (GM), next after Chevrolet which is the largest division and ahead of Pontiac, the third largest division. GMC is also a brand name of vans, SUVs and trucks manufactured by General Motors.

GMC traces its beginning from Rapid Motor Vehicle Company founded by Max Grabowski in 1901 which General Motors acquired in 1909. It was then renamed the General Motors Truck Company, later shortened as GMC Truck. Also in 1909, General Motors also acquired Reliance Motor Car Company which was merged with Rapid in 1911. The name GMC Truck first appeared in 1912 New York International Auto Show. The merger produced 22,000 trucks in that same year, with only 372 units contributed by General Motors.

GMC Truck manufactured in 1916 the first truck that managed to cross more than 3,800 kilometers from Seattle, Washington to New York City in 30 days. In 1926, the travel time from the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States was dramatically shortened to just 5 days and 30 minutes. This 4,000-kilometer feat was achieved by a two-ton GMC Truck that traveled from New York City to San Francisco, California. GMC Truck recorded 600,000 trucks manufactured for US Military use during the Second World War.

In 1925, GMC started manufacturing buses when General Motors acquired control of the Chicago, Illinois bus manufacturer Yellow Coach. The stiff competition faced by GM in the 1970s-80s forced it to stop manufacturing buses. In 1987, GM sold its bus models to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation, and later to NovaBus.

The GMC automobile brand has 2008 models for SUVs, trucks (pickup, light-duty and medium-duty) and vans. The SUV models are the Acadia, Yukon, Yukon Hybrid and Envoy. The pickup models are Sierra (1500, 2500HD and 3500HD) and Canyon. Models of light- and medium-duty trucks are also available. The Savanna is GMC's van model and it comes in four variants (Passenger, Cargo, Conversion and Cutaway). There is a so-called Denali Line for Yukon, Sierra and Envoy models.

GMC and Chevrolet trucks generally look the same. GMC generally use to have a different trim, larger engines and higher price. The main difference between GMC and Chevy is the four-piece headlights installed in it, compared to Chevy two-piece headlights. This variation is evident until 1972 and faded in 1973 where the two GM brands had their models began to look exactly similar. The only difference hence is limited to trim and price. GMC Sierra is rebadged as the Chevy Silverado. GMC Jimmy is Chevy Blazer, Yukon is Tahoe, Sprint is El Camino, and so goes a long list of GMC-Chevy sister models. Until 2007, the Silverado and the Sierra showed diverse designs in terms of body panel shape and overall appearance.

GMC is sold alongside with Buick or Pontiac by most GM dealers, in lower volumes compared to their Chevy counterparts. In the truck category, GMC are regarded as a higher grade, or professional grade of its equivalent Chevy trucks. GMC offers more options and standard features that Chevrolet counterparts are considered entry-levels. More or equivalent volumes of GMC trucks are sold in Canada.


by Bernabe Almirol