Americans have always held a fascination for automobiles from the first car built in 1893 until today. In the United States, the automobile market consists of five major manufacturers known as the “Big 5,” General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, and Honda. General Motors is the leader in car sales for the United States; its August 2017 sales represented 18.6% of total automobile sales for the month. The demand for automobiles has increased worldwide. According to The Wall Street Journal (2017) and Statista (n. d.), automobile sales for 2016 was over 7.1 million cars in the United States and globally 77.31 million cars. This paper will look at the General Motors Company and its customers’ demand trends, examine domestic and global competition, evaluate price elasticity, and make recommendations for sustainability in today’s market to increase the company’s market share.
Company History
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Durant was an American Industrialist, a high school dropout, a visionary, an innovator and an astute salesman. He made his fortune, in 1886, building horse-drawn carriages and carts of all kinds. Durant offered his customers a variety of carriages and carts, from utility to luxury styles. This differed from the other manufacturers because they offered only one or two styles of carriages. Customer satisfaction was high in Durant’s thought processes and would be instrumental when he developed a giant company that would dominate the American automobile industry