General Motors Japan, Ltd. is a Japanese company that specializes in automobile imports and previously automobile production. It is the Japanese subsidiary of the American company

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

History

General Motors built a factory in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

in 1927 where

Knock-down kit A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, and then exported to another country or r ...

s of Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick vehicles were shipped from the United States and assembled locally.General Motors
Eighteenth Annual Report of General Motors Corporation, Year ended December 31, 1926
Wilmington 1027. From 1925 to 1935, the Japanese car market was dominated by American manufacturers (alongside GM since 1925 Ford and since 1930 also

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

).Stewart Lone: „Japan and the Age of Speed: Urban Society and the Automobile, 1925-30“, i
International and Japanese Studies Symposium: The Automobile in Japan
London 2005. In 1930, the combined market share of Ford and General Motors was 95%. During its presence (1927-1939), General Motors had a market share of 42 percent.William Pelfrey, ''Billy, Alfred, and General Motors: The Story of Two Unique Men, a Legendary Company, and a Remarkable Time in American History'', New York 2006, S. 257. Among the produced models was the brand

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

. As a result of a new law in 1936, according to which existing foreign companies were not allowed to increase their annual production further, further economic and political factors led to General Motors (like other American manufacturers) withdrawing from the Japanese market in 1939. The refoundation of General Motors Japan, Ltd. in Tokyo took place in 2001.

References

External links

* {{Automotive industry in Japan Car manufacturers of Japan General Motors subsidiaries Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1927 Japanese companies established in 1927 Japanese subsidiaries of foreign companies