What Car Brands Does GM Own? 4 Today + Every Ended Brand (2026)
General Motors owns four car brands today: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. That is the exact list on GM’s own brands page and in its latest annual report to the SEC. Everything else people ask about is either a service (OnStar, GM Financial), a China joint venture (Wuling, Baojun), or a brand GM closed or sold: Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Opel, Vauxhall and Holden. This guide gives each one’s status and end year, and fixes a few details that older versions of this page and other sites get wrong.
GM’s four current brands are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. In China, GM also has stakes in joint ventures that sell Wuling and Baojun vehicles. Oldsmobile ended in 2004, Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer were wound down in 2010, Saab was sold in 2010, Opel and Vauxhall were sold in 2017, and Holden sales ended by 2021.
What Car Brands Does GM Own?
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GM’s brands page lists Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, and its FAQ there says plainly that Chevrolet is one of four GM brands. GM’s 2025 annual report (Form 10-K) uses the same four names for its North American and international operations. If you want the model side of the story, our guide to what GM cars are and our GM brand and model guide cover what each brand sells.
| Brand | Type | How it fits in GM |
|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet | GM brand | Founded by William Durant in 1911 (per GM Heritage) |
| Buick | GM brand | Durant took over Buick management in 1904; Buick and Oldsmobile were the base of GM when it was incorporated on September 16, 1908 |
| GMC | GM brand | Listed by GM Heritage among the companies Durant acquired in GM’s first 16 months |
| Cadillac | GM brand | Entered GM in 1909 (per GM Heritage) |
The Four Current Brands in Brief
Chevrolet
Chevrolet is the brand GM Heritage ties to Durant’s comeback: after he lost control of GM in 1910, he started working with Louis Chevrolet and launched the brand in 1911. GM’s brands page notes that Chevrolet Motorsports is one of the two racing efforts GM backs today, and that GM builds all Chevy vehicles. Silverado trucks and Corvette sports cars are the models most people associate with it.
Buick
Buick is the oldest of the four in GM terms. GM Heritage says Durant took over management of the Buick Motor Co. in 1904 and that Buick production passed Ford and Cadillac combined in 1908, the year GM was created. Whether Buick counts as a luxury badge is a separate question that we answer in are Buicks luxury cars.
GMC
GMC is a full GM brand, not a trim level of Chevrolet. GM’s brands page lists it as one of the four, and GM Heritage includes GMC among the early acquisitions. GMC is also where the Hummer name lives today, which is covered below.
Cadillac
Cadillac joined GM in 1909. GM’s brands page says the Cadillac Formula 1 team joins the grid in 2026 through GM’s partnership with TWG Motorsports. For a Cadillac first, see our piece on the first car with air conditioning.
GM Names That Are Not Car Brands
Search results often lump these in with GM’s brands. None of them is a car brand you can buy, which is the cleanest way to settle the question.
- OnStar: a connected-vehicle service. GM’s annual report describes it as a global leader in connected vehicle services, available in more than 20 markets. Our guide to activating OnStar covers the service itself.
- GM Financial: GM’s captive finance company. The annual report calls it GM’s global provider of automobile finance solutions, with retail loans and leases.
- GM Defense: a GM subsidiary that builds military vehicles. GM news releases describe its Infantry Squad Vehicle, which is based on a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 architecture. It sells to governments, not consumers.
- BrightDrop: GM announced it in January 2021 as a business offering electric delivery vans and related services. On October 21, 2025, GM said it was ending production of the BrightDrop electric delivery van at its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, and would not move it to another site. It is not one of GM’s current brands.
GM’s Joint Venture Brands in China
GM’s annual report says it holds equity stakes in companies, mainly in China, that make and sell vehicles under the Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and Wuling brands. The two local names are Wuling and Baojun. The report names the joint ventures as SAIC GM Wuling Automobile Co., Ltd. (SGMW) and SAIC General Motors Sales Co., Ltd. (SGMS). Those brands are sold in China, not in the U.S. Because GM holds stakes rather than full control, a more precise way to say it is that GM co-owns these two brands through joint ventures. GM’s 2010 report said SGMW planned to begin sales under the Baojun brand in 2011.
For the buyer side of the same story, our guide to Chinese-built cars sold in America explains which GM-badged vehicles come from China.
GM Brand Timeline: Every Brand and Where It Ended
This table brings every brand together, with the year it ended and what replaced it. Years come from GM’s annual reports to the SEC unless a different source is named.
| Brand | Status today | End year | Detail | What replaced it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oldsmobile | Discontinued | 2004 | Joined GM in 1908 (GM Heritage). Final car built April 29, 2004 in Lansing (per History.com) | Chevrolet and Buick |
| Pontiac | Discontinued | 2010 | GM said in its 2009 report that Pontiac would be phased out by the end of 2010; the 2010 report says the wind-down was completed | No direct replacement; GM focused on four core brands |
| Saturn | Discontinued | 2010 | GM decided to wind down the brand and dealer network in September 2009; completed in 2010 | No direct replacement |
| Hummer | Discontinued as a brand; name lives on | 2010 | Tengzhong was unable to complete the purchase, and GM announced in February 2010 that it would wind down the brand | GMC HUMMER EV (first 2022 trucks built December 2021) |
| Saab | Sold | 2010 | GM completed the sale of Saab to Spyker Cars NV in February 2010 | Now independent of GM |
| Opel / Vauxhall | Sold | 2017 | GM closed the sale of both to PSA Group on July 31, 2017; PSA is now Stellantis | Nothing in Europe; GM sells fewer vehicles there |
| Holden | Discontinued | 2021 (sales) | GM’s 2020 report: wind-down of Holden sales, design and engineering in Australia and New Zealand, with sales ending by 2021 | No direct replacement |
| Daewoo | Renamed | 2011 | GM Daewoo announced in January 2011 it would become GM Korea and sell most cars under the Chevrolet brand | Chevrolet |
Corrections: What Older Versions of This Page Got Wrong
- Saab’s end year. The previous version listed 2012. GM’s annual report says the sale to Spyker Cars NV was completed in February 2010, so 2010 is the year GM stopped owning it.
- Holden’s end year. It was listed as 2020. GM announced the wind-down in 2020, but its report says sales were to cease by 2021, so the brand’s last sales year is 2021.
- “All discontinued by 2020.” The previous meta description said this. The listed brands ended between 2004 and 2021, so the 2020 cutoff was wrong.
- Hummer relaunch year. GMC’s release says the first 2022 GMC HUMMER EV pickups were built and deliveries began in December 2021, so the revival is a 2021 to 2022 event, not just 2022.
- Saturn’s end. The earlier explanation said a sale to Penske fell through. We could not confirm that in a source we read, so it was removed. What we can confirm is that GM decided to wind down Saturn in September 2009 and had completed it by 2010.
Hummer Is Back, but Not as a Separate Brand
GM wound down the Hummer brand in 2010 after Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery was unable to complete a purchase. The name came back under GMC: GMC’s December 2021 release announced that the first 2022 GMC HUMMER EV pickups had been produced at Factory ZERO and customer deliveries were beginning. In July 2026 GMC marked 25 years of the HUMMER nameplate with a limited-run HUMMER EV ICON | 25 on the 2X and 3X trims of the pickup and SUV. GM’s brands page still lists four brands, so Hummer is a GMC model name, not a fifth brand. Our Hummer buyer guide covers the vehicles themselves.
Where the Four Core Brands Idea Came From
GM’s 2009 annual report says it had focused its U.S. resources on four core brands, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC, and that it had sold Saab and planned to phase out Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer. That sentence is the root of the four-brand answer you see everywhere. For what happened to a brand after GM, read our Saab status explainer and the story of Oldsmobile. If you are comparing GM to other groups, see what Ford owns and our car brand ownership chart.
Brands GM Does Not Own
- Dodge: a Stellantis brand. Stellantis’s official brand list includes Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Fiat, Peugeot and Opel, so Opel is now part of that group. See is Dodge a good car brand.
- Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche: brands of Volkswagen Group, whose official brand list includes Volkswagen, Skoda, SEAT, CUPRA, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ducati and Porsche. See who makes Audi cars.
For the bigger picture of how many names exist, read how many car brands there are.
Frequently Asked Questions
What car brands does GM own?
General Motors owns four car brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. In China it holds stakes in joint ventures that sell Wuling and Baojun vehicles.
Is Chevrolet part of GM?
Yes. GM’s own brands page says Chevrolet is one of four GM brands and that GM manufactures all Chevy vehicles.
Does GMC make cars?
GMC is a GM brand. We could not confirm the exact current GMC lineup from a source we read, so check GMC’s own site for the models offered right now.
Does GM own Dodge?
No. Dodge is a Stellantis brand, according to Stellantis’s official brand list. GM sold its Opel and Vauxhall businesses to PSA Group in 2017, and PSA is now Stellantis.
What GM brands were discontinued?
Oldsmobile ended in 2004. Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer were wound down in 2010, Saab was sold in 2010, Opel and Vauxhall were sold in 2017, and Holden sales were set to end by 2021.
Does GM still own Holden?
No. GM’s 2020 annual report describes the wind-down of Holden sales, design and engineering in Australia and New Zealand, with sales ending by 2021.
Is OnStar or BrightDrop a GM brand?
Neither is a car brand today. OnStar is a connected-vehicle service. GM said on October 21, 2025 that it was ending production of the BrightDrop electric delivery van and would not move it to another plant.
Did GM ever own Hummer?
Yes. GM wound down the Hummer brand in 2010. The name returned in December 2021 as the GMC HUMMER EV, which is sold under GMC.
How we checked: brand status comes from GM’s brands page, GM Heritage pages, GM’s annual reports to the SEC for fiscal years 2009, 2010, 2017, 2020 and 2025, and GM and GMC press releases. Oldsmobile’s last-car date comes from History.com. Where a point could not be confirmed it is marked as such.
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