Who are General Motors' (GM) main suppliers?

General Motors Co. (GM) is a multinational corporation with headquarters in Detroit, Mich. The company designs, manufactures, and markets vehicles and vehicle parts, and was a leader in total worldwide vehicle sales for decades. Today, GM produces vehicles in 30 countries, under 10 different brands, including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. It remains one of the world’s largest automakers in regard to vehicle unit sales and depends on a wide array of suppliers in its manufacturing process.

Key Suppliers

General Motors has a number of joint ventures in emerging market nations, such as SAIC General Motors in Shanghai, China, Ghandhara Industries in Pakistan, and General Motors India. Structurally, GM is grouped into five business segments: GM Financial, GM Cruise, GM International, and GM North America.

Given its international reach and various business segments, GM has developed an extensive list of suppliers around the world. For instance, NGK Spark Plug Co. supplies GM's vehicles with spark plugs. The Mold Masters Co., also based in Mich., molds and supplies GM with plastics for the vehicle instrument panels, consoles, and garnish trim. The Bose Corp. specializes in all types of audio equipment and provides GM with primary parts for the sound systems within its vehicles.

Mitsubishi Electric Co. is another primary supplier for GM, providing vehicles with products for charging and starting, engine management, transmission control, and electric power steering systems.

In fact, the automaker has a long list of over 70 suppliers and a number are vital to producing GM vehicles. Some of them include SL Corp., Lakeside Plastics, Johnson Controls, Grand Traverse Plastics, Dynamic Manufacturing Co., Compuware, Sundram Fasteners Limited, and Van-Rob Corp.

GM Timeline

In 2009, GM went through a company reorganization backed by the government after a Chapter 11 filing for bankruptcy. The same year, the company ceased production of several brands, letting go of Hummer, Saturn, and Pontiac. After lightening its brand production load and with the government-backed restructuring, GM made one of the top five world's largest initial public offerings in 2010 to raise needed capital. The stock trades under the ticker symbol GM.

In an attempt to cash in on the push for alternate fuel cars, GM pioneered the first all-electric vehicle of the modern age, offering the first concept car with zero emissions marketed in the United States. In 2008, the company committed to making about half of its manufacturing plants completely landfill-free. The company recycles or otherwise reuses all production waste from its manufacturing processes.

In 2017, GM acquired Strobe, a developer of sensors to track distances, to help develop technology for future self-driving cars. It also unveiled the Chevy Bolt, an autonomous self-driving vehicle, in 2017. In 2018, General Motors announced that Honda was investing $2.75 billion in GM's self-driving car unit.