Chevrolet headlamps

Chevrolet also known as Chevy is a brand produced by General Motors. It is the top selling GM marque, with "Chevrolet" or "Chevy" being at times synonymous with GM. Chevrolet offers 18 vehicles and many different enhanced versions in its home market. The vehicles range from subcompact cars to medium duty commercial trucks. Its number one seller in the United States is the Silverado pickup.

North America

Louis Chevrolet was a race-car driver, and William Durant, founder of General Motors, had been forced out of GM in 1910. He wanted to use Chevrolet's designs to rebuild his own reputation. As head of Buick Motor Company, prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races.headlamps

Chevrolet first used its "bowtie"headlamps logo in 1913. It is said to have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel. More recent research by historian Ken Kaufmann presents a compelling case that the logo is based from a logo for "Coalettes".headlamps

In 1915, Durant was in the process of setting up Chevrolet production facilities in Toronto, Canada. Later that year, during a luncheon meeting in New York with "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin, whose McLaughlin Motor Car Company manufactured McLaughlin-Buick cars, it was agreed that Chevrolets with McLaughlin-designed bodies would be added to the Canadian company's product line. Three years later, the two Canadian operations (Chevrolet was by then a part of GM in the United States) were bought by GM to become General Motors of Canada Ltd.

By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough to allow Durant to buy a majority of shares in GM. After the deal was completed in 1917, Durant was president of General Motors, and Chevrolet was merged into GM, becoming a separate division. In the 1918 model year, Chevrolet introduced the Model D, a V8-powered model in four-passenger roadster and five-passenger tourer models. It also started production of a overhead valve in-line six. Most cars of the era had only low compression flat head engines. These cars had 288in3 55 hp (41 kW) engines with Zenith carburetors and three-speed transmissions.

Chevrolet had a great influence on the American automobile market during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957, Chevy made the first fuel injected engine. In 1963, one out of every ten cars sold in the United States was a Chevrolet.headlamps
Chevrolet Camaro 2010

The basic Chevrolet small-block V-8 design has remained in continuous production since its debut in 1955, longer than any other mass-produced engine in the world, although current versions share few if any parts interchangeable with the original. Descendants of the basic small-block OHV V-8 design platform in production today have been much modified with advances such as aluminium block and heads, electronic engine management and sequential port fuel injection, to name but a few. Descendants of the small-block V-8 in the form of the LT V-8s, and had influence in the design of the LS V-8s, both of which are still installed in Chevrolet vehicles. The original small-block design is simplistic compared to the overhead-cam V-8 that Ford Motor Company used and continues to use in its line of larger cars and light trucks. Depending on the vehicle type, Chevrolet V-8s are built in displacements from 4.8 to 7.0 litres with outputs ranging from 295 horsepower (220 kW) to 638 horsepower (476 kW) as installed at the factory. The engine design has also been used over the years in GM products built and sold under the Pontiac. Oldsmobile, Buick, Opel (Germany) and Holden (Australia) nameplates.

The Chevrolet brand is currently undergoing a product restructuring in North America along with all other GM brands in order to fit into the parent company's turnaround efforts. General Motors has recently unveiled more fuel efficient Chevrolet branded vehicles in order to compete with companies like Toyota and Honda. The Monte Carlo, discontinued in 2007, is said to be replaced by the Camaro, also a coupe. At the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, the production version of the Chevrolet Beat was displayed under the nameplate of Spark. General Motors announced that the Spark, along with the Chevrolet Orlando, would go into production in the US. The Orlando will be a successor, but it is unknown what car it will replace. Along with the Spark and Orlando, General Motors will introduce two more models: the plug-in hybrid 2011 Chevrolet Volt; and the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, successor to the Cobalt.

Current headlamp Models

Cars Aveo Cobalt Malibu Impala Corvette Camaro
Trucks Colorado Silverado Avalanche Kodiak
Crossovers HHR Traverse Equinox
SUVs Tahoe Suburban
Vans Express