Story Highlights
- historical event: Louis Chevrolet was born in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Neuchâtel canton. Many famous Swiss watch manufacturers are based in the same city.
The U.S. automobile company Chevrolet was founded on this day in 1911. It is not widely known that the brand is named after the Swiss man Louis Chevrolet, born in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds on the Swiss-French border. The city is located in the Neuchâtel canton, where French is the most commonly-spoken language. Many famous Swiss watch manufacturers are based in the same city.
In his youth, Louis Chevrolet moved from Europe to North America. In the U.S., he started to participate in automobile races. He drove for FIAT and Buick, and it seems he also learned something about manufacturing around that time.
Together with the famous William Durant (founder of General Motors) Louis Chevrolet founded an automobile company under the name „Chevrolet Motor Company“. However, he sold his share in the company to Durant as early as 1915. In other words, he was the owner of “his own” Chevrolet for less than four years. William Durant later incorporated the Chevrolet brand into General Motors, and this has remained the case to this day (GM is still the owner of the Chevrolet brand).
