General Motors de Argentina

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General Motors de Argentina S.R.L. is the Argentine branch of the U.S. automaker. Its administrative headquarters are in Vicente López, Buenos Aires, and its main factory is in Alvear, Santa Fe Province.

GM’s presence in Argentina began when the company’s Chevrolet models were first assembled in the country in 1922 by local importers Hampton and Watson. GM Argentina was founded in 1925, initially operating in San Telmo and then Barracas in Buenos Aires before moving to a larger plant in San Martín. In those early years, GM Argentina produced a range of brands, including Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Pontiac, LaSalle, Oakland, Marquette, Buick and Opel, with Chevrolet quickly becoming especially popular.

Over time, Argentina began producing 100% locally assembled Chevrolets, such as the 400, the Chevy (based on the Chevrolet Nova), the C-10 pickup, and the Opel K 180. The company expanded its manufacturing footprint, and in 1939 it acquired a large site in General San Martín to build another factory, which opened in 1940 and also produced refrigerators under the Frigidaire brand.

GM Argentina supported Argentina’s racing scene, including the Turismo Carretera, and even sponsored Juan Manuel Fangio, who achieved Chevrolet successes in the early days. World War II disrupted imports, and production at the Barracas plant paused temporarily. After the war, GM renewed its local production, refurbishing the San Martín plant to produce fully manufactured vehicles. The company introduced models such as the Apache pickup in the 1950s and the Chevrolet 400 in 1962, a compact car based on the American Nova.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, GM Argentina grew, but by 1978 sales collapsed and the company closed its factories in Argentina, ending a period in which GM had produced thousands of cars and pickups locally. In the following years, license production continued under different arrangements, and GM returned to direct production in 1994 with the D-20 pickup.

A new Alvear plant near Rosario, Santa Fe, opened in 1997, where the Chevrolet Corsa (rebadged from Opel) and the Silverado were produced. The Corsa became a major model, and GM Argentina reached milestones such as producing 500,000 Corsas by 2007 and 650,000 by 2009. In 2008, GM Mercosur united the Argentine and Brazilian subsidiaries, leading to new regional models like the Agile.

Throughout the 2010s, GM Argentina introduced the second-generation Corsa (the Classic), and later shifted several lines to models built in Brazil, including the Prisma and Onix. By 2020, the Chevrolet Cruze was the only fully Argentina-made sedan in production. In 2022, the Tracker subcompact crossover began production at the Alvear plant, with the company announcing the move in June 2022.

GM Argentina’s history shows a long cycle of local production, licensing agreements, shutdowns and reinvestment, adapting to market changes while keeping a footprint in Argentina’s automotive industry.