When many retail shareholders think back to the stocks and investments their parents and grandparents made, General Motors (Tii:GM) probably comes up in the conversation. The automaker has gone through ups and downs over its long and storied history, but it remains one of the leading automakers in the world.

It is a company early individual investors would barely recognize today as the company shifts from gas-powered vehicles to electric, transforming the way it operates along the way.

General Motors was founded in Flint, Michigan in 1886 when William Durant and Josiah Dallas Dort formed the Flint Road Cart Company and began building horse-drawn carriages. The company would become known as the Durant-Dort Carriage Company. Even then, it was a wildly successful company and would grow to become one of the world’s largest carriage manufacturers, developing an international network of distributors and introducing such concepts as vertical integration and model differentiation to meet customer wants and need.

In 1904, Durant was asked to take over general management of the fledgling Buick Motor Co., which had been brought to Flint the year prior. Leveraging his knowledge, talents, and connections, in just four years, Durant developed Buick into the nation’s highest volume automobile producer. His success with Buick led to the creation of General Motors on September 16, 1908. In 1911, he founded Chevrolet, and grew it to a position of market leadership in just three short years.

And by that time, the wheels were already rolling. General Motors was formed when Durant approached Buick and Oldsmobile to join the company. In fact, Durant almost purchased Ford in 1909. After getting GM in shape, Durant had Henry Ford agree to sell the company for $8 million. The loan committee of the bank, however, passed on this deal. If Durant had had the cash, Ford would have become a division of GM.

Even though Durant left General Motors in early 1921, his vision and ambition laid the groundwork for GM to become the largest industrial company in the world.

Today, GM includes automakers like Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, but also owns OnStar, GM Parts/AC Delco and GM Financial. The company also owns technology brands Ultium (its electric vehicle platform) and Vehicle Intelligence Platform (a high-tech system that can upgrade vehicles throughout their lives through the internet).

GM continues to thrive through innovation. In January 2021, the company announced plans to end production and sales of vehicles using internal combustion engines, including hybrids and plug-in hybrids by 2035 as part of its plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.

And even though the company has grown and shrank over its long history, GM is ranked 22nd on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

Where will GM go next? It’s hard to imagine a journey with more twists and turns for the company, but innovation is leading the way. In October 2022, the company announced the creation of GM Energy, a new unit that would provide battery packs, EV chargers and software to help residential and business customers to help with charging and electrical grid disruptions.

Regardless of where GM ends up next, it is a long, fascinating and prosperous journey from its roots as a horse-drawn carriage maker. It should be an interesting ride.