Louis Chevrolet, (born December 25, 1878, La Chaux de Fonds, Neuchâtel, Switzerland—died June 6, 1941, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.), car designer and racer whose identify is borne by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors, an enterprise from which he derived little revenue and of which he was a minor worker within the final years of his life.
He emigrated to the United States from France in 1900. Five years later, in his first car race, he defeated the nice American driver Barney Oldfield, and thereafter he set data on each essential observe within the United States. His time for the measured mile, 52.8 seconds, was, in 1905, exceptional.
In 1911, with William Crapo Durant, he constructed the primary Chevrolet automotive, however he had little confidence in it, and in 1915 he bought his curiosity to Durant, who, the subsequent 12 months, introduced the Chevrolet Motor Company into the General Motors group. Other vehicles designed by Chevrolet gained the Indianapolis 500 in 1920 (a Monroe pushed by his brother Gaston Chevrolet) and in 1921 (a Frontenac pushed by Tommy Milton).
Subsequently, Chevrolet was energetic in motorboat racing, labored for the Stutz Automobile Company in Indianapolis, and established an unsuccessful plane manufacturing facility in that metropolis. In 1936 he returned to the General Motors division named for him.