On November 8, 1912 racecar driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet cofounded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company with William C. Durant (ousted founder of General Motors) and investment partners William Little (maker of the Little automobile) and Dr. Edwin R. Campbell (son-in-law of Durant). Durant from the management of GM in 1910. Durant took over the Flint Wagon Works, incorporating both the Mason and Little companies. As head of Buick Motor Company, prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Louis Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races. Durant wanted to use Chevrolet's name as a racer to rebuild his own reputation.

     Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six was drawn up by Etienne Planche, following the instructions of his old friend Louis. The first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was actually incorporated.

     Chevrolet first used its "Bowtie emblem" 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 upon a logo for "Coalettes". Others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross, in honor of the homeland of Chevrolet's parents.

     Louis Chevrolet had differences with Durant over design and in 1915 sold Durant his share in the company. By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough to allow Durant to repurchase 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 1917 Chevrolet factories were located at New York City; Tarrytown, N.Y.; Flint, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri; Oakland, California; Fort Worth, Texas, and Oshawa, Ontario. 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 an 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 continued into the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s competing with the Ford brand, and after the fairly new Chrysler Corporation formed Plymouth in 1928, Plymouth, Ford, and Chevrolet were known as the "Low-priced three"

     Chevrolet had a great influence on the American automobile market during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1953 they produced the Corvette, a two-seater sports car with a fibreglass body. In 1957, Chevy introduced their first fuel-injected engine, the Rochester Ramjet option on Corvette and passenger cars at $484. In 1960 they introduced the Corvair with a rear-mounted air-cooled engine. In 1963, one out of every ten cars sold in the United States was a Chevrolet.

     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 4.3 to 9.4 litres with outputs ranging from 110 horsepower (82 kW) to 720 horsepower (540 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, Hummer, Opel (Germany), and Holden (Australia) nameplates.

     In 2010, General Motors replaced the advertising agency Campbell-Ewald, which served Chevrolet for 91 years, with Publicis Worldwide. Campbell-Ewald of Interpublic Group of Companies had served Chevrolet since 1919. In May 2010 Chevy's advertising account was awarded to Goodby, Silverstein and Partners.