The acquisition of Fisher Body by General Motors

It is commonly said that in 1926 General Motors was led to acquire its supp lier of automobile bodies, Fisher Body, because Fisher Body held up General Motors. It is claimed that Fisher Body did this by locating its body plant s far away from the General Motors assembly plants and by adapting ineffici ent methods of production, thus increasing both the cost of producing bodie s and the profits of Fisher Body under its cost-plus contract. This tale is factually incorrect. What General Motors acquired in 1926 was the 40 perce nt of the shares of Fisher Body that it did not already own. Furthermore, F isher Body did not locate its plants far away from the General Motors assem bly plants. It is also most implausible, for many reasons, that the Fisher brothers would have used inefficient methods of production. There is no evi dence that a holdup occurred.