The REO Motor Car Company was an American automobile and truck manufacturer based in Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1905 by Ransom E. Olds, who previously founded Oldsmobile. The company was originally intended to be called "R.E. Olds Motor Car Company," but was renamed to REO to avoid legal action by Olds' previous company. The company produced buses, automobiles, and trucks, and established several subsidiary firms to ensure a reliable supply of parts. The company's name was inconsistently spelled as "REO" or "Reo," but was pronounced as a single word. The R. E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing, Michigan is dedicated to Olds' contributions to the transportation industry. The company operated until 1975.
History
REO (short for Ransom Eli Olds) was a US automobile and truck manufacturer founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1904, after he left his previous company, Oldsmobile. REO became one of the wealthiest automobile manufacturers in the US by 1907, but faced competition from emerging companies like Ford and General Motors, leading to a decline in market share. The company added a truck-manufacturing division and a Canadian plant in 1910, and in 1912, a REO car was the first to drive across Canada. From 1915 to 1925, REO remained profitable under the direction of Richard H. Scott, who attempted an expansion program designed to offer cars in different price ranges, but the program failed, and the company was hit by the effects of the Great Depression. REO stopped manufacturing automobiles in 1936 and focused on trucks. The company's two most memorable cars were the REO Flying Cloud (1927) and the REO Royale 8 (1931), which introduced design elements that were a precedent for true automotive streamlining in the American market.
