Studebaker entered the automotive business in 1902 with electric vehicles and in 1904 with gasoline vehicles, all sold under the name "Studebaker Automobile Company". It partnered with other builders of gasoline-powered vehicles—Garford and E-M-F—until 1911.

The first gasoline cars to be fully manufactured by Studebaker were marketed in August 1912. rp: p231 Over the next 40 years, the company established an enviable reputation for quality and reliability.

In 1954, after a dramatic and unexpected fall in sales, Studebaker merged with the Packard Motor Car Company, forming the Studebaker-Packard Corporation. The final Packard-designed cars were built by the company in Detroit in 1956, and the last Packards with Studebaker bodies were built in 1958. "Packard" was then dropped from the company's name as Studebaker rapidly diversified, buying up companies such as Schaefer, which made commercial refrigerators, STP, which made automotive oil treatments, and Paxton Products, which made automobile superchargers. Even a commercial airline, Trans International Airlines, founded by Kirk Kerkorian, came into the corporate fold in the early 'sixties.

By 1963, however, the company's mainstay products, automobiles and trucks, were selling very poorly. The South Bend plant was closed and cars were built solely at the satellite plant in Hamilton, Ontario until March 1966.

Studebaker merged with Worthington Corporation to become Studebaker-Worthington in 1967. McGraw-Edison purchased Studebaker-Worthington in 1979, eliminating the century-old Studebaker name from the corporate landscape.

19th century wagonmaker