Why Is Detroit Called the "Motor City" and "Motown"? (And What's a "Big Three"?)

People toss these names around constantly, often without knowing the real story behind them — or mixing them up.

Motor City (and “Motown,” short for “Motor Town”) both come from the same root: Detroit became the manufacturing heart of the American automobile industry in the early 1900s. Henry Ford perfected the moving assembly line at his Highland Park plant, making cars affordable for ordinary people, and Detroit exploded into the car-making capital of the world. That’s the “motor.”

The Big Three refers to the three American automakers headquartered in the Detroit area: General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (the company that now owns Chrysler; for most of the 20th century this trio was “GM, Ford, and Chrysler”). For generations, these companies — and the tens of thousands of jobs at their plants and suppliers — were the economic engine of the whole region.

Now the part people genuinely mix up: Motown is also the name of the legendary record label, and that’s not a coincidence — it’s a tribute. In 1959, Berry Gordy founded Motown Records in a little Detroit house he nicknamed “Hitsville U.S.A.,” and named the label after the city’s “Motor Town” identity. Motown Records went on to launch Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Jackson 5, and a sound that changed American music forever. So “Motown” means both the city’s car-making nickname and the record label named in its honor — same word, two layers of Detroit pride.