[1][2] It was most active in association with GM's Detroit Diesel Engine Division, which produced lines of lightweight diesel engines that could be adapted to many uses including road vehicles, small boats, military equipment, construction and farm equipment, pumping, and auxiliary power generation.

Uses for Detroit Diesel engines would proliferate during World War II and the postwar economic boom.

The GM Cleveland Diesel Engine Division's products were sold to relatively few customers for mostly marine uses.

GMDD developed a widespread international marketing, service, and parts distribution infrastructure for GM diesel engines in the postwar years.

In 1962 GM's Electro-Motive Division (EMD), which had its own marketing and service infrastructure from its years in the locomotive business, took over the production and marketing of large diesel engines formerly produced by the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division.