Although Cadillac has for many years carried the prestige banner in the USA, it was not always so. Aside from the American Rolls-Royce, the 'three P's' - Packard, Peerless and Pierce-Arrow - were always considered to represent the very best quality that the American industry could offer. Pierce-Arrow had started out in 1865 as Heinz, Pierce and Munschauer, and was best known for its household items. In 1872, George N. Pierce bought a controlling interest, reorganizing the firm as the George N Pierce Company. Following the latter's failure, a license to build the French de Dion engine was obtained and the first proper motor car was completed in November 1900. Early in 1901 the English-born designer David Fergusson was recruited as Chief Engineer - a post he would occupy for the succeeding two decades - and it was he that was responsible for Pierce's first production model – the single-cylinder Motorette. Two-cylinder Arrow and four-cylinder Great Arrow models followed in 1904.