The American Locomotive Company, commonly referred to as Alco, was an American manufacturing company that built a wide range of products. Alco was formed in 1901 when seven locomotive manufacturers merged to form a new company. This company focused on building locomotives and various other industrial products, but a subsidiary, American Locomotive Automobile Company, built automobiles from 1905 until 1913. Originally these cars were licenced but from 1908, the company produced their own original designs. Although Alco automobiles were highly regarded and very well built, they were not profitable,so the automotive branch of Alco shut down in 1913.