The History of Chrysler

Founded in 1925 the Chrysler Corporation quickly gained status among the car industry as being one the pioneers of advanced engineering. Then in 1928, Chrysler bought the Dodge franchise and grew to include the Plymouth and Desoto divisions. In 1930 Chrysler was the first car company to create a car that was built and designed to make the car aerodynamic. The new aerodynamic car was not a customer favorite and they sold many Plymouth and Dodge models which kept the company afloat during the years of the Depression. By the late 1940’s Chrysler had become the 2nd largest car manufacturer in the United States. In 1951, Chrysler Corporation announced the released of their new Hemi V8 engine which had 180 horsepower and was produced in order to compete with their competitor, Cadillac. In the late 1950’s Chrysler then introduced Torsion-Aire suspension, which created and smoother ride for the passengers and improved handling. There was a great demand for these new cars which in turn caused a rush in production and then produced many quality control problems for the company.

In the 1960 model year, the company introduced Unibody construction, which made Chrysler the only of the Big Three American Automakers to offer the majority of Unibody cars. Then Chrysler debut a new line called the Valiant, which did reasonably well and gained popularity over the decades. The Plymouth Barracuda then was released in 1964, two weeks before the release of the much anticipated Ford Mustang. The Ford Mustang greatly out sold the Plymouth Barracuda which was discontinued in 1974. In 1973 the Big Three car makers had to create engines that met the EPA emission standards, which Japanese engineers produced at a much quicker rate. On September 7, 1979 the Chrysler Corporation asked the United States government for $1.5 billion dollars of loan guarantees to stop the car company from filing bankruptcy. The Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 was singed into law which helped the company stay out of bankruptcy. The US military also purchased thousands of Dodge pickup trucks which helped the struggling car maker. Furthermore, the invention of the mini-van helped Chrysler recover from its financial troubles.

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By the early 1980’s many of the loans were being repaid quickly to the US government because of the well selling K-car platform. In 1998 Chrysler was purchased by the Daimler-Benz which then created DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC. After the merger the stock price dropped drastically and gave the newly combined company more financial troubles. Concerns were being raised and The DaimlerChrysler Company decided to phase out the Plymouth model in 2001. In 2004 the car maker introduced the Chrysler 300, which used rear-wheel drive and a new Hemi V8 engine. DaimlerChrysler AG announced that they would be selling 81.1% of the company to Cerberus Capital Management on May 14, 2007. February 2008, Chrysler announced that it would be cutting down its production from 30 models to 15 models. Chrysler LLC is now the world’s 8th largest vehicle manufacturing group.

~ by carmarketplace on June 16, 2008.