Chrysler

Chrysler is an automobile manufacturer from the United States that was founded in 1925 by Walter Chrysler. The company belongs, together with General Motors en Ford Motor Company to the Big Three in the US. Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy protection proceedings on June 10, 2009. As of January 2, 2014, Chrysler is wholly owned by Fiat Chrysler, along with General Motors, was the recipient of financial support from the governments of Canada and the United States during the beginning of the credit crisis.

History of Chrysler

The brand was founded by Walter Chrysler (1875-1940) on June 6, 1925, when the Maxwell Motor Company, founded in 1904, was reorganized and its name changed to the Chrysler Corporation. Walter Chrysler was appointed to save the struggling Maxwell-Chalmers company, after a similar job he had done at Willys Overland.

In January 1924, Chrysler, under the leadership of Walter Chrysler, launched its first car. This model was a six-cylinder car, designed to provide customers with an advanced, well-designed vehicle at an affordable price. The original featured an air filter carburetor, a high-compression engine, full pressure lubrication, and an oil filter, which was remarkable for the time. One of the innovations in the early years was the first practical mass-produced four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a system built almost entirely by Chrysler using patents from Lockheed. Chrysler also developed a wheel with a ribbed rim, intended to ensure that a flat tire would remain seated on the rim. This wheel was eventually adopted worldwide by the automotive industry.

Early Chrysler from 1924

Following the introduction of the Chrysler in 1924, sales of the Maxwell models declined in 1925. The new, cheaper four-cylinder Chryslers did, however, still carry a Maxwells badge on the hood. In 1928, the brand began to differentiate its offerings based on price, class, and function. The brand Plymouth was introduced to the low-priced segment of the market and desoto for the mid-segment. In the same year, the company bought Dodge Brothers and established the successful Dodge line of cars and Fargo trucks.

On April 28, 1955, Chrysler and Philco announced the development and production of the world's first all-transistor car radio. This became the Mopar Model 914HR. Philco was the company that had built the all-transistor Mopar Model 914HR car radio. On September 28, 1957, Chrysler introduced the first electronic fuel injection as an option on a number of its new 1958 car models (Chrysler 300D, Dodge D500, DeSoto Adventurer, Plymouth Fury). The first attempt to use this system was by American Motors on the 1957 Rambler Rebel, but this did not go entirely smoothly. By then, Chrysler was producing the brands Valiant, Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, and Imperial.

In 1985, the brand entered into an agreement with American Motors Corporation (AMC). In 1987, Chrysler acquired 47% of AMC's shares. The remaining outstanding shares of AMC were purchased on the NYSE in 1987, placing the deal at a value somewhere between 1,7 and 2 billion dollars. CEO Lee Iacocca was very keen to incorporate the Jeep brand to guarantee Chrysler's future success.

In 1998, the brand and its subsidiaries entered into a partnership with the German Daimler-Benz AG, resulting in the combined entity DaimlerChrysler AG. To the surprise of many shareholders, Daimler later became the owner of Chrysler following a stock swap. Jeep became a stand-alone division, and the necessary steps were taken to merge the Chrysler and Jeep brands into a single sales unit. In 2001, the Plymouth brand was discontinued.

On May 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced the sale of 80,1% of Chrysler Group shares to the American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, subsequently known as Chrysler LLC, with Daimler (renamed Daimler AG) retaining a 19,9% ​​stake.