Chrysler: A Historical Timeline

One hundred and one years after Walter P. Chrysler first became a “car guy,” has the company he created finally collided with one crisis too many?

1924 Chrysler Six (Photo: Chrysler)Walter P. Chrysler's involvement with the automobile began at the Chicago auto show in 1908. The then 33-year-old railway executive fell deeply in love with a white Locomobile -- and went deeply into debt to buy it. Then he spent months tinkering with it before even learning to drive.

By 1912 Chrysler had parlayed his new obsession into a new career. Beginning as production manager for Buick, he rose to become president and general manager of that GM division.

Persistent conflicts with GM chief William Durant led him to resign in 1920. But by now, Chrysler's career was in high gear. Over the next two years he fulfilled a contract to resuscitate the failing Willys-Overland company, and did the same for another basket-case firm, Maxwell-Chalmers.

Working with three former Studebaker engineers, Walter P. developed and launched the first car to bear his name in 1924. With its high-compression 3.3-litre engine, and full hydraulic brakes, the Chrysler Six offered upscale features at a not-so-upscale price.

From zero to Big Three in five years

1953 Plymouth Sedan (Photo: Chrysler)The following year, Chrysler purchased the assets of Maxwell, and Chrysler the company was on its way. In 1928 Walter P. purchased the Dodge company, and the same year created Plymouth and DeSoto, giving the company a GM-style hierarchy of brands. The brands were ranked Plymouth, DeSoto, Dodge, and Chrysler (though in the '30s Dodge and DeSoto would swap positions; and later, for a time, Imperial was also a stand-alone luxury brand).

Within five years of its start-up, Chrysler was a full-line manufacturer competing with the Big Two, Ford and GM.

Despite the sales failure of the ahead-of-its-time, aerodynamic 1934 Airflow, Chrysler survived the Great Depression, helped in no small part by the success of its budget brand, Plymouth. After the U.S. entered the Second World War in 1941, the firm switched from civilian to military vehicle production.

At war's end, production of civilian vehicles resumed with lightly seasoned prewar models. When the first all-new postwar cars arrived (somewhat late) in 1949, they were knocked for dreary styling - but the arrival of former Studebaker stylist Virgil Exner that year would soon fix that. Another boost was the launch of the soon-to-be legendary Hemi V8 engine in 1951.

Success through engineering

1957 Chrysler 300C (Photo: Chrysler)The very first Chrysler had established a depth of engineering excellence that persisted through much of the company's history. Even when Chrysler didn't develop the new technology from scratch, it was often the first to use it on a mass-market car.

To name but a few of Chrysler's engineering "firsts": power steering, push-button automatic transmission, AC alternator, curved single-piece windshield, replaceable oil filter, rubber-isolated engine mounts.

Later, Chrysler was a lead adopter of standard airbags, and introduced the industry's first integrated child safety seats. There was also a 20-year fascination with gas-turbine engines, which may yet find an application as on-board generators in hybrid-electric vehicles.

Through the 1950s, '60s and early 70s, Chrysler had its ups and downs, but the 1973-74 energy crisis - which hit just after Chrysler had expensively redesigned its large cars - set it on the path with a near-death experience. The hiring of Lee Iacocca to head up the faltering company, and subsequent government-guaranteed loans that staved off bankruptcy in 1980, are now Chrysler folklore.


The right cars at the right time

1984 Dodge Caravan (Photo: Chrysler)So too are the simple front-drive K-cars that launched in 1981. The Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant helped engineer a recovery so rapid that the company paid back its loans seven years ahead of schedule.

Beyond Aries/Reliant, the K-car platform was remarkable for its ability to spawn countless spin-offs. None was more significant than the minivan, which created a whole new breed of vehicle in 1984.

Jeep joined Chrysler's portfolio in 1987 with the purchase of American Motors from then-owner Renault. Chrysler then created Eagle, its first new brand since 1929, to market the Ontario-built AMC Premier and other Renault-built cars that came with the package.


Foreign (mis)adventures

1978 Dodge Omni (Photo: Chrysler)Chrysler never matched the scale of GM's and Ford's overseas operations, but had its share of foreign dalliances. In 1958 it bought into the French automaker Simca, and later added Britain's foundering Rootes Group. In 1978 it unloaded both to Peugeot-Citroën, though not before the Europeans had designed what would become the successful Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon -- the first domestically built small front-wheel drive cars.

In the mid-'80s the Big Three went on a European boutique brand buying spree; Chrysler did its share, taking an interest in Maserati (remember the TC by Maserati?) and briefly distributed Alfa Romeos in North America. Chrysler even owned Lamborghini for a short period of time.

More successfully, a durable partnership with Mitsubishi provided Chrysler with countless "badge-engineered" small and sporty cars over the years.

Chrysler comeback – the sequel

1994 Chrysler Concorde, a member of the LH car family (Photo: Chrysler)By the early '90s the largely K-car-derived range was stale and sales were sliding. Once again Chrysler re-invented itself. Adopting a "platform team" approach to streamline vehicle development, Chrysler put 1989's show-stopping Dodge Viper concept into production for 1992, followed by the radically proportioned LH sedans in 1993, the in-your-face Ram pickup in 1994, and a string of other bold designs. All-time record profits of US$3.7 billion were achieved in 1994.

When Germany's Daimler-Benz acquired Chrysler in 1998's so-called merger of equals, Chrysler was still profitable - more so, in fact, than its acquirer. Yet, nine years later, the Germans rid themselves of the American company for a fraction of what they paid for it.

The failed merger: victim or perpetrator?

2009 Dodge Ram (Photo: Chrysler)Experts will debate endlessly what went wrong with DaimlerChrysler. Widely cited causes include promised synergies that failed to materialise, and deep chasms between the two organisations' respective cultures.

But the merger did not cause the ballooning health-care and pension costs that burden all three Detroit automakers, nor the serial gas-price shocks that have rocked an American industry unsustainably addicted to gas-swilling pickups and SUVs. Chrysler completely redesigned the Ram pickup for 2009 - but still does not have a subcompact car in its lineup.

Now, over and above Detroit's own self-inflicted injuries, Chrysler is swept up in an economic storm that transcends all industries and all nations.

If it's true that some companies are simply too big to fail, then this still may not be the end of the road for Chrysler. But one thing seems certain: the years that lie ahead will look very different from the first 85.

By Jeremy Sinek
April 23, 2009