



By N2H

Chrysler

Chrysler is a dual manufacturing company – meaning they produce their own car models (and have been since 1925) along with making them for Dodge (since 1914) and have recently had their share of troubled times. The manufacturing company was brought into this world by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925 when another company, the Maxwell MC, was restructured into the Chrysler name and family. Walter assumed command of the company and then continued to manufacture the vehicles for many years to come, with the first innovations to hit the market in streamlined cars to increase efficiency and reduce drag and other problems.

They also had other brands under them for a vehicle parts brand, and a few others such as Airtemp for Heating and Cooling of buildings and also cars. In the 60’s they incorporated a drastic and new design concept involving the UniBody – a car that was made with a full body rather than just a frame and then built up; in addition to being stronger, safer, and more crash resistant it made production costs a whole lot cheaper to do. By this time Chrysler was one of the “Big Three” in automotive construction, having just Ford and GM as their competitors.

In the 70’s Chrysler had a crisis in which their profits were not enough to keep the company afloat for very long, and risked having to go bankrupt – during the recession this would have had a drastic impact upon employees and the entire economy. To save the company they rallied for a load, in which they received 1.5 billion dollars. After that, and with the innovation of several new platforms and the minivan, they slowly regained their hold and by 1985 were repaying the loan quickly. With sales of their Dodge and Jeep and their own Chrysler branded vehicles on the rise they expanded to Europe – and then ceased to exist as a company in 1998. How? They were bought by Daimler-Benz, creating Daimler-Chrysler. Then, this year, they sold the major stake in Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management, at a hefty price. Further developments wait to be seen, but all vehicles are still in production and are releasing new models.