Empresa nord-americana Chrysler

Chrysler, companyia automobilística nord-americana es va incorporar per primera vegada com a Chrysler Corporation el 1925. Es va reorganitzar i va adoptar el seu nom actual, Chrysler Group LLC, el 2009 i el 2014 es va convertir en una filial propietat total de Fiat SpA. Va ser durant molts anys la tercera més gran (després de General Motors Corporation i la Ford Motor Company) dels fabricants de grans “tres grans” dels Estats Units.

Història primerenca

Els orígens de Chrysler es troben en la Maxwell Motor Company, Inc. (formada el 1913). El primer cotxe Maxwell va ser realitzat el 1904 per Jonathan Maxwell i Benjamin Briscoe, que el 1909 es van unir a la Companyia de Motor dels Estats Units de curta durada. Amb el col·lapse d'aquesta combinació el 1913, Maxwell continuà sol fins a la recessió de la postguerra. El 1920, profundament en deute i davant la ruïna, la companyia va convèncerWalter P. Chrysler, que havia renunciat a la divisió Buick de General Motors, per unir-se a l’esforç de revitalitzar l’empresa. El 1922, la companyia Maxwell es va fer càrrec de Chalmers Motor Car Co. (fundada el 1908). L’any següent Chrysler va comprar el control. Sota el lideratge de Chrysler, la companyia va començar a fabricar automòbils competitius, començant per un revolucionari vehicle de sis cilindres que es va presentar al Saló de l'Automòbil de Nova York de 1924.El 1925 la Maxwell Motor Company es va convertir en Chrysler Corporation, amb Chrysler com a president. Amb la compra de Dodge Brothers, Inc. (fundada el 1914) i la introducció de Plymouth el 1928, la Chrysler Corporation es va convertir en una presència important en la indústria automobilística nord-americana.

Juntament amb General Motors i Ford, Chrysler va jugar un paper clau en el suport de l'esforç militar dels Estats Units durant la Segona Guerra Mundial. Chrysler va dirigir molts comptes, acceptant contractes de defensa fins i tot abans que els Estats Units entressin a la guerra. Entre el 1942 i el 1945 es va suspendre pràcticament tota la producció civil de vehicles, ja que la indústria de l’automoció va convertir les seves fàbriques a la tasca d’omplir els contractes de defensa. Sota el lideratge del president de la companyia KT Keller, Chrysler va construir més de 25.000 tancs Sherman i Pershing durant la guerra.

Creixement de postguerra

The 1950s and’60s marked a period of growth and innovation at Chrysler. The company pioneered the “muscle car,” beginning with the 1955 C-300, featuring a 300-horsepower hemi V-8 engine, and following with the outstanding 1960 Chrysler 300 F. Popular high-performance cars of the 1960s included the Chrysler 300 coupes, the Chrysler Imperial LeBaron, the Dodge Charger, and the Dodge Coronet.

Also beginning in the 1950s, Chrysler began absorbing other companies in and out of the automotive industry. In 1966–67 it acquired control of Simca in France, Rootes Motors Ltd. in Britain, and Barreiros Diesel in Spain—which were renamed Chrysler France, Chrysler United Kingdom, and Chrysler España, respectively. In 1979 these were sold to PSA Peugeot Citroën SA in exchange for minority shares in Peugeot Citroën. In 1970 the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation of Japan began producing subcompact cars to be sold in the United States under the Chrysler name; the following year Chrysler began buying shares in Mitsubishi, eventually acquiring 24 percent of the Japanese automaker before selling all of its stock in the early 1990s.

Chrysler’s bailout

Like the rest of the American automobile industry, Chrysler was caught off guard by a serious challenge from small fuel-efficient Japanese cars after the oil crisis of 1973. With oil prices rising tenfold by 1980, consumers were less interested in “muscle” and more interested in price and fuel efficiency—and Chrysler, like its rivals General Motors and Ford, did not have viable competing compact cars in its lineup. In serious financial straits, the company hired Lee A. Iacocca as its president and chairman of the board. In the 1960s Iacocca had achieved prominence at Ford for his innovative engineering and design breakthroughs, including the sporty Mustang, which was introduced to great acclaim at the 1964 World’s Fair. However, Iacocca’s contentious relationship with his boss, Henry Ford II, led to his being fired in 1978. Within months he was running Chrysler, a company awash in problems. Indeed, soon after taking the job, Iacocca learned that Chrysler was on the brink of bankruptcy.

In 1979, in the midst of the second oil crisis in a decade, Iacocca made the bold move of appealing to the U.S. Congress for a loan guarantee of $1.5 billion. He overcame strong resistance on Capitol Hill by producing a list including each congressional district with an estimate of the number of jobs that would be lost if Chrysler failed. The strategy worked. Congress approved the deal, and in January 1980 Pres. Jimmy Carter signed the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act.

Having secured the loan, Iacocca went to work transforming the company, beginning with serious cost-cutting measures. He announced that he would slash his own salary to $1 a year, and he demanded that everyone else, up and down the line, “take a haircut.” With unprecedented cooperation from both union and management, Iacocca trimmed the company’s balance sheet. In 1983 a more stable Chrysler repaid the loan, well in advance of its deadline, along with an additional $350 million in interest. In a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Iacocca proclaimed, “We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay it back.”

That same year Chrysler introduced the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager—the first minivans, a type of family-oriented vehicle that would become the automotive sales leader for the next 25 years. The development of the K-car platform, with its signature vehicles the Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant, and Chrysler LeBaron, further enhanced Chrysler’s profitability. During this period Iacocca became something of a populist star, especially when he began to appear in a series of television commercials promoting Chrysler cars by challenging viewers, “If you can find a better car, buy it!”

In 1987 Chrysler purchased an Italian company, Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini (founded in 1963 by Ferruccio Lamborghini), maker of expensive, high-performance sports cars, and American Motors Corporation (founded in 1954 through the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company), maker of the Jeep four-wheel-drive vehicles. Iacocca especially saw potential in the Jeep Cherokee, which went on to become one of the most popular sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). During this period Chrysler set up a 50–50 joint venture, named Diamond-Star Motors, with Mitsubishi to produce subcompact cars at an Illinois plant. In 1991 Mitsubishi bought out Chrysler’s interest in the company and renamed it Mitsubishi Motors Manufacturing America.