Chrysler was the inventor of the factory rebate concept for automobiles. It pioneered the minivan.
The company was founded by Walter P. Chrysler (1875-1940), a former
railroad engineer and manager who rose through the rank at General
Motors Corporation, first as a production manager and then as president
and general manager of Buick Motor Company. However, in 1920 he fell out
with William C. Durant and left his job with GM.
In 1921, he was a chairman of Maxwell-Chalmers Company, the title given
by the creditors of Maxwell Motor Company. He used the time to take over
and reorganize the Maxwell Motor Company into what became the Chrysler
Corporation.
Chrysler changed considerably the nature of the company, and the cars,
trucks and later vans that they made. The design team developed the new
car, the Chrysler Six, and unveiled it in January 1924. The car was an
immediate sensation an Chrysler was able to capitalize on its publicity
to obtain the capital he needed to mass produce the Chrysler Six.
In 1928, Chrysler has earned $46 million in profit and was the country’s third largest car manufacturer.
By the early 1990s, the Chrysler management was sufficiently confident
to start making new inroads into the European market, with a factory
established in Austria.
After flourishing during the 1990s, and early 2000s, there was a
downturn in demand. On April 3, 2009, Chrysler filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection and established a partnership with Fiat, the
Italian automaker.
Chrysler Corporation
