Key events in Chrysler’s history
June 6, 1925: Walter P. Chrysler reorganizes the Maxwell Motor Co., creating Chrysler Corp. The new company’s first vehicle is the Chrysler Six, which features innovations including a high-compression six-cylinder engine and four-wheel hydraulic brakes. Price: $1,565.
1928: Chrysler acquires Dodge Brothers, becoming the third member of Detroit’s Big Three automakers.
1934: Chrysler introduces the Airflow, a full-sized car with a radical, streamlined design aimed at reducing air resistance. The Airflow is ultimately not a sales success, but influences design for decades to come.
1941: Chrysler opens the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in Warren in early 1941, though the United States would not formally enter World War II until December. Chrysler built M3, M4 Sherman and Pershing tanks there — 25,336 in all — during the war.
1949: Designer Virgil Exner joins Chrysler from the Studebaker Corp. and leads a drastic realignment of design that transforms the company’s styling from stodgy to swoopy.
1951: Chrysler develops the hemispheric-head V-8 engine, which offers better combustion, higher compression and lower heat loss to create more horsepower than previous V-8s. It soon becomes legendary as the Hemi.
1955: The Chrysler 300 debuts as the first model with the Exner-inspired “Forward Look” and Hemi engine that earns it status as one of Detroit’s first muscle cars.
1963: Chrysler develops the Turbine Car, a gas-turbine concept vehicle with rounded, Space Age styling and a whooshing jet-aircraft sound. Poor fuel economy dooms the project, but the Turbine Car endures as a design icon.
1979: Chrysler’s reliance on large, fuel-guzzling models amid oil price shocks leaves the company near bankruptcy. It’s saved by a $1.5 billion federal loan guarantee.
1980: Under CEO Lee Iacocca, Chrysler introduces the compact K-Cars. The models are a sales success, helping to revive the company and serving as the basis for many subsequent vehicles.
1983: Chrysler introduces the first minivans, starting a shift away from station wagons as America’s primary family vehicle.
1987: Chrysler acquires American Motors Corp., including the off-road Jeep brand.
1993: Chrysler finishes moving its headquarters from Highland Park to a new tower in Auburn Hills. It also introduces the cab-forward LH cars, which are a design and sales success.
1998: Daimler-Benz acquires Chrysler in a $36 billion deal, billed as a “merger of equals,” forming DaimlerChrysler.
2004: The Chrysler 300, a full-size, rear-wheel-drive car, is introduced and shocks the automotive world with its menacing, slab-sided styling that powers it to sales success.
2007: Daimler unwinds its acquisition of Chrysler, selling 80.1% of the company to Cerberus Capital Management for $7.4 billion.
2009: Amid a steep economic downturn, Chrysler LLC files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Under a federally proposed reorganization, Fiat SpA acquires a majority stake in the company. The Chrysler brand has five models: Aspen large SUV, PT Cruiser small SUV, Sebring midsize sedan/convertible, 300 sedan, and Town and Country minivan.
2010: Chrysler cancels the Aspen and PT Cruiser.
2011: Chrysler introduces the 200 midsize sedan to replace the Sebring.
2016: Chrysler cancels the 200.
2021: Chrysler gains yet another corporate owner as the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group creates Stellantis NV.
2023: Chrysler ends production of the 300, leaving it with the Pacifica and Voyager minivans as its only models.
March 2026: Chrysler brand CEO Chris Feuell leaves the company and is replaced by Dodge brand CEO Matt McAlear.
Source: Stellantis NV, Detroit News archives
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Timeline: Chrysler’s history of innovation, muscle, turmoil charted
Reporting by The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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