Chrysler: History, Landmark Models and Ownership

Chrysler at a glance

Chrysler is an American car brand headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and one of the 14 brands of Stellantis. Key facts as of October 2026:

1925–1940: Walter Chrysler builds a Big Three company

Chrysler grew out of the Maxwell Motor Company, which Walter P. Chrysler took over and reorganised as Chrysler Corporation in 1925; the incorporation date is usually given as 6 June 1925. The first car to carry his name, the Chrysler Six, had appeared a year earlier, in 1924, still under the Maxwell business. The Maxwell name was dropped after 1925, and the four-cylinder Chryslers sold in early 1926 were essentially rebadged Maxwells.

The decisive year was 1928. Chrysler introduced two new brands, Plymouth for the low-price market and DeSoto for the middle, and on 28 May 1928 bought Dodge Brothers. The price is reported as USD 170 million, at the time described as the largest business transaction in history. Chrysler now stood beside General Motors and Ford as one of the Big Three. Plymouth remained the company's low-price brand until 2001, as the history of Plymouth describes. DeSoto's mid-price rivals included Ford's Mercury brand.

The Imperial name was used from 1926 for the top Chrysler model. Meanwhile the engineers Carl Breer, Fred Zeder and Owen Skelton developed the Airflow.

The Airflow and wind-tunnel design

The Chrysler Airflow, introduced in January 1934, was shaped with the help of wind-tunnel testing and used a body structure that moved towards unit construction. It was a commercial failure: only 10,839 were sold in the first year, and fewer than 29,600 were built before production ended in 1937. Walter Chrysler died in 1940.

1940s–1970s: Hemi engines, letter cars and Imperial

In the post-war decades Chrysler was known for engineering, above all its hemispherical-head V8. The first Chrysler Hemi appeared in 1951, and from 1954 the French maker Facel Vega bought these engines for its cars.

The 1955 C-300, later called the 300A, used a 5.4-litre (331 cu in) FirePower Hemi V8 rated at 224 kW (300 hp, an SAE gross figure of the period). Only 1,725 were built. It began the 300 "letter series" of high-performance large cars, which ran with a new letter each year to the 300L of 1965.

In 1955 Imperial became a separate marque, positioned above Chrysler. Its best year was 1957, with 37,593 cars. Imperial lasted as a separate brand until 1975 and returned briefly from 1981 to 1983, when 12,385 revival cars were built. By the late 1970s the parent company was in serious financial trouble.

1978–1989: Iacocca, the loan guarantee and the minivan

Chrysler's first rescue came in 1979–80, when the US government guaranteed its loans. Lee Iacocca joined in 1978, as the company headed into crisis, and led it through the rescue. The same year Chrysler sold its European operations to PSA Peugeot Citroën for a nominal sum; PSA renamed the business Talbot in 1978–79.

The Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act was signed on 7 January 1980 and allowed federal guarantees of up to USD 1.5 billion. Chrysler repaid the guaranteed loans early, by 1983–84.

Two product families made that possible:

• K-cars: the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries on the K platform arrived for the 1981 model year. More than 2 million K-based cars were built from 1981 to 1988, and within two years they produced around half of the company's operating profit.
• Minivans: the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager were introduced in late 1983 as 1984 models. Built at Windsor Assembly in Ontario, Canada, they are widely credited with creating the minivan segment. The Chrysler-badged Town & Country minivan followed in 1990.

In 1987 Chrysler agreed to buy American Motors Corporation (AMC), announcing the deal on 9 March and completing it in August. The purchase brought the Jeep brand, AMC's Bramalea plant in Canada and around 1,300 dealers; AMC's passenger cars were sold under a new Eagle brand from 1987 to 1998. Chrysler also owned Lamborghini from 1987 to 1994.

1990s–2007: DaimlerChrysler and Cerberus

In the 1990s Chrysler moved to new headquarters and then into a transatlantic merger. The company left Highland Park for Auburn Hills, Michigan, in 1996. In 1998 it combined with Daimler-Benz, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, to form DaimlerChrysler. The deal was presented as a merger of equals and is usually valued at around USD 36 billion.

DaimlerChrysler trimmed the brand portfolio. Eagle was retired in 1998, and Plymouth was discontinued in 2001. Two of the brand's best-known cars came from this period:

• PT Cruiser (2000–2010): a tall, retro-styled small car, Motor Trend Car of the Year for 2001, built in Toluca, Mexico, and Graz, Austria. About 1.35 million were made; the last left the line on 9 July 2010.
• 300 and 300C (from 2005): a large saloon, previewed as a concept in 2003, with the Hemi V8 in the 300C. The 300C was Motor Trend Car of the Year for 2005. Graz assembled cars for Europe from June 2005, including the 300C Touring estate.

The merger did not last. On 14 May 2007 Daimler announced the sale of 80.1% of Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management for USD 7.4 billion and kept a 19.9% stake.

2009–2021: bankruptcy, Fiat and Stellantis

Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 30 April 2009. In June 2009 its main assets passed to a new company in which Fiat took an initial 20% stake, with the US Treasury and a union-linked health-care trust (VEBA) among the other owners. Public assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is reported differently by different sources, but they agree that the taxpayer loss came to about USD 1.3 billion.

Fiat raised its holding step by step. It bought the Treasury's stake on 21 July 2011 and the remaining VEBA stake on 21 January 2014. The combined business became Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) in 2014, and the American arm was renamed FCA US in December 2014.

Under Fiat, Chrysler models were shared with Lancia in Europe. The second-generation Chrysler 300C was sold there as the Lancia Thema from 2011 to 2014. In North America the Pacifica, unveiled at the Detroit show in January 2016, replaced the Town & Country minivan.

The last change of ownership came in January 2021, when FCA and PSA completed their merger to form Stellantis. Chrysler became one of the new group's 14 brands.

Who has owned Chrysler

Chrysler has changed hands five times since 1998; this table puts its owners and corporate forms in order.

Records and engineering firsts

Chrysler's reputation rests on engineering firsts and awards rather than on racing. The documented highlights are:

• Airflow (1934) and Hemi V8 (1951): wind-tunnel shaping and the hemispherical-head V8 behind the C-300 and the 300C.
• K platform (1981): the base that turned the company around and was credited with the early loan repayment.
• Minivan (1983): the Caravan and Voyager opened the segment; Chrysler minivans have passed 14.6 million worldwide.
• Plug-in hybrid minivan (2017 model year): the Pacifica Hybrid is described as the first plug-in hybrid minivan sold in the US.
• Motor Trend Car of the Year: PT Cruiser for 2001 and 300C for 2005.

Chrysler today: the line-up in October 2026

As of October 2026, Chrysler sells a single model line, the 2027 Pacifica minivan, built at Windsor Assembly in Ontario. The official chrysler.com site lists it in LX, Select, Limited and Pinnacle trims plus an AMERICA250 Limited Edition, and shows no other current model.

The refreshed 2027 Pacifica was revealed on 11 March 2026. The Voyager has been folded into it as the Pacifica LX. The Pacifica Hybrid was discontinued, as announced in January 2026. The 300 saloon ended on 8 December 2023, when the final car, a Velvet Red 300C, was built.

Chrysler's site also lists the Halcyon Concept, the Airflow Concept and the Synthesis interior demonstrator. The full list of past models on 1cars is in the Chrysler catalogue.

Landmark models

These cars defined Chrysler in each era.

Other cars from the decades of the Airflow and the letter-series 300s are collected in the classic cars section.

Chrysler timeline

The main dated events in Chrysler history, from Maxwell to Stellantis:

Chrysler in numbers

Key production and sales figures:

• 1,725: C-300s built in 1955.
• Fewer than 29,600: Airflows built from 1934 to 1937.
• 37,593: Imperials built in 1957, the marque's best year.
• More than 2 million: K-based cars built from 1981 to 1988.
• About 1.35 million: PT Cruisers built from 2000 to 2010.
• More than 14.6 million: Chrysler minivans built worldwide.
• 126,373: Chrysler brand sales in the US in 2025, up from 124,683 in 2024, according to FCA US; the Pacifica accounted for 110,006.