Chrysler Corporation

The Chrysler Corporation was a United States-based automobile manufacturer that existed independently from 1925–1998. Chrysler and its subsidiaries became part of the German-American based DaimlerChrysler AG after being purchased by Daimler-Benz in 1998. Before being taken over in 1998, Chrysler Corporation traded under the "C" symbol on the NYSE. The U.S. operations are generally referred to today as the "Chrysler Group."

History

The company was formed by Walter Percy Chrysler on June 6, 1925, with the remaining assets of Maxwell Motor Company.

In 1928 Chrysler founded the Plymouth brand at the low end, the DeSoto brand at the low-medium end and purchased the Dodge Brothers automobile company; all of this was in order to set up a full range of brands similar to that of the General Motors corporation. This process reached its logical conclusion in 1955, when the Imperial was made a brand of its own and Chrysler marketed a GM-like five-brand lineup. Well before then, though, Chrysler Corporation had become noted both for its engineering features as well as its periodic financial crises. By the end of the 1930s, the DeSoto and Dodge divisions would flip-flop spots in the corporate pecking order making the lineup Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, and Imperial.