DaimlerChrysler AG History

Company Perspectives:

We aim to convince our customers with our exciting automobiles, attractive and economical commercial vehicles, and tailored financial services. With our innovative technology, we intend to make the traffic of tomorrow even safer, as well as more economical and environmentally friendly. And by implanting this strategy, we intend to create lasting value for our shareholders. To these ends we focus our global resources and the knowledge, experience, and energy of our employees.

Key Dates:

1883:

Carl Benz forms Benz & Companies in Mannheim.

1890:

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft is incorporated.

1924:

Walter P. Chrysler introduces the Chrysler Six model.

1926:

Daimler and Benz are merged to form Daimler-Benz AG, which begins producing cars under the name Mercedes-Benz.

1928:

Chrysler acquires Dodge Corporation.

1944:

Most of Daimler-Benz's plants are destroyed in Allied bombing raids.

1979:

Through passage of the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Bill, the U.S. government guarantees $1.2 billion in loans to Chrysler.

1984:

Chrysler introduces the first minivan.

1987:

Chrysler acquires American Motors Corporation.

1993:

Daimler-Benz becomes the first German firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1995:

Jürgen Schrempp takes over as Daimler-Benz's chairman and CEO; company posts losses of nearly $4 billion, the largest in German history.

1998:

Daimler-Benz and Chrysler merge to form DaimlerChrysler AG.

2001:

Dieter Zetsche launches a major restructuring effort at the Chrysler division.

Company History:

Further Reading:

• Abodaher, David, Iacocca, New York: Macmillan, 1982.
• "Backbiting at Daimler," Business Week, August 7, 1995, p. 45.
• Ball, Jeffrey, and Scott Miller, "DaimlerChrysler Aims to Be No. 1 Auto Maker," Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2000, pp. A2, A6.
• Breer, Carl, The Birth of Chrysler Corporation and Its Engineering Legacy, Warrendale, Penn.: Society of Automotive Engineers, 1995.
• "Can Motown Get Out of This Funk?," Business Week, June 23, 2003.
• "Daimler's Designated Driver," Business Week, November 27, 2000.
• Gardner, Greg, "Chrysler: The Cat with Nine Lives," Ward's Auto World, May 1996, p. 67.
• ------, "The Cloud Over Chrysler," Ward's Auto World, June 1996, pp. 25-28.
• "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines," Fortune, June 8, 1998, pp. 138+.
• Gordon, Maynard M., The Iacocca Management Technique, New York: Dodd Mead, 1985.
• Gregor, Neil, Daimler-Benz in the Third Reich, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1998.
• Iacocca, Lee, with William Novak, Iacocca: An Autobiography, New York: Bantam, 1984.
• Kimes, Beverly Rae, The Star and the Laurel: The Centennial History of Daimler, Mercedes, and Benz, 1886-1986, Montvale, N.J.: Mercedes Benz of North America, 1986.
• Langworth, Richard M., and Jan P. Norbye, The Complete History of Chrysler Corporation, 1924-1985, New York: Beekman House, 1985.
• Moritz, Michael, and Barrett Seaman, Going for Broke: The Chrysler Story, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1981.
• Palmer, Jay, "Shake-Up Artist: Daimler-Benz Chairman Jurgen Schrempp Has Knocked the Dust Off Mercedes," Barron's, March 23, 1998.
• Reed, Stanley, "Backbiting at Daimler," Business Week, August 7, 1995, p. 45.
• Reich, Robert B., and John D. Donahue, New Deals: The Chrysler Revival and the American System, New York: Times Books, 1985.
• "A Shaky Automotive Ménage à Trois; Now, Daimler Is Backing Away from Mitsubishi," Business Week, May 10, 2004.
• "Stalled: Was the Daimler-Chrysler Merger a Mistake?," Business Week, September 29, 2003.
• Taylor, Alex III, "Can the Germans Rescue Chrysler?," Fortune, April 30, 2001.
• ------, "For Schrempp, It Was a Cruel April," Fortune, May 17, 2004.
• ------, "The Germans Take Charge," Fortune, January 11, 1999, pp. 92-94, 96.
• ------, "Iacocca's Last Stand at Chrysler," Fortune, April 20, 1992, p. 63.
• Templeman, John, "The New Mercedes," Business Week, August 26, 1996, pp. 34+.
• ------, "Upheaval at Daimler," Business Week, February 5, 1996, pp. 14+.
• Vlasic, Bill, et al., "The First Global Car Colossus," Business Week, May 18, 1998, pp. 40+.
• Washington, Frank S., "Merger? What Merger?," Ward's Auto World, November 1999, pp. 66-67.
• Zellner, Wendy, "Chrysler's Next Generation: An Heir Apparent and New, Upscale Cars," Business Week, December 19, 1998, p. 52.

Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol.64. St. James Press, 2004.