The history of Tesla

Tesla Motors, Inc. is an American automotive and energy storage company that designs, manufactures, and sells electric cars, electric vehicle powertrain components, and battery products. Tesla Motors is a public company that trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol TSLA. During the first quarter of 2013, Tesla posted profits for the first time in its history.

Tesla first gained widespread attention following their production of the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car. The company's second vehicle is the Model S, a fully electric luxury sedan, which was followed by the Model X, a crossover. Its next vehicle is the Model 3. Global Model S sales passed the 100,000 unit milestone in December 2015, three and a half years after its introduction. The Model S was the world's best selling plug-in electric vehicle in 2015. As of June 2016, the Model S ranks as the world's second best selling plug-in car in history after the Nissan Leaf. As of 30 June 2016, Tesla Motors has sold almost 140,000 electric cars worldwide since delivery of its first Tesla Roadster in 2008.

Tesla manufactures equipment for home and office battery charging, and has installed a network of high-powered Superchargers across North America, Europe and Asia. The company also operates a Destination Charging program, under which shops, restaurants and other venues are offered fast chargers for their customers.

CEO Elon Musk has said that he envisions Tesla Motors as an independent automaker, aimed at eventually offering electric cars at prices affordable to the average consumer. Pricing for the Tesla Model 3 in the United States, slated to begin retail deliveries by the end of 2017, will start at US$35,000 before any government incentives.

Tesla Motors is named after electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla. The Tesla Roadster uses an AC motor descended directly from Tesla's original 1882 design. The Tesla Roadster, the company's first vehicle, was the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production EV with a range greater than 200 miles (320 km) per charge. Between 2008 and March 2012, Tesla sold more than 2,250 Roadsters in 31 countries. Tesla stopped taking orders for the Roadster in the U.S. market in August 2011. In December 2012, Tesla employed almost 3,000 full-time employees. By December 31, 2015, this number had grown to 13,058 employees.

Tesla unveiled the Tesla Model S all-electric sedan on March 26, 2009, and began deliveries in June 2012. First deliveries of the Model X began in September 2015. Global sales of the Model S passed the 100,000 unit milestone in December 2015, three years and a half after its introduction.The Tesla Model 3, the company's first

model aimed for the mass market, was unveiled in March 2016. One week after the unveiling event, global reservations totaled over 325,000 units, representing potential sales of over US$14 billion

Tesla Motors was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning who financed the company until the Series A round of funding.

Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004, joining Tesla's board of directors as its chairman as well as in operational roles. Musk was the controlling investor in Tesla from the first financing round, funding the large majority of the Series A capital investment round of US$7.5 million with personal funds. Tesla's primary goal was to commercialize electric vehicles, starting with a premium sports car aimed at early adopters and then moving as rapidly as possible into more mainstream vehicles, including sedans and affordable compacts.

From the beginning, Musk consistently maintained that Tesla's long-term strategic goal was to create affordable mass market electric vehicles.

Tesla Motors signed a production contract on July 11, 2005, with Group Lotus to produce "gliders" (complete cars minus powertrain). The contract ran through March 2011, but the two automakers extended the deal to keep the electric Roadster in production through December 2011 with a minimum number of 2,400 units.

Musk led Tesla Motors' Series B US$13 million investment round. Musk co-led the third, US$40 million round in May 2006. Tesla's third round included investment from prominent entrepreneurs including Google co-founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page. The fourth round in May 2007 added another US$45 million and brought the total investments to over US$105 million through private financing.

According to Musk, Tesla was forced to reduce the company workforce by about 10% to lower its burn rate, which was out of control in 2007. In May 2008, The Truth About Cars launched a "Tesla Death Watch", as Tesla needed another round of finance to survive. In October 2008, Musk became CEO and fired 25% of Tesla employees. Drori became vice-chairman, but then left the company in December. In December a fifth round added another US$40 million avoiding bankruptcy.

By January 2009, Tesla had raised US$187 million and delivered 147 cars. Musk had contributed US$70 million of his own money to the company. The prototype Model S was displayed at a press conference on March 26, 2009. On May 19, 2009, Germany's Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz, acquired an equity stake of less than 10% of Tesla for a reported US$50 million,in effect saving Tesla.

In June 2009 Tesla was approved to receive US$465 million in low-interest-bearing loans from the 2007 US$8 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program by the United States Department of Energy. The funding came in 2010, and supported engineering and production of the Model S sedan, as well as the development of commercial powertrain technology. Tesla repaid the loan in May 2013 as the first of the automakers.

On June 29, 2010, Tesla Motors launched its initial public offering (IPO) on NASDAQ. 13,300,000 shares of common stock were issued to the public at a price of US$17.00 per share.The IPO raised US$226 million for the company. It was the first American car maker to go public since the Ford Motor Company had its IPO in 1956, and by 2014 Tesla had market value half that of Ford. Model S deliveries began in June 2012.

As of 2014, Tesla has a US Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 276 mpg.

Tesla makes its cars at the Tesla Factory in California. As a result of the high demand for Model 3, in May 2016 Tesla Motors announced its decision to advance its 500,000 total unit build plan (combined for Model S, Model X, and Model 3) to 2018, two years earlier than previously planned, in order to accelerate its target for Model 3 output. This in turn can allow more Model 3 buyers to benefit from the $7,500 tax credit before the limit of 200,000 cars per maker since 2010 reduces the credit.

Tesla has financed operations (production, development, administration, etc.) partly by sales income, stock offering and bond sales. The US authorities encourage production of non-polluting vehicles (electric or other) by legislating incentives for manufacturers, usually tax credits and ZEV credits from other manufacturers.In May 2013 Tesla raised $1.02 billion ($660m from bonds) partially to repay the DOE loans after their first profitable quarter, in February 2014 $2 billion from bonds (building GigaFactory), in August 2015 $738 million in stock (for the Model X), and in May 2016 $1.46 billion in stock ($1.26 billion for the Model 3).Tesla has raised over $4.5 billion since the IPO in 2010. As of January 29, 2016, Musk owns about 28.9 million Tesla shares, which equates to about 22% of the company. Tesla states that its automotive branch has a gross margin of 23.1% as of 2Q2016. However, expenditures for future operation are bigger than product profit, resulting in a net loss.

Tesla's strategy has been to emulate typical technological-product life cycles and initially enter the automotive market with an expensive, high-end product targeted at affluent buyers. As the company, its products, and consumer acceptance matured, it is moving into larger, more competitive markets at lower price points.The battery and electric drivetrain technology for each model would be developed and paid for through sales of the former models. The Roadster was low-volume, priced at US$109,000. Model S and X are mid-price and mid-volume; Model S had a base price of US$57,400. Model 3 is aimed at high-volume with a base price of US$35,000. This business strategy is very popular in the technology industry such as for cellular phones, laptop computers, and flat-screen televisions. According to a blog post by Musk, "New technology in any field takes a few versions to optimize before reaching the mass market, and in this case it is competing with 150 years and trillions of dollars spent on gasoline cars."

Tesla Motor's high degree of vertical integration (80% in 2016 according to Goldman Sachs) such as proprietary charging infrastructure is rare in the automotive industry, where companies typically focus on engine manufacturing and vehicle assembly.

Some of Tesla's stated goals are to increase the number and variety of electric vehicles (EVs) available to mainstream consumers by:

selling its own vehicles in company-owned showrooms and online;

selling powertrain components to other automakers

serving as a catalyst and positive example to other automakers

Tesla focuses on pure-electric propulsion technology, even for larger vehicles and ranges beyond 200 miles (320 km). Musk won the 2010 Automotive Executive of the Year Innovator Award for hastening the development of electric vehicles throughout the world.

Tesla aims to disrupt the automotive industry by bringing many innovative pieces which fit together to bring tremendous advantages; this strategy was called 'complex coordination' by Tesla investor Peter Thiel (see PayPal Mafia) .

Arnnon Geshuri, the Vice President of Human Resources since November 2009, has committed to bringing manufacturing jobs "back to California". In 2015, Geshuri led a hiring spree for Tesla about which he said; "In the last 14 months we've had 1.5 million applications from around the world. People want to work here." Geshuri also emphasizes hiring military veterans, saying "Veterans are a great source of talent for Tesla, and we're going after it."

On August 1, 2016, Tesla Motors Inc. publicly announced that it was purchasing SolarCity Corp. SolarCity is the largest installer of rooftop solar systems in the United States. Tesla will buy the company for $2.6 billion in stock. The purchase will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Tesla Motors operates more than 200 stores and galleries, 120 of which are outside the USA. It owns the stores and sells directly to customers via the internet and in non-US stores.

In August 2015, Tesla launched a revamp of its stores worldwide for the debut of its Model X. Stores will include interactive displays focused on four themes: safety, autopilot, charging network and the dual motors that power each axle.5

There are stores and galleries—usually located in shopping malls—in 22 US states and Washington DC. Customers cannot buy vehicles from stores, only from the Tesla Motors website. The stores serve as showrooms that allow people to learn about the company and its vehicles. Some galleries are located in states with restrictive dealership protection laws which prevent discussing price, financing, and test drives, as well as other restrictions.

Tesla's strategy of direct customer sales and owning stores and service centers is different from the standard dealership model in the US vehicle marketplace. Tesla Motors is the only automaker that sells cars directly to consumers; all other automakers use independently owned dealerships (partly due to earlier conflict), although some automakers provide online configuration and financing. 48 states have laws that limit or ban manufacturers from selling vehicles directly to consumers, and although Tesla has no independent dealerships, dealership associations in multiple states have filed numerous lawsuits against Tesla Motors, to prevent the company from selling cars. North Carolina and New Hampshire sided with Tesla, while Virginia and Texas sided with dealers.

Countries other than USA do not have such laws protecting car dealership. The Federal Trade Commission recommends allowing direct manufacturer sales, which analysts believe would save consumers 8% per purchase on average.The National Automobile Dealers Association states that franchises (such as offered by its members) offer better value for customers than direct sales.

Under a buyback program called Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) available in 37 US states, a Tesla Model S is sold with the right to return it to the company after three years for a reimbursement of 43% to 50% of its initial price. This reimbursement matches the trade-in values of German luxury cars of that age. In addition to maintaining a high resale value of its cars, Tesla Motors hopes to secure a supply of used cars to refurbish and re-sell with warranty. According to Automotive News, the profit margin on used car sales in the USA is about triple that on new cars, and because Tesla sells directly to consumers, it would collect resale profits. In May 2015, Tesla started selling refurbished Model S in the USA and within a month sold 1600 cars to buyers younger, less wealthy and a lower proportion of whom were from California than buyers of new Model S cars. As of July 2015, 269 used Model S were for sale in USA Tesla stores, with a four-year, 50,000-mile warranty. Used 3 year old Model S sell for about 62% of their original price.

As of September 2015, similar programs existed in Canada (in 3 locations), Austria (3 locations), Belgium (3), Denmark (2), France (3), Germany (6), Britain (3), Netherlands (4), Norway (5), Sweden (2) and Switzerland (5). The program ended in some countries in July 2016, but continued in others.

Tesla Motors builds electric powertrain components for vehicles from other automakers, including the lowest-priced car from Daimler, the Smart ForTwo electric drive, the Toyota RAV4 EV, and Freightliner's Custom Chassis Electric Van.

Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not use single-purpose, large battery cells, but thousands of small, cylindrical, lithium-ion 18650-like commodity cells used in laptops and other consumer electronics devices. It uses a version of these cells that is designed to be cheaper to manufacture and lighter than standard cells by removing some safety features. According to Tesla, these features are redundant because of the advanced thermal management system and a intumescent chemical in the battery to prevent fires. Panasonic is the only supplier of the battery cells for the car company, and cooperates with Tesla in the Gigafactory.

Tesla Motors may have the lowest costs for electric car batteries, estimated at US$200 per kWh.] Tesla indicated in 2016 that their battery pack costs less than $190/kWh. Argonne Labs estimates $163/kWh at 500,000 packs per year.Tesla charges US$400/kWh for the 85-kWh battery, US$10,000 more than the 60-kWh battery. At US$200/kWh, the battery in the 60-kWh Model S would cost US$12,000, while the 85-kWh battery would cost US$17,000. The price increase is closer to US$8,000, because supercharging is included in the higher price. Use of lifetime supercharging was a US$2,500 option for the early 40-kWh and 60-kWh versions of Model S.

Unlike the Tesla Roadster, whose battery is behind the seats, the Model S, 3 and X batteries are inside the floor. This saves interior space and trunk space but, together with the low ride of the Model S, increases risk of battery damage by debris or impact. To protect the battery, the Model S has 0.25 in (6 mm) aluminum-alloy armor plate. The battery's location allows quick battery swapping, which can take as little as 90 seconds in the Model S. Tesla's first and only battery swap station is located at Harris Ranch, California, and became operational in December 2014. Due to lack of customer interest, battery swapping will not expand. Straubel expects batteries to last 10-15 years, and discounts using electric cars to charge the grid (V2G) because battery wear outweighs economic benefit. He also prefers recycling over re-use for grid once batteries have reached the end of their useful car life. Since 2008, Tesla has worked with ToxCo/Kinsbursky to recycle worn out RoHS batteries, which will be an integral part of GigaFactory.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in June 2014, that the company will allow its technology patents be used by anyone in good faith. Post-2014 agreements were expected to be executed that would include provisions whereby the recipients agree not to file patent suits against Tesla, or to copy its designs directly. Reasons expressed for this stance include attracting and motivating talented employees, as well as to accelerate the mass market advancement of electric cars for sustainable transport. "The unfortunate reality is, electric car programs (or programs for any vehicle that doesn't burn hydrocarbons) at the major manufacturers are small to non-existent, constituting an average of far less than 1% of their total vehicle sales," Musk said. Tesla will still hold other intellectual property, such as trademarks and trade secrets, which would help to prevent direct copying of its vehicles.

Beginning with vehicles manufactured in late September 2014, all new Model S are equipped with a camera mounted at the top of the windshield, forward looking radar (supplied by Bosch) in the lower grill and ultrasonic acoustic location sensors in the front and rear bumpers that provide a 360-degree buffer zone around the car. This equipment allows vehicles to detect road signs, lane markings, obstacles and other vehicles. In addition to adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning, a US$2,500 "Tech Package" option will allow this system to enable semi-autonomous drive (called Summon) and parking capabilities (called AutoPark).These features were activated via over-the-air software updates as of October 15, 2015. The technology was developed in partnership with the Israeli company Mobileye. In July 2016, Mobileye and Tesla ended their business relationship; the AutoPilot system as of version 8 uses the radar as the primary sensor instead of the camera.

General Motors' then-Vice chairman Robert Lutz said in 2007 that the Tesla Roadster inspired him to push GM to develop the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid sedan. In an August 2009 edition of The New Yorker, Lutz was quoted as saying, "All the geniuses here at General Motors kept saying lithium-ion technology is 10 years away, and Toyota agreed with us—and boom, along comes Tesla. So I said, 'How come some tiny little California startup, run by guys who know nothing about the car business, can do this, and we can't?' That was the crowbar that helped break up the log jam." Tesla's success with the Model S sedan has pressured other luxury-car makers to enter the alternative-fuel market to "challenge Tesla"

As of 30 June 2016, Tesla Motors has sold over 139,000 electric cars worldwide since delivery of its first Tesla Roadster in 2008. The top selling car of Tesla's line-up is the Model S, with global sales of 129,412 units between June 2012 and June 2016, followed by the Model X with 7,250 units sold between September 2015 and June 2016, and the Roadster with about 2,450 units sold globally through December 2012. Tesla's fourth vehicle, the Model 3, is aimed for the mass market and retail deliveries are scheduled to begin by late 2017.

Tesla Motors' first production vehicle, the Tesla Roadster, was an all-electric sports car. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production for sale in the United States in the modern era. The Roadster was also the first production automobile to use lithium-ion battery cells and first mass production battery electric vehicle to travel more than 200 miles (320 km) per charge.

Prototypes were introduced to the public in July 2006. The Tesla Roadster was featured on the cover of Time in December 2006 as the recipient of the magazine's "Best Inventions 2006—Transportation Invention" award.The first "Signature One Hundred" set of fully equipped Roadsters sold out in less than three weeks,the second hundred sold out by October 2007, and general production began on March 17, 2008.Since February 2008 two new models were introduced, one in July 2009, and another in July 2010.

In January 2010, Tesla began producing its first right-hand-drive Roadsters for the UK and Ireland, then began selling them in mid-2010 in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. Tesla produced the Roadster until early 2012, when its supply of Lotus Elise gliders ran out, as its contract with Lotus Cars for 2,500 gliders expired at the end of 2011. Tesla stopped taking orders for the Roadster in the U.S. market in August 2011. Featuring new options and enhanced features, the 2012 Tesla Roadster was sold in limited numbers only in Europe, Asia and Australia. The next generation is expected to be introduced in 2019, based on a shortened version of the platform developed for the Tesla Model S. Tesla sold more than 2,400 Roadsters in 31 countries through September 2012. Most of the remaining Roadsters were sold during the fourth quarter of 2012. The U.S. was the leading market with about 1,800 Roadsters sold.

The car had an average range of 245 miles (394 km) per charge according to Tesla. On October 27, 2009, the Roadster driven by Simon Hackett drove the entire 313-mile (504 km) segment of Australia's annual Global Green Challenge on a single charge, at an average speed of 25 mph (40 km/h). The Tesla Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 mph (97 km/h) in under 4 seconds and has a top speed of 125 mph (201 km/h). The base price of the car is US$109,000 (€84,000 or GB£87,945).The Roadster Sport price started at US$128,500 in the United States and €112,000 (excluding VAT) in Europe. Deliveries began in July 2009. Motor Trend reported that the Roadster Sport recorded a 0–60 mph of 3.70 seconds and a quarter-mile test at 12.6 sec @ 102.6 mph (165.1 km/h), and stated "Tesla is the first maker to crack the EV legitimacy barrier in a century."

The Model S was announced in a press release on June 30, 2008.The sedan was originally code-named "Whitestar Retail deliveries began in the US on June 22, 2012.The first delivery of a Model S to a retail customer in Europe took place on August 7, 2013.Deliveries in China began on April 22, 2014.First deliveries of the right-hand-drive model destined for the UK, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan were made as scheduled in 2014.The Model S was to have three battery pack options for a range of up to 265 miles (426 km) per charge,but this was reduced to two, due to lack of demand for the shortest range vehicle. The United States Environmental Protection Agency range for the 85 kW·h battery pack model, the first trim launched in the United States market, is 265 mi (426 km),and 208 mi (335 km) for the model with the 60 kW·h battery.

In October 2014, Tesla announced the 85D and P85D dual-motor all-wheel drive variants of the Model S.The high-end P85D can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), compared to the Model P85's 130 miles per hour (210 km/h).The Model S 85D can cruise at 65 mph (105 km/h) for 295 miles (475 km) on a single charge, 10 miles (16 km) more than the Model S 85.The control system shifts power between the motors, so that each always operates at its most efficient point.

In April 2015, Tesla Motors announced a new 70D to replace the 60. The 70D includes the Supercharger option and is rated at 240 miles (386 km) on a charge.In July 2015, Tesla announced the 90 kW-h model, with 90, 90D, and P90D batteries. A higher-performance motor would be available, with Ludicrous Mode, giving the top-of-the-line variant 762 hp and a 1.1g acceleration.In August 2016, Telsa introduced the P100D to be the new top model, replacing the P90D. The P100D model has a 100kWh battery, a 0-60 mph time of 2.5 seconds and over 300 miles of range.

In April 2016, Tesla updated the design of the Model S to look more like the Model X and made Model S 70, 70D, 75, 75D, 90 and 90D versions available. 70 and 70D Model S owners have the option to unlock the 75 kWh capacity via a software update, adding up to 19 miles per charge.The 60 and 60D, reintroduced in June 2016, owners have a US$9,000 anytime option to unlock the full 75 kWh capacity via a software update.

A total of 2,650 Model S cars were sold in North America during 2012, mostly in the United States. Sales in Europe and North America totaled 22,477 units in 2013.In 2013, the Model S was the top-selling full-size luxury sedan in the US, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (13,303) which was top-selling in the category in 2012, and also surpassing the BMW 7 Series (10,932), Lexus LS (10,727), Audi A8 (6,300) and Porsche Panamera (5,421).During 2014, a total of 31,655 units were delivered worldwide.The Model S ranked as the world's second best-selling plug-in electric vehicle after the Nissan Leaf in 2014.

Model S sales in the American market reached the 50,000 unit milestone in July 2015. Global Model S sales passed the 100,000 unit milestone in December 2015, three years and a half after its introduction.The Model S, with total global sales of 50,446 units, was the world's best selling plug-in electric vehicle in 2015, up from second best in 2014.The Model S also ranked as the top selling plug-in electric car in the U.S. in 2015.In addition, the Model S topped the Western European luxury car segment in 2015 with 15,787 units sold, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (14,990), the segment's leader in previous years.Sales during the first half of 2016 totalled 22,184 units.As of June 2016, the Model S, with a more than 129,000 units sold worldwide since its introduction, ranks as the world's all-time second best selling plug-in car after the Nissan Leaf (about 225,000).

The United States is the world's leading Model S market with about 75,000 units sold up until June 2016.Norway is the Model S largest overseas market,with 10,065 new units registered through December 2015 .The Tesla Model S became the first electric car ever to top the monthly sales ranking in any country, when the electric car achieved the first place in the Norwegian new car sales list in September 2013. The Model S captured a market share of 5.1% of all new car sales that month.In December 2013, and with a 4.9% market share, the Model S topped one more time the best selling new car list in Norway.In March 2014 Tesla Model S became the best-ever selling car for over a period of one month in Norway, with a 10.8% market share of all new cars registered in the country.That month, the Tesla Model S also broke the 28-year-old record for monthly sales of a single model regardless of its power source, with 1,493 units sold, surpassing the Ford Sierra, which sold 1,454 units in May 1986.

Tesla manufactures the Model S in Fremont, California, in an assembly plant formerly operated by NUMMI, a defunct joint venture of Toyota and General Motors, now called Tesla Factory. Tesla purchased a stake in the site in May 2010 for US$42 million,and opened the facility in October 2010.For the European market, Tesla assembles and distributes the Model S from its European Distribution Center in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Tesla chose Tilburg because of its location near the port of Rotterdam, where Models S components arrive from the U.S. The center also serves as a workshop and spare parts warehouse. Cars are built and tested in Fremont. Then, the battery pack, the electric motor and parts are disassembled and shipped separately to Tilburg, where the cars are reassembled.

In November 2014 Tesla Motors announced the completion of upgrades to its Fremont, California factory. The factory shut down for two weeks in late summer to complete modifications to handle the addition of the all-wheel drive Dual Motor Model S. The upgrades will help the company raise production by 50 percent in 2015.

Among other awards, the Model S won the 2013 "Motor Trend Car of the Year", the 2013 "World Green Car",Automobile Magazine's 2013 "Car of the Year",and Time Magazine Best 25 Inventions of the Year 2012 award.In June 2015, three years after the Model S introduction and with almost 75,000 Model S sedans delivered worldwide, Tesla announced that Model S owners have accumulated over 1 billion electric miles (1.6 billion km) travelled.The Tesla Model S is the first plug-in electric vehicle fleet to reach the 1 billion electric miles milestone. In October 2014 General Motors reported that Volt owners had accumulated a total of 629 million all-electric miles (over 1 billion kilometers) traveled; while Nissan reported in December 2014 that Leaf owners had traveled 625 million miles (1 billion kilometers).

The Tesla Model X is a full-size crossover SUV. Unveiled in February 2012,Model X deliveries started in September 2015.

More than a thousand people attended the 2012 unveiling, at which Musk said the car would enter production in 2013.In February 2013, Tesla announced that production had been rescheduled to begin by late 2014 in order to focus "on a commitment to bring profitability to the company in 2013" and to achieve their production target of 20,000 Model S cars in 2013.The company began taking reservations for the vehicle in 2013 and said that deliveries would begin in 2014.

In November 2013, Tesla confirmed the company expected to deliver the Model X in small numbers by end of 2014, with high volume production planned for the second quarter of 2015.However, Tesla announced in February 2014 that in order to focus on overseas roll outs of the Model S during 2014, it expected to have production design Model X prototypes in late 2014, and begin high-volume deliveries for retail customers in the second quarter of 2015.In November 2014 Tesla again delayed the start of deliveries till the third quarter of 2015.In August 2015, user groups estimated around 30,000 X pre-orders, compared to 12,000 for the S.

Deliveries of the Model X Signature series began on September 29, 2015. Pricing for the premium special version of the Model X varies between US$132,000 and US$144,000.Model X sales totaled 2,400 units during the first quarter of 2016. According to Tesla Motors, deliveries were lower than expected because production was impacted by severe Model X supplier parts shortages in the first two months of 2016.Sales during the second quarter of 2016 totaled 4,638 units. Although Tesla's production was up 20% from the previous quarter, the number of vehicles in transit at the end of June 2016 was much higher than expected (5,150 including Model S cars), representing 35.8% of the number of cars delivered in the quarter (14,402 vehicles including the Model S).More than 7,000 Model X vehicles have been sold by the end of June 2016.

The Model 3 (stylized as "☰")was previously called the Model E, and was codenamed Tesla BlueStar in the original business plan.The current name was announced on Twitter on July 16, 2014.The all-electric car will have a range of at least 215 miles (350 km). First deliveries are expected in the US after late 2017 and full production in 2018, but CEO Elon Musk has said full production to fulfill expected demand could take up to 2020.

On March 31, 2016, Tesla unveiled its Model 3 for an invited audience via a live stream on Tesla's website.Potential customers were first able to reserve spots in the queue at Tesla stores on March 31 with a refundable deposit of US$1,000.Tens of thousands of people were reported waiting in lines to reserve their spot.During the Model 3 unveiling event, it was revealed that over 115,000 people had reserved the Model 3 prior to the event.As of April 7, 2016, one week after the unveiling, Tesla Motors reported over 325,000 reservations, more than triple the 107,000 Model S cars sold by the end of 2015.These reservations represent potential sales of over US$14 billion.According to Tesla’s global vice-president Robin Ren, China is the second largest market for the Model 3 after the US.Tesla reported net reservations totaled about 373,000 as of 15 May 2016, after about 8,000 cancellations by customers and about 4,200 cancellations by Tesla of reservations that appeared to be duplicates from speculators.

Tesla Motors claims "this the single biggest one-week launch of any product ever."According to Bloomberg News, "the Model 3's unveiling was unique in the 100-year history of the mass-market automobile." Bloomberg reported that while the 1955 Citroën DS took in 80,000 deposits over 10-days at the Paris Auto Show, the Model 3 took 232,000 reservations in two days. In another comparison, the original iPhone had 270,000 sales and reservations also in two days.

During the event, Tesla Motors announced that the Model 3 will be priced starting at US$35,000 before any applicable government incentives. However, with options, CEO Elon Musk predicted that the average sales price will approach US$42,000.Musk also stated that all Model 3s will support supercharging.Tesla also announced plans to make Model 3 available in several new markets including India, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Ireland.

The company plans for the Model 3 are part of Tesla's three step strategy to start at high price and move progressively towards lower cost, where the battery and electric drivetrain technology would be developed and paid for through sales of the Tesla Roadster and Tesla Model S vehicles.Whereas the Roadster used carbon fiber and the Model S and X use aluminum for the body, the composition of the Model 3 is unknown as of March 2016. Some expect it to use steel (for cost reasons), while others in connection with the Model 3 note that the Tesla factory in March 2016 has a new aluminum stamping press with a 10 to 20-fold increase in capacity.Musk has said that Tesla will need to sell 500,000 cars per year (mostly Model 3) to become profitable.According to Tesla's CTO, JB Straubel, in October 2015 most Tesla engineers were working on the 3 rather than S or X. The design was finished in July 2016.

Future Tesla Motors cars may enhance autonomous driving. In 2014, CEO Elon Musk predicted fully autonomous driving technology might be ready within 6 years, but "it will take several more years for governments to work out the industry guidelines for wide embrace of the innovation".

Other vehicle categories have been presaged. In June 2009, Tesla announced plans for electric minivans, crossover SUVs and electric fleet vans for municipal governments.In 2010, Tesla articulated ideas besides the Model X crossover: a utility van and cabriolet were discussed that, if built, would be based on the second-generation platform like Model S.Besides the third-generation platform to be used in Model 3, the possibility of a truck was discussed in 2012.In July 2015, it was announced that a successor to the Roadster would debut in 2019.In October 2015, Musk revealed a future 'Model Y' that would be a Model 3/Model X-like cheaper crossover utility vehicle with falcon-wing doors,and Tesla trademarked the name "Model Y" in 2013.Musk hopes to produce a car cheaper than the Model 3, to be affordable for everyone

There will be future cars that will be even more affordable down the road . . . With fourth generation and smaller cars and what not, we’ll ultimately be in a position where everyone can afford the car.

— Elon Musk at the Future Transport Solutions conference in Oslo, April 21, 2016

Musk wanted the first three models to spell S-E-X but settled with "S3X" since Ford owns the trademark to "Model E". However, the digit "3" will be stylized like three horizontal bars, making it indistuingishable from the "E" in Tesla's logo.After the Model Y is released, the four models will spell "S3XY".

Future models may also reach a 500 miles (800 km) range, partially because of a new patented battery system, pairing metal-air and lithium-ion batteries.

On July 20, 2016, Musk detailed his master plan for Tesla that has been in the works for 10 years. It includes the manufacturing of more affordable cars produced in higher volume, solar power roofs, mid-size vehicles, SUV’s and pickup trucks, as well as the refinement of autonomous vehicles and the creation of a sharing economy — in which, cars can be requested and driven while the owner is not using them.A Tesla Minibus would be built on the Model X platform.

Read More

The history of Mazda

Mazda Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Japan. The company was named after Ahura Mazda who was a god of the earliest civilizations in West Asia and represented wisdom, intelligence and harmony.

Mazda began as a machine tool manufacturer called Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd, which was founded in Japan in 1920.

In 1927 Toyo Cork Kogyo renamed itself as Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1927 and moved from manufacturing machine tools to vehicles, with the introduction of the first vehicle, Mazda-Go in 1931.

During the second world war Toyo Kogyo produced weapons for the Japanese military, most notably was the series 30 through 35 Type 99 rifle.

The company formally adopted the Mazda name in 1984, though every automobile sold from the beginning bore that name. The Mazda R360 was introduced in 1960, followed by the Mazda Carol in 1962.

At the start of the 1960s, Mazda put a major engineering effort into development of the Wankel rotary engine as a way of differentiating themselves from other Japanese auto companies.

The limited-production Cosmo Sport of 1967 became the first vehicle to adopt the rotary engine and it is still being used today in the RX-8. Mazda has become the sole manufacturer of Wankel-type engines mainly by way of attrition (NSU and Citroën both gave up on the design during the 1970s, and prototype Corvette efforts by General Motors never made it to production.)

This effort to bring attention to themselves apparently helped, as Mazda rapidly began to export its vehicles. Both piston-powered and rotary-powered models made their way around the world.

The rotary models quickly became popular for their combination of good power and light weight when compared to piston-engined competitors that required a heavy V6 or V8 engine to produce the same power. The R100 and the famed RX series (RX-2, RX-3, and RX-4) led the company’s export efforts.

During 1968 Mazda started formal operations in Canada although they had been seen in Canada as early as 1959.

In 1970, Mazda formally entered the American market and was very successful there, going so far as to create the Mazda Rotary Pickup for North American buyers. To this day, Mazda remains the only automaker to have produced a Wankel-powered pickup truck. Additionally, they are also the only marque to have ever offered a rotary-powered bus (the Mazda Parkway, offered only in Japan) or station wagon (within the RX-3 & RX-4 line for US markets).

Mazda’s rotary success continued until the onset of the 1973 oil crisis. As American buyers (as well as those in other nations) quickly turned to vehicles with better fuel efficiency, the relatively thirsty rotary-powered models began to fall out of favor.

Wisely, the company had not totally turned its back on piston engines, as they continued to produce a variety of four-cylinder models throughout the 1970s. The smaller Familia line in particular became very important to Mazda’s worldwide sales after 1973, as did the somewhat larger Capella series.

Not wishing to abandon the rotary engine entirely, Mazda refocused their efforts and made it a choice for the sporting motorist rather than a mainstream powerplant. Starting with the lightweight RX-7 in 1978 and continuing with the modern RX-8, Mazda has continued its dedication to this unique powerplant.

This switch in focus also resulted in the development of another lightweight sports car, the piston-powered Mazda Roadster (perhaps better known by its worldwide names as the MX-5 or Miata), inspired by the concept ‘jinba ittai’. Introduced in 1989 to worldwide acclaim, the Roadster has been widely credited with reviving the concept of the small sports car after its decline in the late 1970s.

Mazda’s financial turmoil and decline during the 1960s resulted in a new corporate investor, Ford Motor Company. Starting in 1979 with a 7-percent financial stake, Ford began a partnership with Mazda resulting in various joint projects. During the 1980s, Ford gained another 20-percent financial stake. These included large and small efforts in all areas of the automotive landscape.

This was most notable in the realm of pickup trucks (like the Mazda B-Series, which spawned a Ford Courier variant in North America) and smaller cars. For instance, Mazda’s Familia platform was used for Ford models like the Laser and Escort, while the Capella architecture found its way into Ford’s Telstar sedan and Probe sports models.

In 2002 Ford gained an extra 5-percent financial stake.

The Probe was built in a new Mazda assembly plant in Flat Rock, Michigan along with the mainstream 626 sedan (the North American version of the Capella) and a companion Mazda MX-6 sports coupe. (The plant is now a Ford-Mazda joint venture known as AutoAlliance International.)

Ford has also lent Mazda some of their capacity when needed: the Mazda 121 sold in Europe and South Africa was, for a time, a variant of the Ford Fiesta built in plants in Europe and South Africa. Mazda has also made an effort in the past to sell some of Ford’s cars in Japan, mainly through their Autorama dealer group.

Mazda also helped Ford develop the 1991 Explorer, which Mazda sold as the 2-door only Mazda Navajo from 1991 through 1994. Ironically, Mazda’s version was unsuccessful, while the Ford (available from the start as a 4-door or 2-door model) instantly became the best selling sport-utility vehicle in the United States and kept that title for over a decade.

Mazda has also used Ford’s Ranger pickup as the basis for its North American–market B-Series trucks, starting in 1994 and continuing through to 2009.

Following their long-held fascination with alternative engine technology, Mazda introduced the first Miller cycle engine for automotive use in the Millenia luxury sedan of 1995.

Though the Millenia (and its Miller-type V6 engine) were discontinued in 2002, the company has recently introduced a much smaller Miller-cycle four-cylinder engine for use in their Demio starting in 2008. As with their leadership in Wankel technology, Mazda remains (so far) the only automaker to have used a Miller-cycle engine in the automotive realm.

Further financial difficulties at Mazda during the 1990s (partly caused by losses related to the 1997 Asian financial crisis) caused Ford to increase its stake to a 33.9-percent controlling interest on 31 March 1997.

In 1997, Henry Wallace was appointed President, and he set about restructuring Mazda and setting it on a new strategic direction. He laid out a new direction for the brand including the design of the present Mazda marque; he laid out a new product plan to achieve synergies with Ford, and he launched Mazda’s digital innovation program to speed up the development of new products.

At the same time, he started taking control of overseas distributors, rationalized dealerships and manufacturing facilities, and driving much needed efficiencies and cost reductions in Mazda’s operations.

Much of his early work put Mazda back into profitability and laid the foundations for future success. Ford executive Mark Fields, who took over as Mazda’s CEO later, has been credited with expanding Mazda’s new product lineup and leading the turnaround during the early 2000s.

Ford’s increased influence during the 1990s allowed Mazda to claim another distinction in history, having maintained the first foreign-born head of a Japanese car company (starting under Henry Wallace ).

Mazda had previously used a number of different marques in the Japanese (and occasionally Australian) market, including Autozam, Eunos, and Efini, which have since been phased out. This diversification stressed the product development groups at Mazda past their limits.

Instead of having a half-dozen variations on any given platform, they were asked to work on dozens of different models and consumers were confused as well by the explosion of similar new models. One of the oddest sub-marques was M2, used on three rare variants of the Eunos Roadster (the M2-1001, M2-1002 and M2-1028) and one of the Autozam AZ-1 (M2-1015). M2 even had its own avant-garde company headquarters, but was shut down after a very short period of operation.

Today, the former marques exist in Japan as sales channels (specialized dealerships) but no longer have specialized branded vehicles. The Carol is sold at the Autozam store (which specializes in small cars), but it is sold with the Mazda marque, not as the Autozam Carol as it once was.

In early 1992 Mazda planned to release a new luxury marque, Amati, to challenge Acura, Infiniti, and Lexus in North America, which was to begin selling in late 1993.

The initial Amati range would have included the Amati 500 (which became the Eunos 800 in Japan and Australia, Mazda Millenia in the U.S., and Mazda Xedos 9 in Europe), a luxury sports coupe based on the Mazda Cosmo and the Amati 1000 (a rear-wheel drive V12 successor to the Mazda 929). The Amati marque was eventually scrapped before any cars hit the market.

In Europe, the Xedos name was also associated with the Mazda Xedos 6, the two models were in production from 1992 until 1997. The Xedos line was marketed under the Mazda marque, and used the Mazda badge from the corresponding years.

In the racing world, Mazda has had substantial success with both their signature Wankel-engine cars in two-rotor, three-rotor, and four-rotor forms as well as their piston-engine models. Mazda vehicles and engines compete in a wide variety of disciplines and series around the world. More Mazdas are raced every week than any other car brand.

Mazda also maintains sponsorship of the Laguna Seca racing course in California, going so far as to use it for their own automotive testing purposes as well as numerous racing events.

Read More

The history of Chrysler

Chrysler was founded by Walter Chrysler on June 6, 1925, when the Maxwell Motor Company (est. 1904) was re-organized into the Chrysler Corporation.

Walter Chrysler had originally arrived at the ailing Maxwell-Chalmers company in the early 1920s, having been hired to take over and overhaul the company's troubled operations (just after a similar rescue job at the Willys car company).

In late 1923 production of the Chalmers automobile was ended.

Then in January 1924, Walter Chrysler launched an eponymous automobile. The Chrysler 70 (also called the B-70) was a 6-cylinder, designed to provide customers with an advanced, well-engineered car, at a more affordable price than they might expect. (Elements of this car are traceable back to a prototype which had been under development at Willys at the time Chrysler was there).

The original 1924 Chrysler included a carburetor air filter, high compression engine, full pressure lubrication, and an oil filter, at a time when most autos came without all these features. Among the innovations in its early years would be the first practical mass-produced four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a system nearly completely engineered by Chrysler with patents assigned to Lockheed. Chrysler pioneered rubber engine mounts to reduce vibration; Oilite bearings; and superfinishing for shafts.

Chrysler also developed a road wheel with a ridged rim, designed to keep a deflated tire from flying off the wheel. This safety wheel was eventually adopted by the auto industry worldwide.

Following the introduction of the Chrysler, the Maxwell marque was dropped after the 1925 model year. The new, of lower-priced 4-cylinder Chryslers introduced for 1926 year were badge-engineered Maxwells.The advanced engineering and testing that went into Chrysler Corporation cars helped to push the company to the second-place position in U.S. sales by 1936, a position it would last hold in 1949.

In 1928, Chrysler Corporation began dividing its vehicle offerings by price class and function. The Plymouth brand was introduced at the low priced end of the market (created essentially by once again reworking and rebadging Chrysler's 4-cylinder model).At the same time, the DeSoto marque was introduced in the medium-price field. Shortly thereafter, Chrysler bought the Dodge Brothers automobile and truck company and launched the Fargo range of trucks. By the late 1930s, the DeSoto and Dodge divisions would trade places in the corporate hierarchy. This proliferation of marques under Chrysler's umbrella might have been inspired by the similar strategy employed successfully by General Motors. Beginning in 1955, Imperial, formerly the top model of the Chrysler brand, became a separate make of its own,and in 1960, the Valiant was introduced likewise as a distinct marque. In the U.S. market, Valiant was made a model in the Plymouth line and the DeSoto make was discontinued for 1961. With those exceptions per applicable year and market, Chrysler's range from lowest to highest price from the 1940s through the 1970s was Valiant, Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, and Imperial. After acquiring AMC in 1987, Chrysler fulfilled one of AMC's conditions of sale by creating the Eagle marque in 1988 to be sold at existing AMC-Jeep dealers.The Eagle brand lasted a decade, being discontinued in 1998, while Plymouth was ended three years later.

By 2001 and as of September 2009, the company had three marques worldwide: Dodge, Jeep, and Chrysler. Effective October 2009, however, a fourth brand was established with the creation of the Ram brand, a breakout from the Dodge marque. Initially, the new brand consisted of the Ram full-size pickup, Dakota compact pickup and the Sprinter van.During the unveiling of Chrysler's business plan on November 5, CEO Sergio Marchionne indicated that the Ram brand will be augmented by Fiat-sourced vehicles, including a smaller van than the Sprinter, which itself would be replaced by a Fiat-based vehicle. In 2011, however, Fiat became Chrysler's fifth brand with the North American introduction of the Fiat 500.

Chrysler's Airtemp marque for stationary and mobile air conditioning, refrigeration, and climate control was launched with the first installation in 1930's Chrysler Building,though the Airtemp Corporation would not be incorporated until 1934, when it used a former Maxwell factory.

Airtemp invented capacity regulators, sealed radial compressors, and the self-contained air conditioning system, along with a superior high-speed radial compressor, and by 1941 had over 500 dealers selling its air conditioning and heating systems. The company supplied medical refrigeration units in World War II, and dominated the industry in the 1940s but slowly fell behind. By the 1970s Airtemp was losing money, and was sold to Fedders in 1976.In 2012 the name was reborn as a Nordyne byproduct exclusively sold by the R.E. Michel Company.

In the 1980s, Chrysler formed a subsidiary business called Acustar to sell parts to other automakers as well as supplying parts for Chrysler-built vehicles, similar to General Motors' creation of Delphi Corporation and Ford's later creation of Visteon.

Safeguard is Chrysler's brand for original and replacement auto glass, much of which, from 1958 through the mid-2000s, was made at Chrysler's McGraw glass plant, and some of which was manufactured for Chrysler by established glass companies.

In 1934 the company introduced the Airflow models, featuring an advanced streamlined body, among the first to be designed using aerodynamic principles. Chrysler created the industry's first wind tunnel to develop them. Buyers rejected its styling, and the more conventionally designed Dodge and Plymouth cars pulled the firm through the Depression years. Plymouth was one of only a few marques that actually increased sales during the cash-strapped thirties.

The unsuccessful Airflow had a chilling effect on Chrysler styling and marketing, which remained determinedly conservative through the 1940s and into the 1950s, with the single exception of the installation of hidden headlights on the very brief production run of 1942 DeSotos. Engineering advances continued, and in 1951 the firm introduced the first of a long and famous series of Hemi V8s.

In 1955 things brightened with the introduction of Virgil Exner's successful Forward Look designs, followed in 1956 by Chrysler's pioneering adoption of transistor radios in cars.On April 28, 1955, Chrysler and Philco had announced the development and production of the world's first all-transistor car radio.The Mopar model 914HR was developed and produced by Chrysler and Philco, and was an $150.00 "option" on the 1956 Imperial car models. Philco was the company that had manufactured the all-transistor car radio Mopar model 914HR, starting in the fall of 1955 at its Sandusky, Ohio plant, for the Chrysler corporation.With the inauguration of the second generation Forward Look cars for 1957, Torsion-Aire suspension was introduced. This was not air suspension, but an indirect-acting, torsion-spring front suspension system which drastically reduced unsprung weight and shifted the car's center of gravity downward and rearward. This resulted in both a smoother ride and significantly improved handling. A rush to production of the 1957 models led to quality control problems including poor body fit and finish, resulting in significant and early rusting. This, coupled with a national recession, found the company again in recovery mode.

On September 28, 1957, Chrysler had announced the production of electronic fuel injection (EFI) to be available as an option on some of its new 1958 car models (Chrysler 300D, Dodge D500, DeSoto Adventurer, Plymouth Golden Commando V-8) that resulted with approximately 35 total installations.Chrysler used the same all-transistor modulator "Electrojector" fuel injection system from Bendix Corporation that was withdrawn from public sale of the 1957 Rambler Rebel by American Motors because the system could not be made reliable.Owners of EFI Chryslers were so dissatisfied that all but one were retrofitted with carburetors, while that one has been completely restored, with original EFI electronic problems resolved.

During World War II, essentially all of Chrysler’s facilities were devoted to building military vehicles. Chrysler ranked eighth among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.One of Chrysler’s most significant contributions to the war effort, however, was not in the field of vehicles but in the radar field. Chrysler made the converters for the Manhattan Project's K-25 gaseous diffusion plant in their Lynch Road plant in Detroit, after Dr Carl Heussner of the Chrysler plating laboratory solved the nickel plating problem.

After the war. Chrysler continued with special projects for the Government; these were in the aerospace fields of missiles and space boosters.

When the Radiation Laboratory at MIT was established in 1941 to develop microwave radars, one of the first projects resulted in the SCR-584, the most widely recognized radar system of the war era. This system included a parabolic antenna six feet in diameter that was mechanically aimed in a helical pattern (round and round as well as up and down).

For the final production design of this antenna and its highly complex drive mechanism, the Army’s Signal Corps Laboratories turned to Chrysler’s Central Engineering Office. There, the parabola was changed from aluminum to steel, allowing production forming using standard automotive presses. To keep weight down, 6,000 equally spaced holed were drilled in the face (this did not affect the radiation pattern). The drive mechanism was completely redesigned, using technology derived from Chrysler’s research in automotive gears and differentials. The changes resulted in improved performance, reduced weight, and easier maintenance. A large portion of the Dodge plant was used in building 1,500 of the SCR-584 antennas as well as the vans used in the systems.

In April 1950, the U.S. Army established the Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC) at Redstone Arsenal, adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama. To form OGMC, about 1,000 civilian and military personnel were transferred from Fort Bliss, Texas. Included was a group of German scientists and engineers led by Wernher von Braun; this group had been brought to America under Project Paperclip. OGMC designed the Army’s first short-range ballistic missile, the PGM-11 Redstone, based on the WWII German V-2 missile. Chrysler established the Missile Division to serve as the Redstone prime contractor, setting up an engineering operation in Huntsville and for production obtaining use from the U.S. Navy of a large plant in Warren, Michigan. The Redstone was in active service from 1958 to 1964; it was also the first missile to test-launch a live nuclear weapon, first detonated in a 1958 test in the South Pacific.

Working together, the Missile Division and von Braun’s team greatly increased the capability of the Redstone, resulting in the PGM-19 Jupiter, a medium-range ballistic missile. In May 1959, a Jupiter missiles launched two small monkeys into space in a nose cone on a Jupiter; this was America’s first successful flight and recovery of live space payloads. Responsibility for deploying Jupiter missiles was transferred from the Army to the Air Force; armed with nuclear warheads, they were first deployed in Italy and Turkey during the early 1960s.

In October 1950, K. T. Keller the president and chairman of the board of Chrysler was appointed part-time Director of Guided Missiles by President Truman to "make sense" of the missile program. Kenneth Nichols who had worked with him on the Manhattan Project was his assistant. They were to select missiles to be put into production and specify the number required, and give more priority to air defense missiles. The process of authorizing came to be known as “Kellerizing”, and once when the Navy objected to lower numbers than they desired being specified for their missile Keller refused to accept the Navy letter. He sent it back, saying he was willing to discuss the numbers but refused to reply in writing and get into the "Pentagon paper mill procedure" of "endless reviews and letter writing". He resigned in September 1953.

In July 1959, NASA chose the Redstone missile as the basis for the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle to be used for suborbital test flights of the Project Mercury spacecraft. Three unmanned MLRV launch attempts were made between November 1960 and March 1961, two of which were successful. The MLRV successfully launched the chimpanzee Ham and astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom on three suborbital flights in January, May and July 1961.

As America's manned space flight plans became more ambitious, Wernher von Braun's team designed the Saturn family of launch vehicles. With Chrysler's Huntsville operation then designated the Space Division, Chrysler became Marshall Space Flight Center’s prime contractor for the first (booster) stage of the Saturn I and Saturn IB vehicles. The Saturn I booster stage was designated S-I, which was upgraded to the S-IB for the Saturn IB. Chrysler based its fuel tank design on a cluster of its Redstone and Jupiter tanks, using four Redstone tanks to hold the RP-1 fuel and four to hold the liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer, around a central Jupiter LOX tank. Chrysler built these for the Apollo program in the Michoud Assembly Facility in East New Orleans, one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world.

Between October 1961 and July 1965, NASA launched four S-I boosters with dummy upper stages on suborbital test flights, followed by six complete Saturn Is on unmanned orbital flights. The last five of these tested boilerplate Apollo spacecraft, and the last three also carried Pegasus micrometeroid detection satellites. All flights were successful.

Between February 1966 and July 1975, NASA launched nine Saturn IBs on two suborbital flights and seven orbital flights (five of which were manned); all flights were successful.Starting in the 1960 model year, Chrysler built all their passenger cars with Unibody (unit-body or monocoque) construction, except the Imperials which retained body-on-frame construction until 1967. Chrysler thus became the only one of the Big Three American automakers (General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler) to offer unibody construction on the vast majority of their product lines. This construction technique, now the worldwide standard, offers advantages in vehicle rigidity, handling, and crash safety, while reducing squeak and rattle development as the vehicle ages. Chrysler's contributions to the technology included the first use of computers to design unit-body cars, and the first setup where exterior sheet metal was not required for structural strength, making sheet metal replacement easier.

Chrysler's new compact line, the Valiant, opened strong and continued to gain market share for over a decade. Valiant was introduced as a marque of its own, but the Valiant line was placed under the Plymouth marque for US-market sales in 1961. The 1960 Valiant was the first production automobile with an alternator (generating alternating current, paired with diodes for rectification back to direct current) rather than a direct current electrical generator as standard equipment. It proved such an improvement that it was used in all Chrysler products in 1961. The DeSoto marque was withdrawn from the market after the introduction of the 1961 models due in part to the broad array of the Dodge lines and the general neglect of the division. The same affliction plagued Plymouth as it also suffered when Dodge crept into Plymouth's price range. This would eventually lead to the demise of Plymouth several decades later. An ill-advised downsizing of the full-size Dodge and Plymouth lines in 1962 hurt sales and profitability for several years.

Partly to compensate for rust problems on the 1957 models and partly to ensure that their Unibody cars would remain safe, as rust was a larger problem when body panels were required for strength, Chrysler pioneered the use of electrostatic charges to improve anti-rust agent adhesion in their 1960 models. The company was also the first to use a seven-step rustproofing bath system, though not the first to use rustproofing baths.

In April 1964, the Plymouth Barracuda, which was a Valiant sub-model, was introduced. The huge glass rear window and sloping roof were polarizing styling features. Barracuda was released almost two weeks before Ford's Mustang, making the Barracuda the first pony car. Even so, the Mustang outsold it 10-to-1 between April 1964 and August 1965. Perception of the Barracuda as nothing but a reskinned Valiant was not aided by sharing front-end sheetmetal.

Chrysler's target buyers were obviously men, and attracting female buyers was not apparently a high priority, for a 1967 sales brochure proclaimed, "At last—specifications your wife can understand."(This was, perhaps, an improvement over the Dodge La Femme option of 1955, for it recognized women were at least reading the specifications.)

In the 1960s Chrysler expanded into Europe, attaining a majority interest in the British Rootes Group in 1964, Simca of France and Barreiros of Spain, to form Chrysler Europe. For the Rootes Group one outcome of this takeover was the launch of the Hillman Avenger in 1970 (briefly sold in the U.S. as the Plymouth Cricket), which sold in Britain alongside the rear-engined Imp and the Hunter. During the 1970s the former Rootes Group got into severe financial difficulties. The Simca and Barreiros divisions were more successful, but in the end the various problems were overwhelming and the firm gained little from these ventures. Chrysler sold these assets to PSA Peugeot Citroën in 1978, which in turn sold the British and Spanish truck production lines to Renault of France.

More successfully, at this same time the company helped create the muscle car market in the U.S., first by producing a street version of its Hemi racing engine and then by introducing a legendary string of affordable but high-performance vehicles such as the Plymouth GTX, Plymouth Road Runner, and Dodge Charger. The racing success of several of these models on the NASCAR circuit burnished the company's engineering reputation.

The 1970s were tumultuous for Chrysler since, like all the American car companies of the era, the company was reliant on a marketplace where cheap oil and smog-filled cities were the norm. As conditions changed, Chrysler could not adapt in time. Critics of government regulation have claimed that U.S. anti-trust laws prohibited U.S. automakers from forming Japanese- or European-style industry consortiums (which helped their foreign competitors to save costs). Chrysler was also slow to adopt to a gradual tightening of anti-pollution regulations. However, given that Chrysler's European divisions already had both the talent and the knowledge to make fuel-economic, less polluting vehicles, all that Chrysler's management had to do was to import European technology that it already owned. Chrysler's American difficulties, therefore, were largely the result of poor management.

Chrysler's lower sales volumes meant that new development and implementation costs made up a larger proportion of a vehicle's cost compared to Ford and General Motors. To avoid pricing themselves out of the market, Chrysler clumsily detuned its existing engines to meet emission requirements, which resulted in lower fuel economy at a time when fuel prices were rising. There was a rush of sales for the compact Dodge Dart and Plymouth Valiant, but the 1973 oil crisis sharply reduced demand for the large, fuel-thirsty vehicles Americans had previously bought in large number and which made up the bulk of Chrysler's product line.

At mid-decade, the company scored a conspicuous success with its first entry in the personal luxury car market, the Chrysler Cordoba. The hurried introduction of the Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volaré in 1976 brought enormous warranty costs to repair faulty design and shoddy construction, and destroyed the longstanding loyalty built up by the Dart and Valiant predecessors. Chrysler Europe essentially collapsed in 1977, and was offloaded to Peugeot the following year, soon after having helped design the new Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni. In 1980, Chrysler Australia, which was producing the locally developed Chrysler Valiant and the Mitsubishi Galant based Chrysler Sigma, was sold to Mitsubishi Motors and changed its name to Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited.[41] The subcompact Horizon was reaching the US market as the second gas crisis struck, devastating sales of Chrysler's larger cars and trucks, and the company had no strong compact line to fall back on.

For many years, Chrysler developed gas turbine engines, which are capable of operating on a wide array of combustible fuels, for automotive use. Turbines were common in military vehicles, and Chrysler built many prototypes for passenger cars. In the 1960s, mass production seemed almost ready. Fifty Chrysler Turbine Cars, specialty designed Ghia-bodied coupes were built in 1962 and placed in the hands of consumers for final testing. After further development and testing to make emissions conform to 1970s-enacted EPA standards, the engines were planned as an option for the 1977 model LeBaron. However, Chrysler was forced to abandon the turbine engine as a precondition of U.S. government loan guarantees when the company experienced financial difficulties in the late 1970s.

In 1978, Lee Iacocca, recently fired from being Ford's executive, was aggressively courted and brought in as CEO. At the time, Chrysler was losing millions, largely due to recalls of the company's Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare, cars that Iacocca would later claim should never have been built. He began rebuilding the entire company from the ground up, laying off many workers, selling the loss-making Chrysler Europe division to Peugeot, and bringing in many former associates from his former company. Also from Ford, Iacocca brought to Chrysler the "Mini-Max" project, which would bear fruit in 1983 with the successful Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager. Henry Ford II had wanted nothing to do with the Mini-Max, a restyled version of the minivan that Toyota was selling in huge numbers in Asia and Latin America, which doomed the project at Ford. Hal Sperlich, the driving force behind the Mini-Max at Ford had been fired a few months before Iacocca and was waiting for him at Chrysler, where the two would make automotive history. Iacocca proved to be a capable public spokesman, appearing in advertisements to advise customers that "If you find a better car, buy it." He would also provide a rallying point for Japan-bashing and instilling pride in American products. His book Talking Straight was a response to Akio Morita's Made in Japan.

Iacocca arrived shortly after the introduction of the subcompact Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon. The front-wheel drive Omni and Horizon became instant hits, selling over 300,000 units each in their debut year, showing what was to come for Chrysler. Ironically, the Omni and Horizon had been designed alongside the Chrysler Horizon with much input from the Chrysler Europe division of the company, which Iacocca axed in 1978.

Realizing that the company would go out of business if it did not receive a significant amount of money to turn the company around, Iacocca approached the United States Congress on September 7, 1979 and asked for US$1.5 billion in loan guarantees. Congress reluctantly passed the "Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979" on December 20, 1979 (signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on January 7, 1980), prodded by Chrysler workers and dealers in every congressional district who feared the loss of their livelihoods. The military then bought thousands of Dodge pickup trucks which entered military service as the Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle M-880 Series. With such help and a few innovative cars, Chrysler would manage to avoid bankruptcy and slowly recover.

After receiving this reprieve, Chrysler released the first of the K-Car line, the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant, in 1981. Like the minivan which would come later, these compact automobiles were based on design proposals that Ford had rejected during Iacocca's (and Sperlich's) tenure there. Since they were released in the middle of the major 1980–1982 recession, these small, efficient and inexpensive, front-wheel drive cars sold rapidly.

Aside from small cars, Iacocca re-introduced the full sized Imperial as a company's flagship, new model had all of the newest technologies of the time – including fully electronic fuel injection (the first car in the U.S. to be so equipped) and all digital dashboard.

In February 1982 Chrysler announced the sale of Chrysler Defense, its profitable defense subsidiary to General Dynamics for US$348.5 million. The sale was completed in March 1982 for the revised figure of US$336.1 million.

Chrysler also introduced the minivan, which was by and large Sperlich's "baby," in the fall of 1983, which led the automobile industry in sales for 25 years Because of the K-cars and minivans, along with the reforms Iacocca implemented, the company turned around quickly and by 1983, was able to repay the government-backed loans several years ahead of time, resulting in a profit of $350 million to the U.S. government.

In 1987, it was discovered that Chrysler sold an estimated 32,750 cars that had been test-driven with disconnected odometers – some as much as 500 miles (800 km) – before being shipped to dealers. The controversy gained fire after the United States Senate got involved, as Senator Sam Nunn bought one of the Chryslers in question. Chrysler settled out of court with complainants.Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca sought to minimize damage to the corporation's public image by calling a news conference in which he termed the action "dumb" and "unforgivable".

A joint venture with Mitsubishi called Diamond Star Motors strengthened the company's hand in the small car market. Chrysler also acquired American Motors Corporation (AMC) in 1987, primarily for its Jeep brand, although the failing Eagle Premier would be the basis for the Chrysler LH platform sedans. This bolstered the firm's size, but the American Motors purchase was saddled with $900 million in debt. Also, Chrysler was still the weakest of the Big Three. In 1987, Chrysler surprised the industry by purchasing Italian sports car maker Lamborghini, with the acquisition heavily driven by Iacocca. Lamborghini would subsequently be sold off in 1994.

Iacocca received much credit for Chrysler's turnaround from near bankruptcy, with his commercials giving him celebrity status, and some mentioned him as a potential U.S. presidential candidate in 1988. However the latter part of his tenure from 1988 onwards was less successful. The acquisitions of Gulfstream Aerospace, Electrospace Systems, and other companies was intended to protect Chrysler from the cyclical nature of the auto industry but they shrunk the company's working capital from $14.3 billion to just $1.7 billion. In addition Iacocca enjoyed being in the spotlight and gradually isolated himself from his "Gang of Ford" managers that he had brought over from Ford Motor Company. By 1992, the board pushed Iacocca to retire, albeit with a generous severance package.

Iacocca was also responsible for Chrysler's acquisition of AMC in 1987, which brought the profitable Jeep division under Chrysler's corporate umbrella. It also created the short-lived Eagle division, formed from the remnants of AMC. By this time, AMC had already finished most of the work with the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which Iacocca desperately wanted. The Grand Cherokee would not be released until 1992 for the 1993 model year. That same year, Iacocca stepped down as CEO and Chairman of Chrysler at the end of 1992, being succeeded in these posts by Robert Eaton.

Although Robert Lutz, currently the President of Chrysler, was the second-ranking executive in the company, he earlier opposed the merger with Fiat that Iacocca had championed. Due to their feud, Iacocca convinced the board to pass over Lutz for the chairmanship of Chrysler. However, Eaton and Lutz did develop a strong working relationship.

In the early 1990s, Chrysler made its first steps back into Europe, setting up car production in Austria, and beginning right hand drive manufacture of certain Jeep models in a 1993 return to the UK market. The continuing popularity of Jeep, bold new models for the domestic market such as the Dodge Ram pickup, Dodge Viper (badged as "Chrysler Viper" in Europe) sports car, and Plymouth Prowler hot rod, and new "cab forward" front-wheel drive LH sedans put the company in a strong position as the decade waned.

In 1988, Chrysler and Fiat, owner of Alfa Romeo, reached an agreement that named Chrysler to be the exclusive distributor for Alfa Romeo in North America and easily allow Chrysler dealers to sell Alfa products, which lasted until Alfa left the United States in 1995. The initial contact between the two firms would lead to high-level talks in 1990 between Iacocca and Fiat Chairman Giovanni Agnelli about establishing joint ventures in the United States and Europe, and the possibility of Fiat taking a large equity stake in Chrysler. However, talks dragged on and eventually broke off. Ironically, Fiat would acquire a majority stake in Chrysler following its 2009 restructuring.

In 1991, Chrysler began the process of moving its corporate headquarters from its 1925 founding location of Highland Park, Michigan, to nearby Auburn Hills. The move was complete by 1993.

In 1995, former CEO Lee Iacocca assisted in billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's hostile takeover of Chrysler, which was ultimately unsuccessful. The next year, Kerkorian and Chrysler made a five-year agreement that includes a gag order preventing Iacocca from speaking publicly about Chrysler.

Chrysler was among the companies boycotted by gay rights groups after removing advertisements from the ABC sitcom Ellen in 1997, which it deemed "controversial."

In 1998 Daimler-Benz and Chrysler had formed a 50–50 partnership. Chrysler Corporation then was legally renamed DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC, while its total operations began doing business as Chrysler Group. This was initially declared to be a merger of equals, but it became evident that once Chrysler Chairman and CEO Bob Eaton retired, that Daimler would take majority control.Other executives like President Thomas T. Stallkamp, once considered the heir-apparent of Eaton, and Vice-Chairman Robert Lutz were soon forced out. Eaton, Stallkamp, and Lutz had been described as the "triumvirate" responsible for Chrysler's successes in the late 1990s, with much credit going to Lutz's platform design teams. Daimler-Benz got the remainder of Chrysler, excluding the Eagle brand, which was facing extinction at the time.

Then-Daimler-Benz CEO Juergen Schrempp had "promised a marriage made in heaven and huge synergies". But Martin H. Wiggers' concept of a platform strategy like the VW Group, was implemented only for a few models, so the synergy effects in development and production were too low.However, it proved to be a disaster for Daimler, which poured billions of dollars into Chrysler, draining management and resources, and repeatedly dragging down its Mercedes-Benz luxury vehicle subsidiary. Chrysler President James P. Holden was responsible for misjudging the launch of the all-new 2001 minivan that resulted in an expensive surplus of 2000 models, losing considerable market share to rivals (Chrysler had created and long dominated the minivan market), and also underestimated demand for the surprisingly popular PT Cruiser, resulting in a $512 million third-quarter loss in 2000 that led to his firing later that year.

Dieter Zetsche was appointed CEO of the Chrysler Group in 2000. The Plymouth brand was phased out in 2001, and plans for cost cutting by sharing of platforms and components began. The Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class-based Chrysler Crossfire coupé/roadster and the Chrysler Pacifica three-row crossover were among the initial results of this plan; the Crossfire was unsuccessful while the Pacifica started strong but faded after a few years. A return to rear-wheel drive was announced for a new line of full size cars, spearheaded by the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum which used some Mercedes-Benz W211 components and offered a new HEMI V8 engine as a performance option. While the Magnum received a tepid reception in the market, the 300 garnered much attention and sold well.The partnership with Mitsubishi was dissolved as DaimlerChrysler divested its stake in the firm. Financial performance improved and Chrysler was generating a significant part of Daimler-Chrysler's profits from 2004 to 2005, as the other subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz, incurred costs for restructuring. By 2005, Chrysler was said to be the healthiest of the Detroit Three automakers (compared to General Motors and Ford Motor Company).

As a result of Zetsche's apparent success in a turnaround of Chrysler, Juergen Schrempp, the CEO of parent company Daimler-Chrysler, was pressured to retire early. Zetsche was elevated to CEO of Daimler-Chrysler on January 1, 2006, and Thomas W. LaSorda became President and CEO of Chrysler Group. However, in 2006, while DCX's other subsidiary Mercedes-Benz turned a profit, Chrysler swung to a loss and analysts believed that the profitable years of 2004–05 would be unlikely to be return in the future. That led to suggestions that the eight-year merger would come to an end, as Mercedes (which made up around 33% of Daimler's $200 billion in 2006 revenues) did not get any competitive boost from Chrysler, and that Daimler would be a stronger and more profitable group without the U.S. unit. Zetsche admitted that Chrysler offered no serious scale of advantages, though he initially insisted a spinoff was not being considered and said that management's first priority is to fix the problems at Chrysler by trimming production and redoubling efforts to boost its competitiveness.

Some suggest that Zetsche's tenure was a mixed success, with Chrysler still relying heavily on gas-guzzling SUVs, and most of its product lineup was unsuccessful, despite using Mercedes-derived technologies. Despite radical restructuring and improved models, analysts said that it was difficult to expect a solid recovery at Chrysler, due to the negative dynamics of the U.S. auto market and Chrysler's legacy labor and health care costs. In 2006, Zetsche had starred in the "Dr. Z" ad campaign which cast him as an all-knowing, German-accented wizard of the auto industry, in TV spots and a website. The strategy was to communicate that Chrysler was backed up by the same Teutonic know-how and discipline that has long made Mercedes-Benz one of the world's most prestigious brands. However, the campaign was moth-balled in 2007. Eight years since the merger, most customers did not know that Chrysler was owned by the same company that also produces Mercedes-Benz luxury cars. Some surveyed thought Zetsche was so smooth on screen—even to the point of head-butting a soccer ball perfectly in one take—that he was an actor and not the actual CEO.

According to the April 2007 issue of Der Spiegel, CEO Dieter Zetsche expressed a desire to dismantle Chrysler and sell off the majority stake and at the same time keep Chrysler "dependent" upon Mercedes-Benz after the sale. On April 4, 2007, Zetsche said that the company was negotiating the sale of Chrysler, which was rumored for weeks before the announcement. The following day investor Kirk Kerkorian placed a 4.5 billion dollar bid for Chrysler. On April 12, Magna International of Canada announced it was searching for partners to place a bid for Chrysler. Magna's offer was later outbid.

DaimlerChrysler AG announced on May 14, 2007 that it would sell 80.1% of its stake in the Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management for US$7.4 billion.Chrysler Group (DaimlerChrysler Corporation) would officially become Chrysler Holding LLC (changed to Chrysler LLC upon completion of the sale), with two subsidiaries – Chrysler Motors LLC (new name of DaimlerChrysler Motors Company), which produces Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep vehicles, and Chrysler Financial Services LLC (new name of DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Americas LLC), which took over the operations of Chrysler Financial. DaimlerChrysler AG changed its name to Daimler AG.

Chrysler LLC unveiled a new company logo, a variation of the previously used Pentastar logo, and launched its new website on August 6, 2007. Robert Nardelli became Chairman and CEO. In the resulting management shuffle, LaSorda was relegated to the number two position as President and Vice Chairman of Chrysler LLC,Jim Press, previously President of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., was appointed Co-President and Vice Chairman.While LaSorda's titles at Chrysler LLC officially stated that he was in charge of manufacturing, procurement and supply, employee relations, global business development and alliances, his actual role in the company was largely to find a new partner or buyer for Chrysler. Cerberus Capital was said to be less interested in rebuilding the auto manufacturer as a long-term investment, rather it was focused on turning a short-term profit though a leveraged buyout.

The new company experienced its first labor dispute on October 10, 2007. A strike deadline of 11 am had been set by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union leadership pending successful negotiation of a new contract patterned after the pact with GM. As the talks progressed past the deadline, most Chrysler unionized workers walked off their jobs. With media speculation about the impact of a long strike, an impromptu announcement after 5 pm the same day indicated that a tentative agreement had been reached, thus ending the walkout after just over six hours.

Chrysler collaborates with Tata Motors Limited of India: Tata's all-electric Ace mini truck will be sold through Chrysler's Global Electric Motorcars division. Chrysler announced in February 2008 that it would be reducing its product line from 30 models to 15 models.Chrysler was reported in August 2008 to be in talks with Fiat.

In October 2008, Cerberus and General Motors discussed an exchange of GM's 49% stake in GMAC for Chrysler, potentially merging two of Detroit's "Big Three" automakers.These talks did not come to fruition, and were discontinued the next month.On October 24, 2008, Chrysler announced a 25% cut (5,000 jobs) in its salaried and contract workforce in November 2008. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced that she, along with 5 other governors, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke requesting emergency funding for the Detroit Big Three Automakers. On the same day, General Motors asked the Treasury Department of the United States for $10 billion to help restructure both their company and possible future sibling, Chrysler so that in turn, they can become one massive company.

On October 23, 2008, Daimler announced that its stake in Chrysler had a book value of zero dollars after write offs and charges.

On November 5, 2008 it was published that Chrysler sales in the US market have fallen 34.9 percent in only 12 months.A week later, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli said, in a speech at an Ernst & Young conference, that the company can only remain viable by forming an alliance with another automaker, domestic or global, as well as receiving government assistance in the form of an equity stake.Several days later, Chrysler together with Ford and General Motors, sought financial aid at a Congressional hearing in Washington D.C. in the face of worsening conditions caused by the automotive industry crisis. All three companies were unsuccessful and were invited to draft a new action plan for the sustainability of the industry.

At the beginning of December 2008, amid the 2008 automobile crisis, Chrysler announced that they were dangerously low on cash and may not survive past 2009. After the defeat of the auto bailout in the Senate, Chrysler stated that they would most likely file for bankruptcy and shut down all operations permanently. On December 17, 2008, Chrysler announced that it planned to halt production at all 30 of its manufacturing plants through January 19, 2009. In addition, Chrysler Financial announced that it would charge fees on dealers holding inventories of new cars and trucks that are unsold after more than 360 days, and will require immediate payment of all remaining balances on inventories of used vehicles that remain unsold after six months.On December 19, President George W. Bush announced a $13.4 billion rescue loan for the American automakers, including Chrysler.

Chrysler's 2008 performance was hard hit among the Big Three U.S. automakers, with 398,119 automobiles and 1,055,003 trucks sold during the year.

On March 13, 2009, LaSorda told the Canadian House of Commons finance committee that the initial GM-CAW deal was insufficient and that Chrysler would demand an hourly wage cut of $20, breaking the Canadian Autoworkers's negotiating pattern set by GM. He suggested that Chrysler may withdraw from Canada if it fails to achieve more substantial cost savings from the CAW. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne had also threatened to walk away from the merger if the CAW did not make sufficient concessions to match the wages of the "transplants" (foreign automaker's US and Canadian plants), which the union eventually agreed to by cutting benefits. Chrysler LLC has since filed for bankruptcy, though Fiat would continue to implement the strategic alliance.

On March 7, 2009, Chrysler Vice-Chairman Jim Press stated that current sales volume is sufficient to keep the company going as sales should rise in the coming months. The Chrysler executive also noted the automaker’s February retail sales were better than Ford’s as Chrysler continued to curtail lower-margin fleet sales. He also said the volumes being forecast for 2009 are within the estimates Chrysler envisioned in preparing its viability plan for the federal government.

On March 30, 2009, the White House announced it would provide an additional $6 billion in further support to Chrysler contingent on the company finalizing an alliance with Fiat before the end of April .

On March 30, 2009 President Barack Obama issued a US Government guarantee of Chrysler's warranty liabilities, and publicly stated the U.S. Government will back the warranties on Chrysler vehicles if the company were to go out of business.

On January 20, 2009, Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler LLC announced that they have a non-binding term sheet to form a global alliance. Under the terms of the potential agreement, Fiat could take a 35% stake in Chrysler and gain access to its North American dealer network in exchange for providing Chrysler with the platform to build smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles in the US and reciprocal access to Fiat's global distribution network.

By mid-April, as talks intensified between the two automakers to reach an agreement by a government-imposed deadline of April 30, Fiat's initial stake was reported to be 20% with some influence on the structure of top management of the company.However, Fiat has warned that the merger would not take place if Chrysler fails to reach an agreement with the UAW and the Canadian Auto Workers' Union. On April 26, 2009, it appeared as if Chrysler had reached a deal with the unions which would meet federal requirements, though details were not made available. Chrysler said the union agreement “provides the framework needed to ensure manufacturing competitiveness and helps to meet the guidelines set forth by the U.S. Treasury Department.”Chrysler filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the Federal Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York, in Manhattan, on April 30, 2009, and announced an alliance with Fiat.

Both the White House and Chrysler expressed hope for a "surgical" bankruptcy lasting 30 to 60 days, with the result of reducing the company's liabilities and post-bankruptcy emergence in stronger financial shape. The submitted court documents indicated that there would be a reorganization plan presented to the court in 120 days, on August 28, 2009. A White House official indicated that the government would provide debtor-in-possession financing for between $US 3 billion to $US 3.5 billion, and upon a completion of Chrysler bankruptcy restructuring and court proceedings, the company would be eligible to receive up to $US 4.5 billion in financing to resume operations, for total of $US 8 billion of government support. Prior to the bankruptcy filing, Chrysler had received $US 4.5 billion in financing from the U.S. government, under a George W. Bush administration plan, in December 2008, after Congress declined to approve legislation to provide federal loans. Chrysler announced on the day of the bankruptcy filing, that during the restructuring, it would cease most manufacturing operations on May 4, 2009, and resume production “when the transaction is completed, which is anticipated within 30 to 60 days.”

On May 1, 2009, Chrysler LLC filed for bankruptcy, and LaSorda stepped down as President and Vice-Chairman and retired, despite Fiat urging him to stay on.

On May 14, 2009 Chrysler filed with the bankruptcy court to terminate the dealership agreements of 789, or about 25% of its dealerships.

On June 1, 2009 a US bankruptcy court approved a plan which spells out that the new Chrysler company called "Chrysler Group LLC".The VEBA formed by the United Auto Workers Union to provide health care for Chrysler retirees will hold 55%. Minority stakes will be held by Fiat (20%) and the US (8%) and Canadian (2%) governments. Fiat has stated it plans to increase its share to 35% if Chrysler meets certain goals.

On June 8, 2009, Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is assigned to emergency motions arising from the United States Appeals Court for the Second Circuit, in a one-sentence order, stayed the orders of the bankruptcy judge allowing the sale, pending further order by Justice Ginsburg or the Supreme Court.

On June 9, 2009, the Supreme Court published its denial of the applications for a stay of the sale from the three Indiana funds, allowing the sale of assets to "New Chrysler" to proceed.[95] According to the two page decision and order, the Indiana funds “have not carried the burden” of demonstrating that the Supreme Court needed to intervene. The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a statement saying: “We are gratified that not a single court that reviewed this matter, including the U.S. Supreme, found any fault whatsoever with the handling of this matter by either Chrysler or the U.S. government.”The proposed sale of assets is scheduled to close on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, when the money to finance the deal is wired by the government. Fiat will receive equity in the New Chrysler through its contribution of automobile platforms as a base for a new line of Chrysler cars.

On June 10, 2009, 41 days after filing for bankruptcy protection, the sale of most of Chrysler assets to "New Chrysler", formally known as Chrysler Group LLC, was completed. The federal government financed the deal with US$6.6 billion in financing, paid to the "Old Chrysler", formally called Old Carco LLC.The transfer does not include eight manufacturing locations, nor many parcels of real estate, nor equipment leases. Contracts with 789 U.S. auto dealerships, who are being dropped, were not transferred.

Fiat initially owned a minority 20% stake of Chrysler Group LLC with the option of taking additional equity up to a 35% stake if certain operational and capitalization goals were achieved. The United Auto Workers’ union retiree health care trust fund (Volunteer Employee Benefit Association) was the majority owner, with 55 percent when Fiat reached its target holding of 35%. The U.S. and Canadian governments initially held minority stakes of 8% and 2%, respectively, of the new Chrysler.

On May 24, 2011, Fiat paid back $7.6 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans.On July 21, Fiat bought the Chrysler shares held by the United States Treasury. With the purchase, Chrysler once again became foreign owned; this time Italian car maker Fiat gained majority ownership and control of Chrysler. The United States government’s involvement in the Chrysler bankruptcy cost the U.S. taxpayer $1.3 billion.

In early 2009, Chrysler Group, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, became majority owned by the United Auto Workers Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association trust. In June 2009 Fiat gained ownership of Chrysler Group as a part of Chrysler's restructuring plan, and eventually gained 58% total stake in the company.Fiat stated plans for the Chrysler brand and Lancia to codevelop products, with some vehicles being shared. Olivier Francois, Lancia's CEO, took over as CEO of the Chrysler division in October 2009. Fiat has stated that, depending on the market, some Chrysler cars will be sold as Lancias and vice versa. Francois plans to reestablish the Chrysler brand as an upscale brand, a position somewhat muddied since the K-car era in the 80's, and especially after the Plymouth brand was discontinued.At the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, A Chrysler badged Lancia Delta was on display, likely the first Lancia to be sold as a Chrysler and possibly as a replacement for the Chrysler PT Cruiser.Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler get makeover by refreshing, redesigning or replacing every car and truck, swapping out engines and creating vehicles people want.

On 16 December 2014, Chrysler Group LLC announced a name change to FCA US LLC.

Read More