Chrysler -- The slide down
Chrysler was always the weakest of Detroit’s three auto makers (GM, Ford and Chrysler)
In the 1940’s and 50’s, Chrysler crew into a small, highly centralized firm with very little vertical integration.
Unlike GM, Chrysler relied on external suppliers for 70% of its major components and subassemblies
Chrysler was an auto assembler for the domestic markets.
In the 1980’s, Chrysler lost several thousand units of sales annually because it did not make improvements in its mass-market cars.
Customers could not distinguish Chrysler models from each other.