The American conscience, continuing through the 2010s, has continued to wallow through the murky history of Chrysler after its 2008 bailout. The excruciating pressure placed on the company's’ corporate division to radically alter its’ business model after near-bankruptcy has signalled the uncomfortable insecurity of big business in the U.S. The constant anxiety that has engulfed Chrysler ever since it’s 2008 fiasco, and the intense scrutiny it has faced, can generally be traced decades prior to the lowest point in the automaker’s history: the 1980’s.
However, there is something to be said about that decade in general. Considering the nostalgia of aggressive business executives in the 1980s, Chrysler genuinely needed a powerful leader to push through a troubling time. It was facing bankruptcy, not too dissimilar to the situation the company found itself in 2008. However, back in the 1970’s-80’s, a firebrand of American business was there to extinguish fears of possible bankruptcy: Lee Iacocca. Lee Iacocca never grew to become a household name in the U.S. In fact, Iacocca’s name was barely remembered in the domestic sphere. He was merely cited in economic history as a senile man who miraculously saved Chrysler from falling under in the 1980’s. Iacocca’s economic impact on the automotive world was seen as relatively miniscule in comparison to those the likes of Henry Ford, Robert McNamara, and Jack Telnack. Iacocca, in the eyes of the laymen, is seen as a shadowy figure who spontaneously propped Chrysler “from the blue”. Nonetheless, Iacocca’s economic genius has been recognized in recent history in retrospect to the disastrous 2008 Chrysler-Bankruptcy crisis which had seen government funds siphoned to fund executive vacations, slow economic and technological improvement, and a slump in economic growth for the historic automaker. In the aftermath of the boiling controversy surrounding the company, Iacocca’s legendary vision is being further remarked upon by contemporary historians. When Chrysler was reaching the end of the 1979 fiscal year, the corporate ladder found itself in shambles. The fuel-efficient Dodge Omni, marketed by the then ailing company as an upscale economy car, was seeing a severe decline in sales. Executives were puzzled by this, considering the car came with a technologically advanced, imported German Opel engine and strict emissions control. Despite meeting standards for the time, sales were plummeting and the company found itself in a conundrum. Confused and in need of rejuvenation, the market board pressed for protective bankruptcy and to liquify assets to meet dividend cutoffs. Under constant pressure to do so, the newly hired Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, with only one year on the job after a heated departure from Ford, ordered the company to remain as it was: a corporation. Iacocca did not see fit for Chrysler to file for bankruptcy, and instead turned to the U.S. government for help. This would prove to be rather costly, as by the end of negotiations, the U.S. government delivered nearly $1.5 Billion in financial aid to the dying company. This, however, came with major stipulations: the company would need to cut costs and reduce the profit-deficit. Iacocca, seeing the danger of overspending, needed to quickly drum up a method for launching Chrysler back to the top on a budget. He looked back upon the heavy, technologically weak Dodge Aspen that was still selling in 1979. Lacking modern essentials, the car lagged behind more popular alternatives by General Motors and Ford. Iacocca, wisely fearing the burden the car would have, axed the car’s production by the 1980 model year. Iacocca continued to slash unneeded projects and troublesome cars. The expensive and cumbersome Dodge Omni was redesigned with a cheaper, domestic motor by 1980, and the greatly ambitious, space-age Turbine Engine produced in secret by Chrysler Engineers was disassembled and scrapped, as Iacocca did not see the need for such a highly ambitious and failure prone project. Despite this, Iacocca was willing to modernize to improve company efficiency. Seeing the lack of car-model diversity, Iacocca quickly drummed up plans for a financially-stable, small economy car that could morph to take different shapes and forms. Similar to Henry Ford of the past, Iacocca’s ambitions were to improve efficiency in a time when the company he lead had one of the tightest profit margins in the domestic auto industry. Efficiency he desired, and efficiency he received. Soon, Iacocca was releasing a new project that would save Chrysler from the depths of financial purgatory: the K-platform. The K-platform was not a specific model, but a car platform. This means that the overall body and theme of the car is maintained, while exterior and interior trim could be replaced with whatever the company desired. This model flexibility on a single car platform would lend itself to be the saving grace of a financially struggling company. By the time the K-Platform hit the streets in 1982 under the names of the Chrysler LeBaron and Plymouth Caravelle, the 1982 fiscal year was being reported by the Big Three (Ford, GM, and Chrysler) as the worst it had ever seen in years. The deficit began to grow for all three major American auto manufacturers, and despite feeling the brunt of the quasi-depression, Chrysler maintained a limited profit margin through the sale of the economically reliable K-platform. The sales of the K-platform allowed Chrysler just enough in revenue to pursue its greatest and most financially lucrative project yet: the Dodge Caravan. Contemporarily remarked as a dull, family transporter, the Caravan was revolutionary for its time. The brainchild of Iacocca’s economic construction, the Caravan was sold as an appeal to middle-class American families seeking a financially viable, fuel efficient family van capable of carrying out basic hauling and other menial activities. Released in 1984 under crumbling profits, Iacocca’s leadership proved to finally bail the company from its tribulations. Chrysler saw its profits gradually increase, and the K-platform let Chrysler recover from its near-death experience. Cheap, interchangeable and reliable, the K-platform allowed Chrysler under Iacocca to reorganize and change company outlook. No longer was aesthetic appeal necessary; the K-platform cars themselves were boxy and unappealing. But what Iacocca knew mattered was pricing: prices for Chrysler cars greatly undercut competitors in a method not seen until the rise of Lexus in 1989. Iacocca saved Chrysler from its “dark age”. Iacocca left the company in 1992 to seek retirement, seeing that he had accomplished his task. Chrysler, meanwhile, created poor financial decisions in Iacocca’s absence that would lead to the plans for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy to once again resurface in 2008. Iacocca, then too old to re-enter the company’s ranks, lamented the poor decision making of Chrysler in his absence in an interview with Newsweek 2009: "This is a sad day for me. It pains me to see my old company, which has meant so much to America, on the ropes. But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got through it, and I believe they can do it again. If they're smart, they'll bring together a consortium of workers, plant managers and dealers to come up with real solutions. These are the folks on the front lines, and they're the key to survival. Let's face it, if your car breaks down, you're not going to take it to the White House to get fixed. But, if your company breaks down, you've got to go to the experts on the ground, not the bureaucrats. Every day I talk to dealers and managers, who are passionate and full of ideas. No one wants Chrysler to survive more than they do. So I'd say to the Obama administration, don't leave them out. Put their passion and ideas to work." Passion and ideas: two words that, under Iacocca’s leadership at Chrysler, saved the failing automaker.
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