Chrysler Europe
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In the 1960s, Chrysler sought to become a world producer of automobiles. The company had never had much success outside North America, contrasting with Ford's worldwide reach and General Motors' success with Opel and Vauxhall. In 1967, Chrysler succeeded in purchasing the Rootes Group of the United Kingdom and Simca of France. These entities were combined to form Chrysler Europe. British built cars were badged as Chryslers, while the Simca badge appeared on French versions. Chrysler used the Dodge marque on commercial vehicles produced by both Simca and Rootes (Commer & Karrier).
The company systematically retired the previous marques from Rootes, including Hillman, Humber, and Sunbeam in favour of the Chrysler name, but retained the French Simca and Talbot names.
The first European Chrysler was the 1975 Alpine hatchback, which was sold in France as the Simca 1307. It was voted European Car of the Year for 1976. Two years later, the smaller Horizon also won the award.
Chrysler also created the Britain-only Sunbeam three-door hatchback which was based on the Rootes-designed Hillman Avenger chassis but was aimed at the likes of the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo.
However, the confused branding of the vehicles, coupled to mediocre design and poor build quality meant profits failed to materialize. Chrysler were already in serious financial trouble back home in America, and were on the brink of bankruptcy. The company's incoming CEO, Lee Iacocca had shown little interest in the European market from the outset (just as he had done during his period in charge of Ford]), and wasted no time in wielding the axe almost immediately. In 1978, Chrysler Europe was sold for a nominal 1$ to Peugeot, who took on the liability for the division's huge debts as well as its factories and product line, which was rebadged using the resurrected Talbot marque (which was owned in two different forms by both Rootes and Simca). But within eight years, the French giant had scrapped the Talbot marque on passenger cars - retaining it for commercial vehicles only until 1991. Peugeot took little interest in heavy commercial vehicles and the production of former Dodge models passed to Renault Trucks.
The former Simca and Rootes assembly plants in Poissy and Ryton-on-Dunsmore, respectively, survive to this day under the ownership of the PSA Group, but Rootes' Linwood plant in Scotland was a casualty of the takeover - closing its doors in 1981. In April 2006 however, Peugeot announced that the Ryton plant would close when Peugeot 206 production ends in 2007.
See also
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