Chrysler Europe: Тарихы мен мұрагерлері

Subsidiary of Chrysler
the Chrysler operation in existence between 1967 and 1978

Chrysler Europe was the American automotive company Chrysler's operations in Europe from 1967 through 1978. It was formed from the merger of the French Simca, British Rootes and Spanish Barreiros companies. In 1978, Chrysler divested these operations to PSA Peugeot Citroën. PSA rebadged the former Chrysler and Simca models with the revived Talbot marque, but abandoned the brand for passenger cars in 1987, although it continued on commercial vehicles until 1994. Among the remaining Chrysler Europe assets still in existence are the former Simca factory in Poissy, the former Barreiros plant in the Madrid suburb Villaverde, which both serve as major Stellantis assembly plants, and the Rootes Group research and development complex in Whitley, Coventry, which is now the headquarters of Jaguar Land Rover.

Chrysler Corporation had never had much success outside North America, contrasting with Ford's worldwide reach and General Motors' success with its Opel, Vauxhall, Bedford and Holden brands. Chrysler first established an interest in the French based Simca in 1958, buying 15% of the company's stock from Ford. In 1963, Chrysler increased their stake to a controlling 63% by purchasing further stock from Fiat. Chrysler acquired a 35% share of the Spanish Barreiros in 1963, and it became part of Chrysler Europe in 1969. Barreiros was renamed Chrysler España, S. A. in 1970. Also in 1963, Chrysler acquired the Greek company FARCO (founded in 1961 by the Kontogouris brothers to produce the Farmobil), which it renamed Chrysler Hellas S. A. after the acquisition. However, production there ended in 1967 without much success. After failing to acquire an interest in the British based Leyland Motors in 1962, Chrysler bought a 30% share in Rootes Group in 1964. Rootes was formally taken over by Chrysler following purchase of the remaining shares in 1967. In 1970, Rootes was formally named "Chrysler (UK) Ltd." and Simca became "Chrysler (France)", with the Hillman marque finally being replaced by Chrysler on the UK market in 1976 and Simca surviving until after the PSA takeover in 1979.

Although the original marques were retained at first, from 1976 British built cars were badged as 'Chryslers', while the Simca badge appeared on French versions, though with the Chrysler pentastar, in some markets the cars were sold as Chrysler Simca. Chrysler used the Dodge marque on commercial vehicles produced by both Simca and Rootes (Commer and Karrier, but in addition using rebadging to sell vehicles overseas under the Fargo and DeSoto brands). In addition, in some countries, such as Spain, the Dodge and Simca marques would be used for other vehicles, mostly Spanish designed (ex Barreiros) trucks and buses and locally built versions of US market vehicles or local versions of Simca cars. The company systematically retired the previous marques from Rootes, including Hillman, Humber, Singer and Sunbeam in favour of the Chrysler name. The Simca brand was retained in its native France, but the Simca vehicles themselves were usually branded as either Chrysler Simca or simply Chrysler outside France. In 1969, Chrysler Europe closed a deal with French engineering group Matra Automobiles to jointly develop Matra sports cars and subsequently sell them through the Simca dealer network (as Matra Simca). Following the introduction of the 1970 Avenger, Chrysler showed little investment or interest in the technologically conservative Rootes line up, concentrating instead on the advanced front wheel drive Simca models instead.

Confused branding resulted from trying to concurrently sell the mismatched pairing of the Simca and Rootes product families, contrasting heavily with the fortunes of arch rivals Ford and General Motors – who had both successfully managed to weave together their previously independent British and German subsidiaries. Chrysler Europe profits failed to materialize, although Simca on its own had been consistently profitable during its tenure under Chrysler ownership. It was the ailing former Rootes Group operations which were to prove to be the ultimate downfall of the company. Chrysler was 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 US$1 (1.0 in 1978 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years) to PSA Peugeot Citroën, who took on the liability for its huge debts as well as its factories and product line, with the former Chrysler models in Britain and Simca models in France both using the revived Talbot marque from August 1979. The Linwood factory in Scotland was closed by Peugeot in 1981 after just 18 years in use, marking the end of Avenger and Sunbeam production. The Sunbeam was replaced by the Peugeot 104 derived, French built Talbot Samba, but the demise of the Avenger left the Horizon as the only car of its size in the Talbot range. The Alpine spawned a saloon version, the Solara, in 1980, filling the gap left in the range by the demise of the Hunter, and recognising that there was still a high demand for traditional family saloons. But by 1987, the French giant had scrapped the Talbot marque on passenger cars due to falling sales – though retaining it for commercial vehicles until 1992. The car designed to succeed the Horizon became the Peugeot 309 on its launch at the end of 1985, and in 1983, Peugeot sold the shares in Matra Automobiles it had inherited when it acquired Chrysler Europe back to Matra and a Chrysler initiated design of an MPV to Renault, where the design lived on as the Renault Espace. Production of the Samba and Alpine/Solara finished in May 1986, while the Horizon remained in production in Spain and Finland until 1987; French and British production had finished during 1985 when the Peugeot 309 went into production. American versions of this car were produced until 1990. Peugeot took little interest in heavy commercial vehicles and the production of former British and Spanish Dodge models passed to Renault Trucks. The Rootes factory in Dunstable, England ceased manufacture of trucks, ending with the Renault Midliner in the mid 1990s. In 2009, the staff of Renault Trucks, part of the Volvo Group since 2001, relocated from the former Rootes site to a new building. The former factory has since been demolished. Chrysler, on the other hand, retained the design rights to the Avenger and those of the US version Horizon. Peugeot was therefore compelled to retain the Chrysler "Pentastar" badge on the Avenger, whilst allowing Chrysler to sell the design along with its entire operations in Argentina to Volkswagen which continued production until 1991 under the Volkswagen 1500 name. For the New Zealand market, the Avenger kept the Chrysler branding for 1980 after being rebranded elsewhere. Meanwhile, European sales of the Avenger ended in 1981. The American version of the Horizon continued to be produced in the United States as the Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni until 1990, three years after the last European model was made. The former Simca and Rootes assembly plants in Poissy and Ryton on Dunsmore, respectively, continued under the ownership of Peugeot, but Rootes' Linwood plant in Scotland was a casualty of the takeover – closing its doors in 1981. The former Rootes Ryton plant was closed in December 2006, with the production of the Peugeot 206 (made there since the summer of 1998) moved to Slovakia. Since 1985, it had also produced Peugeot's 309, 405 and 306 ranges. It has since been demolished to make way for new factories. The former Rootes research and development site in Whitley was sold to Jaguar in 1986, and continues as the headquarters of Jaguar Land Rover to the present day. The former Simca site in Poissy has also thrived, and is now one Peugeot's most important assembly plants. Decades after the sale, in 2021 Peugeot and Chrysler (the latter of which became part of Fiat in 2009 after another financial crisis led to its bankruptcy) fell under the same corporate umbrella when the now Groupe PSA merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to form Stellantis, which has once again seen Peugeot branded vehicles produced in the United Kingdom (this time in a Vauxhall plant thanks to PSA's earlier purchase of General Motors Europe), and European designs marketed through Chrysler's distribution channels in the United States.

Chrysler UK had several plants in Coventry, including the Ryton assembly plant, the Stoke Aldermoor engine plant, the design, engineering and development site at Whitley and Hills Precision, the plastics factory in Canterbury Street, as well as the vehicle manufacturing plant at Linwood in Scotland.