Chrysler (1967–1978)
In June 1964 Rootes Motors announced Chrysler would take a 30 per cent interest in their ordinary capital offering current shareholders double the market price and a 50 per cent share in the non-voting preference capital for almost three times market price. The purchase would leave control in British hands.[15] On completion Rootes family holdings would still exceed those of Chrysler.[16] The purchase was completed in October 1964. During 1966 the holdings were increased to 45 per cent of the ordinary shares and 65 per cent of the non-voting shares[17] and in January 1967 holdings were increased to about two-thirds of Rootes Motors capital.[18] It was renamed Chrysler UK on 30 June 1970.[19][20][21]
It has been suggested that the demise of Rootes began with losses due to industrial relations problems at their BLSP plant in London, with knock-on problems down the supply chain.[22] By the mid-1960s, Rootes was progressively taken over by Chrysler of the United States, following huge losses amid the commercial failure of the troubled Imp. The company's financial year ran to 31 July, and in the year ended 31 July 1967 Rootes was able to report a pre-tax profit of just £3.8 million.[23] It was the first reported profit since 1964 and compared with a pretax loss of £10.7 million in the year ending in 1966.[23] Lack of funds for new model investment was a striking feature of the company's final decade.
Chrysler was also keen to take control of the struggling firm as it wished to have its own wholly independent European subsidiaries like archrivals Ford and General Motors. Chrysler took over Simca of France and Barreiros of Spain at the same time, merging it with Rootes to create Chrysler Europe. In 1970, the Rootes name was replaced by Chrysler United Kingdom (correspondingly the French arm Simca was renamed Chrysler France at the same time), and subsequently disappeared from the public sphere. The various Rootes marques were progressively phased out during the 1970s. Only Hillman was left by 1977, when it, too, was shelved in favour of the Chrysler name. The Commer name was also phased out in the 1970s; the van and truck models mostly assuming the Dodge nameplate by 1976.
In Iacocca—an Autobiography, former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca was disparaging of the Rootes operation, writing that Chrysler should never have bought it. Chrysler UK continued with a range of rear-wheel-drive family cars such as the Hillman Avenger (introduced in 1970) and Hillman Hunter (introduced in 1966), while the Imp — which by now had most of its teething problems ironed out — was largely ignored by the new management. The Imp's commercial chances were not helped by the launch of new imports in the early 1970s including the Fiat 127 and Renault 5, which not only showed that front engined, front wheel drive hatchbacks would become the industry standard format in the entry level market segment, but spearheaded an influx of popular imports.
In the late 1960s, Chrysler endeavoured to market the Rootes cars in the US. These efforts proved unsuccessful. Marketing in the US was impeded by an inability to offer cars for sale during part of 1968, as the Rootes cars could not comply with exhaust emission requirements.
In the early 1970s, with the rise of interest in sub-compact cars, Chrysler offered the Hillman Avenger in North America as the Plymouth Cricket. This attempt was aborted after only two years. At the same time, Chrysler's Dodge Division offered the Dodge Colt as its subcompact, sourced from Mitsubishi in Japan. The Colt proved a popular and reliable car, hastening the Cricket's demise.
However, Chrysler Fevre Argentina commenced manufacturing the Hillman Avenger-based Dodge 1500, and this car continued in production until 1990. During its last 10 years of production it was badged as a Volkswagen after that firm acquired Chrysler's Argentine business. There was also a Brazilian variant until 1980.
By the early 1970s, Chrysler Europe was working on the development of two new family car ranges which would be produced at both its British and French plants, and sold under both the Chrysler and Simca marques on the relevant markets - similar to the integration of British and German model ranges which its rivals Ford and General Motors were carrying out at the time.
The Chrysler Alpine (sold in France as the Simca 1307/1308) was introduced in 1975, being produced at the former Rootes plant at Ryton as well as the former Simca plant at Poissy, near Paris. The Chrysler Sunbeam a three-door hatchback based on the Avenger floorpan, was introduced in 1977 as successor to the Hillman Imp. Also, Chrysler UK made a significant contribution to the design of Chrysler's European range. As well as the Alpine and Sunbeam, there was the saloon derivative of the Alpine, the Talbot Solara (launched in early 1980 after Chrysler sold its European operations to Peugeot), and Chrysler/Simca Horizon. The Alpine and Horizon were both voted European Car of the Year on their launch, and the Horizon was the basis for the US Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni, which were very successful for Chrysler and continued in production in various guises for more than a decade.
The Imp was finally discontinued in 1976, and the Hunter followed it three years later (although it continued to be produced in Iran). Indeed, componentry for the Iranian version of the car was a successful UK export during the 1980s.
Only the Avenger-based Chrysler Sunbeam hatchback, launched in 1977 kept the Rootes lineage alive, although the Alpine name was still in use and later Alpine and Solara special edition models were given the old Rootes model names, Minx and Rapier. The rights to the Rapier name remained with the successors of the company, and were eventually resurrected again on a few limited edition Peugeot models. There was also a special Sceptre edition of the 205, 405 and the 605 SRi models. This used a black plastic badge with the chrome effect Sceptre cursive script similar to that on the sideflashes of the '60s saloons. In the case of the Peugeot cars, the Sceptre badging was applied to the bootlid and lower aft part of the front wing.
Chrysler had spent much of the 1970s unsuccessfully trying to integrate its Rootes and Simca ranges into one, coherent whole. The traditionally engineered, rear-wheel-drive cars of the British division had limited appeal outside the UK, although the Avenger and Hunter—the first locally assembled car to reach a total of 30,000 units sold in its 12-year lifespan—were both relatively successful in New Zealand. Hunter production continued there and in Ireland until 1979, and it was built in Iran by Iran Khodro as the Paykan for many years more.
Unfortunately, with its problems in the US, Chrysler did not have the capital to invest in refreshing their entire product range, and sales of the older designs stagnated in the face of more modern competition. Also, the production facilities were outmoded, industrial relations problems were persistent, and the products had a poor reputation for quality.
In the face of massive losses, and the risk of high unemployment in the surrounding areas if the factories closed, the Ryton and Linwood factories were the subject of frequent government bail-outs.
