Car enthusiasts with great american engines.

The United States is home to the largest passenger vehicle market of any country in the world. Overall, there were an estimated 254.4 million registered passenger vehicles in the United States according to a 2007 DOT study.

The United States is also home to three of the largest vehicle manufacturers: General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler, which are commonly referred to as the “Big Three.” The motor car has become an integral part of American life, with vehicles outnumbering licensed drivers…

Dodge is a United States-based brand of cars, minivans, sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide. Founded as the Dodge Brothers Company in 1900 to supply parts and assemblies for Detroit’s growing auto industry, Dodge began making its own complete vehicles in 1914. The brand was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1928, passed through the short-lived DaimlerChrysler merger of 1998–2007 as part of the Chrysler Group, was a part of Chrysler LLC owned by Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity investment firm, and is now a part of the Chrysler Group LLC which has an alliance with Fiat. Fiat has plans to evolve many Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep existing platforms and products into Fiat-Chrysler co-developed vehicles.

Founding and early years
1915 Dodge Brothers Model 30-35 touring car
Dodge Brothers delivery trucks, Salt Lake City, 1920

After the founding of the Dodge Brothers Company by Horace and John Dodge in 1900, the Detroit-based company quickly found work producing precision engine and chassis components for the city’s burgeoning number of automobile firms. Chief among these customers were the established Olds Motor Vehicle Company and the then-new Ford Motor Company. Dodge Brothers enjoyed much success in this field, but the brothers’ growing wish to build complete vehicles was exemplified by John Dodge’s 1913 exclamation that he was “tired of being carried around in Henry Ford’s vest pocket.
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Production of the 1965 Mustang (VIN coded by Ford and titled as 1965 models) began in Dearborn, Michigan on March 9, 1964 and the car was introduced to the public on April 17, 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. It is Ford’s third oldest nameplate currently in production next to the F-Series pickup truck line (which has undergone major nameplate changes over the years) and the Falcon that is still in production in Australia.

Executive stylist Pres Harris, who was a fan of the World War II P-51 Mustang fighter plane, is believed by many to have suggested the name and designed the body. An alternative view was that Robert J. Eggert, Ford Division market research manager, first suggested the Mustang name. Eggert, a breeder of quarterhorses, received a birthday present from his wife of the book, The Mustangs by J. Frank Dobie in 1960. Later, the book’s title gave him the idea of adding the “Mustang” name for Ford’s new concept car. The designer preferred Cougar or Torino (and an advertising campaign using the Torino name was actually prepared), while Henry Ford II wanted T-bird II. As the person responsible for Ford’s research on potential names, Eggert added “Mustang” to the list to be tested by focus groups; “Mustang,” by a wide margin, ” came out on top under the heading: “Suitability as Name for the Special Car.” The name could not be used in Germany, however, because it was owned by Krupp, which had manufactured trucks between 1951 and 1964 with the name Mustang. Ford refused to buy the name for about USD$10,000 from Krupp at the time. Kreidler, a manufacturer of mopeds, also used the name so Mustang was sold in Germany as the “T-5″ until December 1978.
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Chrysler Group LLC (pronounced /ˈkraɪslər/) is a U.S.-based automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925. Up until 1998, Chrysler Corporation traded under the “C” symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1998, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were purchased by German-based Daimler-Benz AG, creating the combined entity DaimlerChrysler AG. Under DaimlerChrysler, the company was named DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC, with its U.S. operations generally referred to as the “Chrysler Group”. On May 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced the sale of 80.1% of Chrysler Group to American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., therefore being known as Chrysler LLC, although Daimler (renamed as Daimler AG) continued to hold a 19.9% stake. The deal was finalized on August 3, 2007. On April 27, 2009, Daimler AG signed a binding agreement to give up its 19.9% remaining stake in Chrysler LLC to Cerberus Capital Management and pay as much as $600 million into the automaker’s pension fund.

On April 30, 2009, Chrysler LLC filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and announced a plan for a partnership with Italian automaker Fiat. On June 1, Chrysler LLC stated they were selling some assets and operations to the newly formed company Chrysler Group LLC. Fiat will hold a 20% stake in the new company, with an option to increase this to 35%, and eventually to 51% if it meets financial and developmental goals for the company.

On June 10, 2009, the sale of most of Chrysler assets to “New Chrysler”, formally known as Chrysler Group LLC was completed. The federal government financed the deal with US$6.6 billion in financing, paid to the “Old Chrysler”, formally called Old Carco LLC, which remained in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The transfer does not include eight manufacturing locations, nor many parcels of real estate, nor equipment leases. Contracts with 789 U.S. auto dealerships, who are being dropped, were not transferred.
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