Historically speaking, the “Big Three” Detroit automakers have included GM, Ford, and Chrysler. However, Chrysler’s recent history is rather complicated, with the brand going through a series of changes since the late ‘90s that eventually led to its inclusion in Stellantis, a multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in the Netherlands. Now, Frank B. Rhodes Jr., the great-grandson of company founder Walter P. Chrysler, is making an appeal to bring it and several other prominent brands back under American ownership.
In a new six-minute video, Rhodes explains how he wants “to protect one of our most iconic American brands.” Rhodes starts by detailing a 1926 E80, highlighting its original features and the engineering that the company was known for.
“I’m very proud of what this company did and I don’t want to see it go away,” Rhodes states. He goes on to talk briefly about the company’s contributions during World War II, including the production of military trucks, Sherman tanks, and engines for the B-29 bomber, all of which played a crucial role in supporting the Allies.
“My vision is to save Chrysler,” Rhodes says. “The brand that my great-grandfather founded in 1925. It’s very important. This is American history right here and we cannot let it go away.”
The video concludes with a slide show of images showing the car company’s history, finally ending with text that reads: “This Is Not The End Of The Story, It’s Time To Start A New Chapter!”
Check out the Rhodes’ full video below:
The video is likely a response to reports that Stellantis is considering shedding a few brands from its crowded portfolio. Indeed, Rhodes appears to be quite serious about gathering investors and forming a new LLC to bring Chrysler back under American ownership, even recently sending Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares a proposal outlining as much, listing Dodge, Plymouth, and Mopar as part of his vision.
“Our goal is to bring these iconic American brands back under American control,” Rhodes asserts in the proposal. “By creating THE NEW CHRYSLER/DODGE, LLC, we aim to restore the brands’ heritage and independence, allowing them to thrive with a renewed focus on their American roots.”
While a bit of a long shot, it’s still possible that Rhodes’ vision could come to fruition if the right investors are found, potentially bringing Chrysler back as a rival to Cadillac.
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Comments
I actually hope he can bring Chrysler back under the Chrysler family’s control. They had many stylish models and were very innovative, it’d be great to see it make a grand comeback. It’d also be great to see Plymouth return as well, maybe as a premium brand between Dodge and Chrysler.
Plymouth was always the bargain brand, so putting them between Dodge and Chrysler would be wrong. Make the Plymouth the value brand, Dodge the performance brand, and Chrysler the luxury brand.
I Love this Idea and I really hope it happens. Chrysler should also bring back their old names like Cordoba, Fifth Avenue, Laser LeBaron, Newport, and New Yorker and compete with Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln and the European and Asian Luxury brands. Eagle could return as a Sporty European brand with standard AWD. Imperial should be Ultra-Luxury above Chrysler and compete directly with Bentley, Maybach and Rolls Royce.
I hope he brings the chrysler corporation back to it’s glory days again.
Cool idea, love the video, just takes money!
Saw this article on another site two days ago. I think it will be a slim chance of doing it, but I sure hope he/they can. Poor Chrysler Corp has been treated like the red-headed stepchild forever now. Back in 2004 when I went to work (first time ever) for a Chrysler store. Shortly before I started, they merged with Diamler Benz. That was a disaster for Chrysler Corp but MB got a lot out of it. At least Chrysler got the rear wheel drive sedans (300/Charger/Challenger) from it which gave them something. But that was it. When MB was done with them, they went to Stellantis and I’ve never seen much benefit to the American side of that equation.
Bring the company back home to the USA and owned by Americans and give them products now.
Just because your name is on the front of the building (…or on the vehicle), doesn’t mean you’re uniquely qualified to successfully run the business.
Frank Rhodes understands Chrysler better than the garbage management of Stellantis, most of their non-Chrysler brands have not been sold in America for over 30 years because they are pieces of junk. Now the garbage management of Stellantis is selling a rebadged Alfa Romeo Tonale as a Dodge Hornet which very few people are buying. Alfa Romeos are not known for their reliability.
Why? Chrysler has one model that’s rated dead last in reliability. Pull the plug already.
Will be able to bring back Imperial, New Yorker, LHS, LeBaron for Chrysler. Dodge gets Monaco, Magnum. Sure would like someone from Henry Leland’s family to step up and save Lincoln from the crusher.
When the current and last 3 owners have literally shat on the namesake brands tying back to your family legacy, is it any wonder they have grown fed up and want to buy the brands themselves? They must literally be thinking “we are tired of people shatting on our name.”
At least Mercedes-Benz gave us the Charger in 2006 (which I own), the 300 in 2005 (which I own) and the Challenger in 2008, all these vehicles have sold well over the years until the garbage management pulled the plug on them.
True and the WK2 Grand Cherokee. But after Daimler it went downhill from there. Cerberus was a joke, as many investment firms tend to do they ruin everything they take over, FIAT didn’t know what to do with these two brands and Stellantis is left with a mess too large to clean.
I am not a Chrysler/Dodge fan but I by no means want to see another American brand go away.
But even with a heroic effort the odds are greatly stacked against em.
The only real survival is if someone buys the names and applies it to a brand that would be imported [China].
I have taken sone abuse for warning that Chrysler and Dodge were not in a good way. Too many mistake Challenger and Charger sales as going well. While the models did ok the company was lacking in affordable volume CUV models that are affordable.
The three prior owners of Chrysler corp cared little about anything but Trucks and Jeeps.
It is tough today for all automakers. Just making money is not enough anymore. You need. Ax return on the investment.
Then you have the need for EV investment. No matter who wins the election you still have CARB rules that covers 44% of the market exempt from the EPA. Also we have elections that will come and regulations that may be suspended can come back in the next election. The automakers have to continue development.
This is just part. They still have to try to find and build that buyers will still buy and afford. Like it or not small CUV models are boring but they make money and sell in great numbers.
The entire industry is going to struggle. We will see more partnerships, sales, mergers and take overs along with the death of a couple more brands.
I don’t mean to be down but the industry is in for some really tough times and change.
I see this as a noble act but not one that will easily save a long damaged brand.
No one would buy them except a few gear heads. Women is this patriarchy would of course choose Japanese vehicles as they want to take every bit of joy from men. How many women do you know drive American? Only real men would be able to choose such a vehicle. And they’d be in competition from GM and Ford which has become maybe 30% of the market.
Remember the second generation 2014 Chrysler 200?
It was the automaker’s chance (…last??) at taking all their global resources and experience to showcase how the “new” organization could truly build a world-class car.
The hype was big. The promise, great.
It replaced the 1st generation 200, a rebadged Sebring…a ridiculously low-bar to improve upon.
The result was marginal, at best, on several levels…and lasted only 3 years before it was discontinued.
IMHO, the only real market value is the Jeep brand the total North American distribution network. Badge engineering is the only hope if one wants to keep the “names” out there, but that’s a strategy that has proven to fail quickly…while destroying any remaining historical brand equity in the process.
I hope that Mr. Rhodes can be successful. Stellantis senior management has continued to dilute the value of those iconic brands. It will not only take a lot of capital but a renewed emphasis on quality. It can be done but it will take well designed and engineered vehicles to help erase the perception that these are for the most part unreliable vehicles. Fortunately for restarting and rebuilding these brands it helps that Ford has apparently slipped behind them in overall quality & reliability. So at least they are not starting at the bottom. I think that one of the biggest obstacles would be Jeep & Ram both brands that Stellantis would want to make very expensive to purchase. The price of Jeep and Ram vehicles is ridiculous and out of reach for many consumers. That will be another big hurdle, what to do with all of that excess inventory. A few months ago, I saw a You Tube video in which it was reported that there was a 500-day supply of the Dodge Hornet! I could see the possibility of Mr. Rhodes and fellow investors ending up with a majority share and Stellantis having the minority share. That would probably be the way to go since Stellantis is not going to let Jeep & Ram go for cheap.
I would like to see this become a successful endeavor, but it will take some deep pockets to pull it off. Notice he did not refer to “RAM” as part of the deal. I hope to see more on this.
Ram is on the bubble with declining sales. But they I believer will be safe for a while. The lack of a V8 may hurt.
Note Chevy truck sales have beat Ford and Ram so far this year.
Without researching this, I think it’s General Motors trucks (Chevy and GMC combined) that have outsold Ford.
I am not playing that game.
Chevy alone beat them at their own rules. Better yet.
Unfortunate CHRYSLER & LANCIA are Dead Companies…
with more and more Chinese Brands appearing, this past dissolves in dust
To:Frank B. Rhodes Jr.
Finally, and so rare in today’s Society someone such as ‘Frank B. Rhodes Jr.’ has a very Sincere Vision of what The Great America it once was, and an extraordinary Talent that could very well be.
Frank, I tip my Hat to you and Thank you. Cheers – RG.
First, I hope Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge/Jeep can make the come back. However … the hurdles that Chrysler will face will be monumental, and there is no longer Lee Iacocca’s leadership to call upon. If, they are to make a comeback safe, reliable, and affordable vehicles will be a mandate. I’d look back to 1981 … cars with names like Reliant, Horizon, Rampage, Onmi, and Aries will need to be considered. The K-Cars as they were known were what was needed. Right now GM’s Chevrolet division has it’s K-Car … the Trax, and it’s doing great, and one of Chevrolet’s best sellers.
Chrysler already owns ALL the tooling to bring back the K-Cars … so there is nothing to buy, do that with a update in technology and I believe we could see a Relaint coupe, sedan, and yes the humble station wagon make a comeback, and more importantly be profitable for Chrysler as there’s not be that many unique parts/systems to build the above. I had three Reliant Wagons, one made it with no problems to 350K miles when I traded it for another … Reliant wagon.
As for some of the other writers I agree Chrysler would be a premium brand, Dodge the performance brand, and Plymouth being the value brand. And if anyone from Chrysler’s maybe new owners are reading/seeing this … don’t go nuts with the wheels, in 1981 a Plymouth Reliant had 13″ steel wheels an 14″ steel wheels with nice looking wheel covers that included the best looking wire wheel covers ever made. Don’t get into the 16″ thru 20″ alloy wheels that don’t do anything better than the above mentioned wheels. With Plymouth it means value, that means not having 10 different types of wheels … 1981 marketing had steel wheels w/trim rings an a moon hub cap, nice looking wheel covers, and the premium wire wheel covers … 3 choices, now 1 steel wheel with 10 alternates. And fuel economy, I averaged 35 to 37 mpg .. in 1981. I’ll stop here could go on for awhile, if we want reliable, affordable vehicles one has to curb the choices … and if you want something different, do what we did in the 1960’s … go to a custom shop.
There just is no money or real product to support the.
Brining back the K car is for sure not the answer.
They need a new modem line of gas CUV models with new modern engines. They need yo prepare for the EV regulations that are coming. To do that with no real income is impossible.
They need Ram to fund this but odds are they would not be included. Sales st Ram and Jeep are also down.
good thinking on all parts
bring back all midsize V8 and V10 engined cars