15 Facts About Chrysler Europe

Chrysler Europe was the American automotive company Chrysler's operations in Europe from 1967 through 1978.

Chrysler Europe Corporation had never had much success outside North America, contrasting with Ford's worldwide reach and General Motors' success with Opel, Vauxhall, Holden, and Bedford brands.

Rootes was formally taken over by Chrysler Europe following purchase of the remaining shares in 1967.

Chrysler Europe used the Dodge marque on commercial vehicles produced by both Simca and Rootes .

In 1969, Chrysler Europe closed a deal with French engineering group Matra Automobiles to jointly develop the Matra sports cars and subsequently sell them through the Simca dealer network .

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Chrysler Europe profits failed to materialize, although Simca on its own had been consistently profitable during its tenure under Chrysler ownership.

Chrysler Europe was already in serious financial trouble back home in America, and were on the brink of bankruptcy.

Chrysler Europe's incoming CEO, Lee Iacocca had shown little interest in the European market from the outset, and wasted no time in wielding the axe almost immediately.

The car designed to succeed the Horizon became Peugeot 309 on its launch at the end of 1985, and in 1983, Peugeot sold its share in Matra together with the Chrysler Europe-initiated design of an MPV to Renault, where the design lived on as Renault Espace.

Decades after the sale, in 2021 Peugeot and Chrysler Europe fell under the same corporate umbrella when the now-Groupe PSA merged with Fiat Chrysler Europe Automobiles to form Stellantis.

Therefore, although the new 1307 replaced the conventional Simca 1301 model, in the UK Chrysler Europe decided to keep the Hillman Hunter in limited production as a traditional alternative to the Alpine.

Production of the Chrysler Europe Hunter finished in 1979 just after Peugeot took over, although the tooling was sold to Iran as the Paykan, which was built until 2005.

Chrysler Europe had developed its own line of British-built trucks which were assembled at its Kew factory until 1967, when the former Chrysler Europe and Rootes commercial vehicle ranges were merged, with production consolidated at the former Rootes plant at Dunstable.

Chrysler Europe inherited a separate truck range from Barreiros in Spain.

Chrysler Europe 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.