The Chrysler Corporation is a United States-based automobile manufacturer. Chrysler and its subsidaries are now part of the German based DaimlerChrysler AG after being purchased by Daimler-Benz in 1998. The company was formed by Walter Percy Chrysler on June 6, 1925, with the remaining assets of Maxwell Motor Company.

As the 1960s opened, the firm made both good and bad moves. In 1960, Chrysler introduced unibody construction in its cars, the first to offer it of the Big Three. This gave the body more rigidity and less rattles and would soon become an industry standard. Alternators would replace generators in all of the 1961 models as standard equipment, an industry first.

In 1966, Chrysler expanded into Europe, by taking over the British Rootes Group, and Simca of France to form Chrysler Europe. The former purchase unfortunately turned out to be a major mistake for the company, it essentially collapsed in 1977. It was offloaded to Peugeot the following year. Shortly thereafter, Chrysler Australia was sold to Mitsubishi Motors. The subcompact Horizon was just beginning to reach the U.S. market when the second gas crisis struck, devastating sales of Chrysler's larger cars and trucks.

In desperation, the Chrysler Corporation on September 7, 1979 petitioned the United States government for $1 billion in loan guarantees to avoid bankruptcy. A somewhat reluctant Congress authorized the guarantees. With such help and a few innovative cars (such as the K-car platform), especially the invention of the minivan concept, Chrysler avoided bankruptcy and slowly fought its way back up. A joint venture with Mitsubishi called Diamond Star Motors strengthened the company's hand in the small-car market. The acquisition of AMC by Chrysler in 1987, mostly for its Jeep brand, bolstered the firm further.

In the early 1990s, Chrysler made its first tentative steps back into Europe, setting up car production in Austria. Chrysler merged in 1998 with Daimler-Benz to form DaimlerChrysler AG. This was initially touted as a merger of equals, but within a couple of years the truth had been leaked; it was effectively a buyout of Chrysler by Daimler-Benz. The Plymouth brand was phased out in 2001. A return to rear wheel drive was announced, and in 2004, a new Chrysler 300 and a new Hemi V8 appeared and gave early indications of being a solid hit. Financial performance began to improve somewhat, but the long-standing partnership with Mitsubishi appeared to be unraveling as DaimlerChrysler declared its intent to divest its stake in that firm.