At its peak, 199 1 Chrysler TC By Maserati.

Speaking of Chrysler, you may think it is not well-known now, but it is undeniable that Chrysler did have a glorious history and legendary stories in the past. Today I'm going to introduce you to the products that were born at the peak of Chrysler. 199 1 Chrysler TC? By who? Maserati, you are right. This is the product of cooperation with Maserati brand.

When it comes to the peak period, I have to talk about the then executive Li? Iacocca (Lee Iacocca) is not only an executive of a great automobile company, but also a legend in the automobile industry.

Iacocca was born in1June, 924+1May1October in Pennsylvania, USA. His father Nikolai came to the New World from Italy at the age of 12 and started from scratch. Although Iacocca was born in the United States, he was still discriminated against in the United States, but his academic performance was always among the best. Finally, I graduated from Lehigh University in the United States with two bachelor's degrees in engineering technology and business studies, and then got a master's degree from Princeton University in the United States.

Iacocca first worked as a trainee engineer at Ford, but he found it boring to deal with machinery, so he became a salesman at Ford Motor Company at the age of 22 and a regional sales manager at the age of 25. Later, he promoted installment payment, a novel way of buying cars in the market, which made Ford Motor Company become the first in the country from the lowest sales volume.

At the age of 36, he became the vice president and general manager of Ford. At that time, he personally developed a new car designed for young people and named it Mustang. In the first year, the sales volume of this car was as high as 465,438+0.9 million, setting a record for the American automobile manufacturing industry. In the first two years, Mustang made a net profit of 1 1 billion dollars for Ford, and he became the "father of Mustang". Later, many luxury cars launched by Ford brand were also successful. At the age of 46, he was promoted to president of Ford. Because it has set an unprecedented automobile sales record, it should be made a man of the hour in the automobile industry.

However, at the age of 54, Henry Ford II was fired because of some minor problems. Because he still kept his passion for cars, he joined Chrysler as president in the same year. After working for Chrysler for six years, he created a profit record of $2.4 billion. Compared with Ford Mustang, you may think this figure is nothing, but what I want to say is that this figure is more than the total profit of Chrysler in the previous 60 years.

Without him, there would be no Ford Mustang, and there would be no Chrysler Model K, which occupied more than 20% of the American small car market at that time. In order to compete for more markets, Chrysler cooperated with Maserati to launch Chrysler TC? Maserati.

This car has been forgotten by many people because of its poor sales. We can also say that it was an expensive failure model, but the appearance of this luxury convertible represented a little adventurous spirit at that time. Iacocca may know that the sales of this car will not be too high, but sometimes, doing things doesn't need much return. A luxury convertible with its own brand is enough to park there.

The plan to produce this car appeared in the 1980s, when Iacocca began to lead Chrysler. Because K-car saved automobile manufacturers from extinction, a high-end car with brand positioning was needed at that time. So how about combining the American engine with the Italian Maserati body?

Alejandro? De? Tommaso (Alejandro Detomaso) is Iacocca's old friend. He was the owner of the Maserati brand at that time, and the two of them finalized this crazy idea just by phone.

At first, it was always an armchair strategist, and there was no real progress, but most people in the company thought that there was no harm in mixing the two products. However, since then, both companies have encountered serious management problems, resulting in many delays in the production and research of new cars. Finally, it took Chrysler TC five years to put into production.

The new car is officially sold 1989 to 199 1. This expensive convertible was developed on the shortened platform of Dodge Daytona. Initially equipped with a 2.2-liter inline four-cylinder turbocharged engine, the maximum power 162 horsepower. However, this engine was later replaced by a 3.0-liter V6 engine made by Mitsubishi, and its maximum power was only 142 horsepower.

At that time, about 500 cars used the so-called "Maserati" engine, which was a 2.2-liter turbocharged engine with a maximum power of 200 HP.

This car has some notable design features, including detachable hardtop and round windows, and high-grade leather interior hand-sewn in Italy. There are even some special storage spaces, such as an area dedicated to storing umbrellas, tool kits and spare tires. Most luxurious and comfortable configurations are standard, and the only optional configuration is a high-fidelity CD player.

At that time, only 300 Chrysler dealers in the United States were qualified to sell this car, but don't simply think that you can drive the new car home by writing a check to the dealer. Wrong, this car needs to be placed through the American headquarters first, and then after a long wait.

Finally, TC failed. Although this car looks tacky. However, many people think that this car represents Chrysler's most glorious peak era, which has also attracted many car collectors to collect. Although it can be bought as a collection now, the price is not high. At present, I buy a Chrysler TC with an annual output of 199 1 in the American market. By who? Maserati costs only $5,995 (about RMB40,000).

However, this car has some minor flaws. The first is the uncertainty of mileage, because I don't know when the odometer has stopped working. Equipped with V6 engine and matched with four-speed automatic transmission.

Generally speaking, the car can still run normally, and it looks good both inside and outside. Although this car was a wrong decision for Iacocca, it is still an important part of Chrysler's automobile history.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.