Former Ford President and Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca has died at the age of 94.
Lee Iacocca has gone down in history as one of the most effective executives in the automotive industry. He joined Ford in 1946. At first he worked as an engineer, after a while he moved to managerial work. In 1960 he became vice president of the company.
In the 60s, Iacocca proposed to Ford the idea of a new youth car - with a cool sports design and simple units fr om mass models. A coupe called the Mustang entered the market in 1964 and made a splash - in 1965 alone, Ford sold more than half a million Mustangs! These statistics are shocking even today, but we are talking about the 60s of the last century.
In 1970, Lee Iacocca becomes president of Ford at the initiative of Henry Ford II. Subsequently, Henry fired him himself in 1978. In his autobiography, Iacocca mentioned that this was due to Lee becoming more popular than Henry himself.
The ingenious manager was not long out of work: within a few months he became president of Chrysler. At that time, the American company was on the verge of bankruptcy: it had already sold its European division (Peugeot bought it), and things were not going well in America. Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare recalls generated losses due to problems with carburetors and starters.
Chrysler was sorely short of working capital, the buyer increasingly opted for economical Japanese models. In order to save the concern, Iacocca first agreed on state guarantees for loans, then launched a cost-cutting program and a plan to develop new compact models. In an important symbolic step, Iacocca set himself a salary of $1 a year, he believed that getting more in a distressed company was immoral.
The key to salvation was the Chrysler K-Car line, created under the leadership of Iacocca. This is not a car, but a whole platform. By that time, sales of the company's large machines were falling. Buyers were turning away from huge barges amid the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis. This is wh ere a completely new product came in handy - compact (just over 4.5 meters long) sedans with a front-wheel drive layout and economical small engines (2.2-2.6 liters).
Iacocca's other success at Chrysler was the "twins" Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan, released in 1984, the world's first mass-produced minivans.
The three most famous models built on the K-Car platform were the Plymouth Reliant, Dodge Aries and Chrysler LeBaron. All the 80s they were sold in a total volume of more than 300 thousand cars a year. With their help, already in 1983, Chrysler paid off a 1.5 billion government loan, which was planned to be repaid only by 1990.
In May 1982, US President Ronald Reagan invited Lee Iacocca to head the board of directors of the foundation for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty.
Iacocca remains one of the most legendary and revered managers of the 20th century. His highly cited book, The Career of a Manager, is in great demand. “If I were asked to describe in a few words the qualities inherent in a good leader, I would say that the main thing is the ability to make decisions.”
Legendary Ford Mustang maker and Chrysler savior Lee Iacocca dies
