Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above Plymouth. The Dodge main factory operated in Hamtramck, Michigan, from 1910 until it closed in January 1980.
Founded as the Dodge Brothers Company machine shop by brothers Horace Elgin Dodge and John Francis Dodge in 1900, Dodge was originally a supplier of parts and assemblies to Detroit-based automakers like Ford. They began building complete automobiles under the "Dodge Brothers" brand in 1914, predating the founding of the Chrysler Corporation. Both brothers died in 1920, and their company was sold by their families to Dillon, Read & Co. in 1925 before being sold to Chrysler in 1928.
Dodge's mainstay vehicles were trucks and full-sized passenger cars through the 1970s, but it also built compact cars such as the Dart from 1963 to 1976, and midsize cars such as the "B-Body" Coronet and Charger from 1965 to 1978. The 1973 oil embargo caused American "gas guzzler" sales to slump, prompting Chrysler to develop the Dodge Aries K platform compact and midsize cars for the 1981 model year. The K platform and its derivatives, including the Dodge Caravan, are credited with reviving Chrysler's business in the 1980s.
The Dodge brand continued through multiple ownership changes of Chrysler from 1998 until 2009, including its merger with Daimler-Benz AG between 1998 and 2007, then being sold to Cerberus Capital Management. It suffered through the 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis, resulting in the Chrysler Chapter 11 reorganization, and was ultimately acquired by Fiat.
In 2011, Dodge split off its Ram and Viper sub-brands, with Viper to be an SRT product and Ram a standalone marque. In 2014, SRT was merged back into Dodge. Later that year, the Chrysler Group was renamed FCA US LLC, coinciding with the merger of Fiat S.p.A.. The Chrysler Group was integrated into the corporate structure of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. A subsequent merger between FCA and the PSA Group in 2021 formed Stellantis, making the Dutch-domiciled automaker the second largest in Europe after Volkswagen.
History Founding and early years
Horace and John Dodge founded the Dodge Brothers Company in Detroit in 1900, and quickly found work manufacturing precision engine and chassis components for the city's growing number of automobile firms. Chief among them were the established Olds Motor Vehicle Company and the new Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford selected the Dodge brothers to supply a wide range of components for his original Model A (1903–04) comprising the entire chassis; Ford needed to add only the body and wheels to finish the cars. Henry offered the Dodge brothers a 10% share in his new company in return for $10,000 worth of goods ($ in dollars). In 1902, the brothers won a contract to produce transmissions for Ransom E. Olds' company Oldsmobile, upon which they built a solid reputation for quality and service. They rejected a second contract from Oldsmobile in 1903 to retool their plant to manufacture engines for the Ford company, which would be in debt to the brothers.
The first machine shop where the brothers worked as parts suppliers for Oldsmobile and Ford was located at the Boydell Building on Beaubien Street at Lafayette. This location was replaced by a larger facility at Hastings Street and Monroe Avenue, which is now a parking garage for the Hollywood Casino (Hastings Street itself has since been renamed Chrysler Service Drive). In 1911, the Dodge Main factory was built in Hamtramck, where it remained until 1979.
The Dodge Brothers Motor Company was established in 1913. By 1914, John and Horace designed and introduced the first car of their own: the four-cylinder Dodge Model 30-35 touring car. Marketed as a slightly more upscale competitor to the ubiquitous Ford Model T, it pioneered or made standard many features later taken for granted, such as all-steel bodies. The vast majority of cars worldwide still used wood-framing under steel panels.Stoneleigh and BSA used steel bodies as early as 1911. Other innovations were 12-volt electrical systems (six-volt systems would remain the norm until the 1950s), 35 horsepower engines versus the Model T's 20 horsepower, and sliding-gear transmission (the best-selling Model T retained an antiquated planetary design until its demise in 1927). John Dodge was quoted as saying, "Someday, people who own a Ford are going to want an automobile." The company garnered a reputation for the highest quality truck, transmission, and motor parts supplied to other successful vehicles, and Dodge Brothers cars were ranked second in U.S. sales as early as 1916.
In 1916, Henry Ford stopped paying stock dividends to finance the construction of his new River Rouge complex. The Dodges filed a lawsuit to protect their annual dividends of approximately one million dollars,Wise, p. 551. leading Ford to buy out his shareholders. The Dodges were paid some US$25 million.($ in dollars) They had already earned $9,871,500 ($ in dollars) in dividends making a total return of $34,871,500 ($ in dollars) on their original $10,000 ($ in dollars) investment. The Ford contract set them up for life, but they never got to spend it.
Also in 1916, the Dodge Brothers' vehicles won acclaim for their durability in military service, which began with the U.S. Army's Pancho Villa Expedition during the 1910s U.S.-Mexico Border War (the U.S. military's first operation to use truck convoys). General "Blackjack" Pershing procured a fleet of 150 to 250 Dodge Brothers vehicles for the Mexico campaign. Touring cars were used as staff and reconnaissance vehicles. Pershing himself used a Dodge touring car to keep abreast of army columns and control their movements.
During an incident in May 1916, the 6th Infantry reported a sighting of Julio Cárdenas, one of Villa's most trusted subordinates. Lt. George S. Patton led ten soldiers and two civilian guides in three Dodge Model 30 touring cars to conduct America's first motorized military raid at a ranch house in San Miguelito, Sonora. During the ensuing firefight, the party killed three men, with one identified as Cárdenas. Patton's men tied the bodies to the hoods of the Dodges, returning to headquarters in Dublán and an excited reception from American newspapermen.
Subsequently, some 12,800 Dodge cars and light trucks were used in World War I—over 8,000 touring cars, as well as 2,600 commercial vehicles, such as screen-side trucks and panel vans—serving primarily as ambulances and repair trucks.
Dodge remained the U.S. military's primary supplier of light-wheeled vehicles until the U.S. joined World War II.
Dodge brothers death and sale to Chrysler
Dodge Brothers cars continued to rank second place in U.S. sales in 1920. However, John Dodge died of pneumonia in January 1920, a complication of Spanish flu, having lungs weakened by tuberculosis 20 years earlier. Horace died in December of the same year, perhaps weakened by the Spanish flu, but the cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver (reportedly still grieved over the loss of his brother, to whom he was very close). With the loss of both founders, the Dodge Brothers Company was left in the hands of their widows, Matilda Dodge Wilson and Anna Thompson Dodge, who promoted long-time employee Frederick Haynes to the presidency. During this time, the Model 30 evolved to become the Series 116 (retaining the same basic construction and engineering features). As the 1920s progressed, Dodge gradually lost its ranking from the third best-selling automaker to seventh place in the U.S. market.
Dodge Brothers expanded its truck line and became a leading builder of light trucks. After expanding production capacity, Haynes signed a contract in 1921 for Dodge's large dealer network to exclusively market trucks with bodies built by Graham Brothers of Evansville, Indiana. The Graham truck line from then on used only Dodge-built chassis, from one- to three-ton capacity, and Dodge kept making light-duty trucks.
Development was stagnating, and sales dropped Dodge Brothers to fifth place in the industry by 1925. That year, the company was sold by the widows to the investment group Dillon, Read & Co. for no less than US$146 million, then the largest cash transaction in history ($ in dollars).
Dillon, Read & Co. offered non-voting stock on the market in the new Dodge Brothers firm and, along with the sale of bonds, was able to raise $160 million ($ in dollars), reaping a $14 million (net) profit ($ in dollars). All voting stock was retained by the investment group. Frederick Haynes remained as company head until E.G. Wilmer was named board chairman in November 1926. Wilmer was a banker with no auto experience, and Haynes remained as president. Changes to the car, save for superficial things like trim levels and colors, remained minimal until 1927, when the new Senior six-cylinder line was introduced. The four-cylinder line was renamed the Fast Four line until it was dropped in favor of two lighter six-cylinder models (the Standard Six and Victory Six) for 1928.
On October 1, 1925, Dodge Brothers, Inc. acquired a 51% interest in Graham Brothers, Inc. for $13 million ($ in dollars), followed by the remaining 49% on May 1, 1926. Haynes purchased all of Graham's truck production, and the Graham branch took charge of all of Dodge's truck manufacturing in 1926. Until the purchase by Chrysler, all trucks were Graham badged. A total of 60,000 trucks were built in 1927. The three Graham brothers, Robert, Joseph, and Ray, assumed management positions in Dodge Brothers before departing in early 1927. The brothers established the Graham-Paige company to build a new line of Graham passenger cars.
Despite this, Dodge Brothers' sales had dropped to 13th place in the industry by 1927, and Dillon, Read & Co. began looking for someone to buy the company. In 1928, Dodge was sold to the new Chrysler Corporation, who had attempted to purchase the company two years earlier, in a stock transfer instead of cash for $170 million ($ in dollars). With its purchase of Dodge, Chrysler gained the Dodge Factory and dealership network to better compete in the low-priced car field against Ford and Chevrolet, and Dodge progressed from 13th to seventh place in sales by 1928. On January 2, 1929, Chrysler announced that the Graham Badge had been dropped, and Chrysler was now building Dodge Brothers trucks.
Pre-war years
To fit better the Chrysler lineup, alongside low-priced Plymouth and medium-priced DeSoto, Dodge's lineup for early 1930 was trimmed down to a core group of two lines and thirteen models (from three lines and nineteen models just over a year prior). Prices started just above those of DeSoto, but were somewhat less than top-of-the-line Chrysler, in a small-scale recreation of General Motors' "step-up" marketing concept. As Plymouth cars were sold at Chrysler dealerships, Dodge-branded vehicles were sold as a lower-cost alternative to DeSoto. DeSoto and Dodge would swap places in the market for the 1933 model year, with Dodge dropping down between Plymouth and DeSoto.
For 1930, Dodge took another step up by adding a new eight-cylinder line to replace the existing Senior six-cylinder. This basic format of a dual line with Six and Eight models continued until 1933, and the cars were gradually streamlined and lengthened in step with prevailing trends of the day. The Dodge Eight was replaced by a larger DeLuxe Six for 1934, which was dropped for 1935. A long-wheelbase edition of the remaining Six was added for 1936, and would remain a part of the lineup for many years. In 1932, to enhance production, Chrysler built a factory in Los Angeles, California, where Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth vehicles were built until the factory closed in 1971.