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Downsize (automobile)
In the context of the automobile industry, downsizing is a practice used to transition vehicles from one size segment to another. Commenced during the Malaise era, downsizing is done in response to consumer and government demands influencing vehicle design. As vehicle product lines completed their model cycles, automobile manufacturers developed the next generation of a vehicle with a smaller exterior footprint to allow for weight reduction and increased fuel economy, using a shortened wheelbase and body length. In the American automobile industry, downsizing was a direct response to the 1973 oil crisis, which resulted in the enaction of CAFE fuel economy standards in 1975. By 1980, each auto manufacturer producing cars and light trucks for sale in the United States were required to produce an average of 20 mpg across their entire product line. In response, as full-size car lines completed their model cycles, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler Corporation sough ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automobile Industry
The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16% such as in France up to 40% in countries such as Slovakia). The word ''automotive'' comes from the Greek ''autos'' (self), and Latin ''motivus'' (of motion), referring to any form of self-powered vehicle. This term, as proposed by Elmer Sperry (1860–1930), first came into use to describe automobiles in 1898. History The automotive industry began in the 1860s with hundreds of manufacturers pioneering the horseless carriage. Early car manufacturing involved manual assembly by a human worker. The process evolved from engineers working on a stationary car to a conveyor belt system where the car passed through multiple stations of more specialized engineers. In the 1960s, robotic equipment was introduced, and most ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chrysler C Platform
Chrysler's C platform was the basis for rear wheel drive full-size cars from 1965 to 1978. Although often misclassified, 1964 and earlier full-size Chrysler products, and 1966 and earlier Imperials are not C-bodies. History C-bodies were built between 1965 and 1978. They had wheelbases ranging from 119 to 124 inches, they were generally loaded with features, and all C-Body cars used a torsion bar front suspension design. In 1969, Chrysler redesigned the C-Body platform to incorporate its new "Fuselage" styling that brought the upper and lower sections of body into one uniformly shaped design, in turn changing the look of all the models. This new C-Body design saw Chrysler ditching the last stylistic remnants of the early-to-mid 1960s in favor of a more contemporary silhouette. These emphasized luxury over performance. However, due to economic turmoil and an auto industry reeling from a one-two punch of federal regulation and skyrocketing gas prices, Chrysler's sales dipped and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Thunderbird (seventh Generation)
The seventh generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car that was built by Ford from the 1977 to the 1979 model years. In a key marketing shift for the model range, Ford repackaged the Thunderbird from a full-size car to an intermediate car, and ceded its full-size luxury coupe status to the Ford LTD Landau coupe. Rather than being the traditional Ford counterpart of the Continental Mark V, the Thunderbird would share the chassis with the Mercury Cougar and the Ford LTD II before the Ford Fox platform version was introduced for 1980. The squarer, sharper styling was popular, as this generation became the best selling in the history of the Ford Thunderbird. Helped by a US$2,700 drop in price from 1976, over 318,000 were sold in 1977 and 352,000 in 1978 (the best single sales year in Thunderbird history), followed by 295,000 in 1979. The styling of its unique wrapover roofline would carry over in smaller versions of Ford automobiles such as the 1978–1983 F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Pinto
The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1970 until 1980. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America. The Pinto was marketed in three body styles throughout its production: a two-door fastback sedan with a trunk, a three-door hatchback, and a two-door station wagon. Mercury (automobile), Mercury offered rebadged versions of the Pinto as the Mercury Bobcat from 1975 until 1980 (1974–1980 in Canada). Over three million Pintos were produced over its ten-year production run, outproducing the combined totals of its domestic rivals, the Chevrolet Vega and the AMC Gremlin. The Pinto and Mercury Bobcat were produced at Edison Assembly in Edison, New Jersey, St. Thomas Assembly in Southwold, Ontario, and San Jose Assembly Plant, San Jose Assembly in Milpitas, California. Since the 1970s, the safety reputation of the Pinto has generated controversy. Its fuel-tank design attra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Falcon (North America)
The Ford Falcon is a model line of cars that was produced by Ford from the 1960 to 1970 model years. Though preceded by the Rambler American, the Falcon was the first compact car marketed by the Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three American manufacturers. In contrast to its Chevrolet Corvair and Plymouth Valiant, (Plymouth) Valiant competitors, the Falcon was developed as a scaled-down version of the full-size Ford Galaxie sedan. Alongside its larger counterparts, the Falcon offered a full range of body styles, including two-door and four-door sedans, two-door hardtops and convertibles, two-door and four-door station wagons (the former, serving as a basis of the final Ford sedan delivery), and coupe utility pickups (serving as the basis of the Ford Ranchero). Through the 1960s, Ford would produce three distinct generations of the Falcon; a final version of the Falcon served as the lowest-price version of the Ford Torino. For nearly two decades, the model architectur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Mustang (second Generation)
The second-generation Ford Mustang, marketed as the Ford Mustang II, is a two- or three-door, four-passenger, front-engine/rear-drive pony car manufactured and marketed by Ford from 1973 until 1978. Introduced in September 1973 for the 1974 model year, the Mustang II arrived roughly coincident with the oil embargo of 1973 and subsequent fuel shortages. Developed under Lee Iacocca, it was an "entirely new kind of pony car." Ford "decided to call it Mustang II, since it was a new type of pony car designed for an era of high gas prices and fuel shortages." The Mustang II was lighter and almost shorter than the 1973 Mustang, and derived from the subcompact Pinto platform. While sharing a limited number of driveline components with the Pinto, the Mustang II employed an exclusive subframe, isolating its front suspension and engine mount subframe. The steering used a rack-and-pinion design. Named Motor Trend's 1974 Car of the Year and reaching over 1.1 million sales over fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced between 1939 and 2020 by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a personal vehicle for Edsel Ford, who commissioned a coachbuilt 1939 Lincoln-Zephyr convertible, developed as a vacation vehicle to attract potential Lincoln buyers. In what would give the model line its name, the exterior was designed with European "continental" styling elements, including a rear-mounted spare tire. In production for over 55 years across nine different decades, Lincoln has produced ten generations of the Continental. Within the Lincoln model line, the Continental has served several roles ranging from its flagship to its base-trim sedan. From 1961 to 1976, Lincoln sold the Continental as its exclusive model line. The model line has also gone on hiatus three times. From 1949 to 1955, the nameplate was briefly retired. In 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dodge Magnum
The Dodge Magnum is a nameplate used by several Dodge vehicles, at different times and on various markets. The name was first applied to a large Chrysler B platform-based 2-door coupe marketed from 1978 to 1979 sold in the United States and Canada. From the 2005 to the 2008 model years, the nameplate was revived for a Charger-based station wagon on the rear-wheel drive Chrysler LX platform, produced in Canada and sold on the American and Canadian market. In Brazil, the Magnum was a top-of-the-line version of the local Dodge Dart, produced from 1979 to 1981. In Mexico, the Dodge Magnum was a sporty rear-wheel drive two-door car based on Chrysler's M-body (American Dodge Diplomat/Plymouth Gran Fury). From 1983 to 1988 Dodge marketed a sporty two-door Chrysler K platform, K-car as the "Magnum", with an available turbocharger engine from 1984 on. US and Canada (1978–1979) The Magnum was introduced for 1978 to supplement the Dodge Charger (B-body), Dodge Charger. It was sold in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Iacocca
Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive who developed the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then revived the Chrysler, Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s. He was president of Chrysler from 1978 to 1991 and chairman and CEO from 1979 until his retirement at the end of 1992. He was one of the few executives to preside over the operations of two of the United States' Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three automakers. Iacocca authored or co-authored several books, including ''Iacocca: An Autobiography'' (with William Novak), and ''Where Have All the Leaders Gone?.'' Early life and education Iacocca was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 15, 1924, to Nicola Iacocca and Antonietta Perrotta, Italian Americans from San Marco dei Cavoti, who settled in the steel producing region of the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chrysler K Platform
The K-car platform was a key automotive design platform introduced by Chrysler Corporation for the 1981 model year, featuring a transverse engine, front-wheel drive, independent front and semi-independent rear suspension configuration—a stark departure from the company's previous reliance on solid axle, rear-drive unibody configurations during the 1970s. Derived from Chrysler's L-cars, the Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni, the platform was developed just as the company faltered in the market, at first underpinning a modest range of compact/mid-size sedans and wagons—and eventually underpinning nearly fifty different models, including all-wheel drive variants—and playing a vital role in the company's subsequent resurgence. Common platforms The use of a common platform is a widely used practice for reducing the number of parts and engineering time. Before creating the K platform, Chrysler was building vehicles on a small number of common platforms (e.g. F/L/J/M and R), but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plymouth Reliant
The Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries are mid size cars introduced for model year 1981 as the first " K-cars" manufactured and marketed by the Chrysler Corporation. The Reliant and Aries were the smallest cars to have the traditional 6 passenger 2 bench seat with column shifter seating arrangement favored by customers in the United States (Chrysler marketed the car as being able to seat "six Americans"), similar to larger rear-wheel drive cars such as the Dodge Dart and other front-wheel drive cars such as the Chevrolet Celebrity. The Reliant was powered by a then-new 2.2 L I4 SOHC engine, with a Mitsubishi "Silent Shaft" 2.6 L as an option (this engine also featured hemispherical combustion chambers, and all 1981 models equipped with it featured "HEMI" badges on the front fenders). The Reliant was available as a 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan, or as a 4-door station wagon, in three different trim lines: base, Custom and SE ("Special Edition"). Station wagons came only in Cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dodge Aspen
The Dodge Aspen, and its badge engineered variant, the Plymouth Volaré, are compact rear-drive cars manufactured and marketed by Chrysler for model years 1976-1980 in four-door sedan, two-door coupe, and four-door wagon styles. During the Volaré/Aspen's production, North American automakers were actively "downsizing" their lineups, reducing size and weight for improved fuel economy — and the industry was reclassifying its size nomenclature. The Volaré/Aspen were thus classified originally as compact cars and as intermediate-sized cars by the time their production ended. The Volaré/Aspen were discontinued following the 1980 model year prior to the introduction of the front-wheel-drive Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries, known collectively as K-cars. Background The Volaré and the Aspen were introduced mid-cycle for model year 1976 as successors to the Chrysler " A-platform" models, the Plymouth Valiant/ Plymouth Duster and Dodge Dart. During the 1976 model year, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
