Profile of Chrysler Corporation

Chrysler Corporation is the smallest of the traditional Detroit "Big Three" automobile manufacturers, after General Motors and Ford. As of 1994, Chrysler commanded slightly less than ten percent of the U.S. domestic automobile market, selling 812,000 of the 8,990,000 cars sold in the United States that year. Its relative position in the small-truck market is stronger; in 1994 Chrysler held about a fifth of that market, selling 1,392,000 vehicles out of a total of 6,420,000 sold.

It should be noted that the "truck" market includes minivans, a class of vehicle which Chrysler pioneered in the 1980s. In functional terms, these vehicles are most nearly the descendants of the "station wagons" of an earlier period in the history of the American automotive market. Likewise, most small pickup trucks today are sold as consumer vehicles, not commercial vehicles.

What stands out in the above market figures is that sixty-three percent of Chrysler production is of vehicles other than automobiles as narrowly defined, and that its market share in the market for such "non-car cars" is twice as great as its share of the market for cars in the strict sense. This pattern of sales will be examined and discussed more extensively below. It is worth noting at the outset, however, that Chrysler has in some sense defined itself as focusing upon the market for what might be called alternative personal transpo

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market share but little growth potential are "cash cows," while products with low market share but high growth potential are "question marks." The following diagram suggests positioning for four categories: cars, trucks, minivans, and sport-utility vehicles: Relative Market Share        Industry Growth Rate   High    Low    High  Stars  Tru  cks  Question Marks     Minivans         Cars      Low  Cash Cows  Sports-Utility   Dogs   The diagram proposes that the clear star of Chrysler's production universe is the minivan. Chrysler, which introduced the class, retains a strong market share in the category, and the category itself, with its great versatility, has good continued growth potential. Trucks are positioned intermediate between star and question mark; while the category has good growth potential, Chrysler's position in the category, though good, is not as strong as its position in minivans. In this evaluation, cars are placed intermediate between cash cows and dogs; the market for conventional cars is a mature one with limited growth potential, and Chrysler does not have a particularly strong position in that market. Finally, sports-utility vehicles are id
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