Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, sport utility vehicles, and
trucks, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler LLC in over 60 different countries
and territories worldwide. Founded as the Dodge Brothers Company in 1900 to supply
parts and assemblies for Detroit’s growing auto industry, Dodge began making
its own complete vehicles in 1914. The brand was sold to Chrysler Corporation
in 1928, passed through the short-lived DaimlerChrysler merger of 1998–2007
as part of the unofficial "Chrysler Group", and is now a cornerstone of the new
Chrysler LLC run by Cerberus Capital Management (a private equity investment firm).
After
the founding of the Dodge Brothers Company by Horace and
John Dodge in 1900, the Detroit-based company quickly found work producing precision
engine and chassis components for the city’s burgeoning number of automobile
firms. Chief among these customers were the established Olds Motor Vehicle
Company and the then-new Ford Motor Company. Dodge Brothers enjoyed much success
in this field, but the brothers' growing wish to build complete vehicles was
exemplified by John Dodge's 1913 exclamation that he was "tired of being carried
around in Henry Ford's vest pocket." |
