Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca
In 1978, Lee A. Iacocca was appointed President of Chrysler Corporation by Chairman John J. Riccardo and, within a year, succeeded Riccardo as the automaker’s top executive. Iacocca is considered by many to have engineered one of business history’s greatest comebacks.
With a significant inventory of low-mileage cars at a time of rising fuel prices, Chrysler faced bankruptcy in 1979. Iacocca stepped up to secure a controversial $1.5 billion in federal government loans with the condition that the company raise an additional $2 billion on its own. Iacocca responded by identifying new sources of credit and making equally controversial moves to trim operations, close plants and obtain concessions from labor unions.
He shifted the company’s emphasis to fuel-efficient models in the 1980s, launching the versatile K-Car series and an entirely new vehicle segment – the minivan. Combined with an aggressive advertising campaign that included personal appearances on television commercials, sales were revitalized. Chrysler was posting record profits by 1983 and, under Iacocca’s leadership, fully repaid the government loans ahead of schedule.