Chrysler Corporation

The Chrysler Corporation is a United States-based luxury automobile manufacturer, which was purchased in 1998 by Daimler-Benz to become DaimlerChrysler.

Logos

The design shown at the top of the page is an adaptation of the original winged logo which Chrysler used on its cars at its inception in 1924. The logo was revived for the Chrysler divisions in the mid-1990s but again was slowly phased-out after the Daimler "merger".

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In 1963, the company had switched over to a star design which became known as the Pentastar and was extensively used on dealer signage, advertisements, and promotional brochures. Contrary to popular belief, it was not designed to symbolize the five divisions of the corporation at the time, Plymouth, Dodge, De Soto, Chrysler, and Imperial. By 1963 there were two car divisions in the United States, Chrysler-Plymouth and Dodge. As well there were over a dozen other divisions in the Chrysler Corporation family and management were after a symbol that all divisions could use.

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Then Chrysler head, Lynn Townsend, was looking for a symbol that could be used by all divisions, on packaging, stationery, signage, advertising, etc. He wanted something that would be universally recognizable as "Chrysler" to anyone who saw it, from any perspective, from any culture. Chrysler's trademark symbol, the pentastar, was simple and easily recognizable from any perspective, even in motion on revolving signs. The symbol also facilitated Chrysler's expansion in the international market by removing the need to translate any text that is commonly used on logos.

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Thus all divisions of Chrysler adopted the pentastar. All car brands (Valiant, Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler, Imperial, Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam, Singer, Simca), truck brands (Fargo, DeSoto, Dodge, Commer, Karrier), and all the other Chrysler divisions (air conditioning, heating, industrial engines, marine engines, outboard motors, boats, transmissions, 4-wheel drive systems, powdered metal products, adhesives, chemical products, plastics, electronics, tanks, missiles) and services (leasing and finance) were identified by the pentastar. It united the firm's various products and services in the public's eye as no other auto firm has done.

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The Pentastar appeared consistently but inconspicuously on the lower passenger-side fender of all Chrysler products, including foreign brands, until the early 1980s. At that point it was adapted to appear in such forms as trunk emblems and hood ornaments, replacing other designs that had been used by Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler and had in some cases identfied individual models, such as the Chrysler New Yorker. It was placed on the passenger-side fender so it could be viewed by passers-by, a subtle method of getting the symbol ingrained in the public's mind. A nameplate has to be read, but a symbol is recognizable even to the illiterate. Thus North American and French cars had the pentastar on the right fender and British on the left.

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Currently the only remaining traces of this motif are a large, star-shaped window at Daimler-Chrysler's American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and Pentastar Aviation, a former Daimler-Chrysler subsidiary which reverted to its original name after being purchased, ironically, by a member of the Ford family. It is also likely that many dealerships still have signage and other traces still visually apparent to the pentastar. Today, glass on Chrysler Group cars and trucks still have the Pentastar on them, however, its days appear to be numbered.

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