1903 Ford Motor Company is founded by Henry Ford.
1908 General Motors is founded by William C. Durant. Ford’s Model T is the first affordable automobile, setting off a explosion of interest in driving.
1910 The United States Motor Company is organized in one of the first efforts to consolidate the US auto industry. It brought together a number of small automakers, such as Maxwell, Brush, Stoddard-Dayton, and Columbia. In 1913, the holding company is liquidated; only Maxwell survives.
1925 Walter P. Chrysler, president of Maxwell Motor, reorganizes the company as the last of the “Big Three” automakers, Chrysler.
1928 Chrysler buys the Dodge Brothers Company.
1935 The United Auto Workers union is founded. A series of “sit in” strikes forces automakers to recognize the group. Over the next two decades, the UAW will negotiate generous salary and benefit deals that the companies struggle with to this day.
1954 American Motors Company is formed by the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company.
1979 On the verge of bankruptcy, Chrysler requests – and receives – $1.5B in federal loan guarantees. The military buys Dodge trucks to help the company’s comeback. UAW membership tops 1.5 million.
1987 Chrysler buys AMC, but keeps only the Jeep-Eagle lines in production.
1998 Germany-based Daimler buys Chrysler, becoming DaimlerChrysler.
2005 Faced with skyrocketing retirement costs and declining revenues, Ford works on a plan to renegotiate labor agreements, close factories and consolidate production.
2007 Daimler sells 80% of Chrysler, now back to its old name, to a private-equity group. UAW membership drops below 500,000; its members strike against Chrysler.
2008 Economic troubles put GMon the brink of bankruptcy and fuel rumors of a merger between GM and Chrysler. Congress considers federal assistance.