If you enjoy automotive-related history pieces, going back in time to before, during and after the Chrysler-Mercedes merger took place, might be 30-minutes well spent.
This video, courtesy of RegularCars, tells the story of the failed Chrysler/Mercedes-Benz merger, but also what led the two automakers to join forces, plus even a little bit of history regarding their early beginnings.
While we’ll let you enjoy all those things by yourselves, we will remind you that the merger between the two automotive giants was signed back in 1998, with the goal to safeguard the long-term competitiveness of both Mercedes-Benz as well as Chrysler.
At first, the union was called a “Merger of Equals” by Mercedes, though Chrysler would eventually find out that Daimler never intended for that to be so, which eventually led to further problems down the road, well into the early and mid-2000’s.
In the end, it was Cerberus, one of the largest investment firms in the world, that took control of Chrysler in 2007, acquiring 80.1% of the company for, at that time, €5.5 Billion / $7.4 billion. Two years later, Daimler sold its remaining 19.9% stake, which made it possible for Chrysler to further their partnership talks with the Fiat Group.
Still, if you want to learn or remember more about the two automakers and their merger, we suggest you go as far as the video below.