On July 25, 1945, the Kaiser-Frazer automobile manufacturer was born. The namesake of its co-founders, Henry Kaiser (of Kaiser Industries) and Joseph Frazer (pre-WWII president of defunct Graham-Paige Motor Co.), Kaiser-Frazer was one of the only post-war independent automobile company success stories, albeit a brief one.
With ample funding from private investors and labor unions encouraging competition with The Big Three (also, “The Detroit Three” – Chrysler, Ford, GM), Kaiser-Frazer leased the Ford Willow Run Plant in Michigan and began production. In 1946, Kaiser-Frazer produced 11,000 cars, posted a $19 million profit loss, and watched its stock value sink. While financial-backers began to doubt the wisdom of investing so heavily into a small, fledgling corporation attempting to take on the nation’s three largest, most successful automobile manufacturers, Kaiser-Frazer worked hard to turn their ship around.
In 1947, Kaiser-Frazer produced 100,000 cars, and this time with a profit gain of $19 million. Shareholders momentarily pacified, Kasier-Frazer entered into its third year of production in 1948 and again pulled in a profit, but this time the tune of only $10 million. The sizable profit decrease and news that new model releases from The Big Three were on the horizon soured K-F financers quickly. With no money with which to fund new production, K-F posted a $30 million loss in 1949, causing Frazer to throw in the towel, leaving Kaiser to fend for himself.
Changing the name to simply Kaiser Motor Corporation, Henry Kaiser remained at the helm of the struggling company until 1953 when he merged with Willys-Overland. Now operating under the name Willys Motor Corp, the decision was made to cease production of passenger cars and instead focus on utility vehicles – or “Jeeps” as they were called. In 1963, the name “Willys” was phased out from the Jeep line and replaced with “Kaiser”. In 1970, Kaiser-Jeep was purchased by American Motor Corporation and the line of utility vehicles became officially known as simply “Jeep”. In 1987, Jeep was purchased by Chrysler were it remains the oldest and most successful sport utility vehicle in production.
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