Chrysler Europe, 1964-1985 (or so)

courtesy of Wilf

European Chrysler was effectively formed around 1964 by the purchase of the English Rootes Group and the French Simca concern. The Rootes group was made up of Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam and Singer; basic platforms spanned each range, with Hillman selling the basic car, Sunbeam adding a bit more sportiness, Singer a bit more luxury, and Humber making big luxury sedans.

American readers might remember the Sunbeam Tiger, one of the last products to be made before the Chrysler takeover and the car driven by Maxwell Smart. Simca made small family sedans to compete with Renault, Citroen and Peugeot.

Bill Watson noted that Chrysler started buying into Simca in 1957. In 1955 Simca bought Ford of France, acquiring the medium-priced Ford Vedette (106" wheelbase) with its flathead Ford V8, adding a larger car to its Aronde series (96" wheelbase), first introduced in 1951. Ford acquired a 25% interest in Simca, which was acquired by Chrysler later.

During 1958 Chrysler took over the marketing of the Simca in the U.S. (it had been handled by a subsidiary of Simca on a small scale) and introduced the Simca in Canada. From 1960 to 1962, marketing of the Simca was handled by Simca of Canada, Ltd., a subsidiary of Chrysler Corporation of Canada Limited. With the introduction of the Simca 1000, Chrysler Canada resumed direct marketing control of Simca in Canada.

Simca acquired Talbot-Lago in 1959 (bringing the French half of the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq combine into the Mopar picture). Around that time Chrysler announced that Simcas would be assembling the Aronde in Australia. The Vedette was shipped to Brazil in 1963, while to Aronde was laid to rest in 1966. In 1963 Chrysler bought a controlling interest in Simca, thus ending the Fiat influence in the firm. (Simca was formed in 1935 to built Fiat cars under licence for the French market.)

The Vedette had used a 143.5-cid flathead V8 (2.60x3.37 bore and stroke). The Brazilian Simca Vedette used an overhead-valve version of this engine with a 3.47" stroke (147.3-cid). By 1971 the Simca Vedette had been replaced by a number of models based on the Dodge Dart.

At the time Simca made two distinct ranges - the 1000 series, a small four-door sedan with rear engine, which had some competition success, and the 1300/1500 series, a larger sedan and wagon with conventional engine location.

The rear-engine Simca 1000 (87" wheelbase) was introduced in 1962, with torsion bars front and rear. A year later came the front engine/rear wheel drive Simca 1301/1501 (100" wheelbase), which was to replace the Aronde line. This car and had coil springs on all four wheels and was last produced in 1976.

The front-wheel drive 1100 arrived in 1968 on a 99" wheelbase, with torsion bars up front. From this car came the Horizon (99.2" wheelbase) for 1978, again with torsion bars up front.

Rootes was in over their head with the Hillman Imp - an advanced small car with aluminum rear ohc engine, independent suspension, styling that aped the Chevy Corvair...a much more advanced car than the Mini and one which deserved to succeed. Problems with development (overheating engines, body rust etc.) meant that it was never the success it should have been.

The large Humbers were beginning to be out of date, so the main business was concentrated on the "Arrow" cars - square four-door sedans and wagons with conventional live rear axle and ohv engine, which became the Hillman Hunter and Minx. These cars ran from 1966 until 1979 then went to Iran as the Peykan, where they were still popular and in production in 2001.

In 1968 a swoopy coupe was run off the chassis (looking like the Barracuda) for the Sunbeam line - these were known as the Alpine, Rapier and (with hot Holbay engine) H120. They ran until 1976.

In 1967 Simca released a revolutionary car, the 1100. It was unlike anything else it had done before. Front wheel drive, independent suspension, a hatchback with four doors, it was a sensation. This was to sow the seed of the second alliance, the Chrysler Alpine/Simca 1308 of 1975. Simca wanted to move the 1100 upmarket, to a larger size class (as the 1300/1500 series was dying), so using the same factory assembly line (which determined factors like scuttle height) they designed on the same floorpan a larger (102-in wheelbase) five-door hatchback, using the same suspension and stretched (1294cc and 1442cc) versions of the 1100 engine. 

The Alpine's sheet metal was designed at the Coventry factory.  Alpine production in Simca's Poissy, France factory in early 1975; in early 1976 the first UK-built Alpines arrived from the Coventry plant. Modifying the Avenger engines pushed domestic content up above 50%.

Bob Reynolds wrote: In 1970 Chrysler sold both the 5-door and a 3-door version of the 1100 called the 1204. The car listed for approximately $1750 US - about $100 US less than the Volkswagen Beetle of the period. The car was a screamer - slightly underpowered thanks to US emissions controls - but extremely willing. High body lean in turns, but very sticky on the road if you had the nerve to push it. Unfortunately Chrysler had parts problems supporting the car - a taillight could take 6 weeks (I know - twice). Shortly thereafter Chrysler US gave up and brought out the ... Horizon. So much for fun, inexpensive motoring at Chrysler US!

Chrysler steps in

Once Chrysler took over their main aim was to try and centralise the two companies and market a decent European that would challenge Ford of Europe and GM Vauxhall/Opel for sales. The first fruit of this union was the Simca/Chrysler 180 which became the Chrylser Centura for Australia.

Bill Watson wrote: "For 1970 came the Chrysler 160/180 (105" wheelbase) which brought Simca back into the medium-price bracket again. Tis car was originally meant to be a British Humber, but it was felt the French medium-priced market was stonger. That is undoubtedly why the 160/180 looks like an overgrown Avenger. A 2-litre version was added for 1972. This car also formed the basis for the Australian Centura, which was offered in 2-litre 4-cylinder and 245-cid inline six versions. The 160/180/2-litre was dropped in 1978."

Before this happened Rootes were allowed to release their latest project for the small-medium British family car sector, the Hillman Avenger. This was smaller than the Arrow range and more advanced, but still totally conventional by the standards of the time. This car was released in late 1969, and became the basis of the US Plymouth Cricket, a "captive import" which seemed like a good fighter for the home-grown subcompacts like the Chevy Vega and Ford Pinto.

Though probably a far better car than these two, with advanced features like all-round disc brakes, four door sedan and wagon bodies and 1.5-liter OHV engines, once again poor workmanship (Chrysler Europe was getting a reputation for this) and falling sales drove them from the US after the 1973 model year. In its home country the Avenger survived until the closing of its Scottish factory (originally home of the Imp - when the Alpine was moved to Coventry the Avenger went North and had a facelift too) in late 1981, when it was still selling steadily.

In 1977 (a mere two years after the UK Government aid had given it new life, so the project was given the green light) a small hatchback called the Sunbeam (this time a model rather than a range) using a shortened Avenger floorpan was released. This spawned the 1980 World Rally Championship-winning Sunbeam Lotus (with Esprit 2.2 engine).

Chrysler UK (as it was now renamed) called this new car the Alpine and added it to the existing range rather than replace anything. They imported it from France at first then, when Hunter and Avenger production were shifted to Linwood, Scotland (and, later, to Ireland), they built it at the Coventry plant. The car sold well but not spectacularly - the UK in particular just wasn't ready for the hatchback yet.

Andy Wilson, who worked at the Linwood plant, wrote: “The Hunter was also produced at Linwood in CKD (car knocked down) form for export to, of all places-Iran!-there was also a short production run of Sunbeam Vogues exported to USA and Canada, along with, slightly later, a short run of Avengers, badged as Plymouth Crickets, again for the USA/Canada market.”

In 1975, with the recession hitting, British Leyland was bought in the majority by the UK government. Sensing an opportunity, Chrysler said "give us aid or we close our UK operations." Not wanting the loss of jobs to affect re-election chances, the government agreed. This enabled the development of the Sunbeam as detailed above.

1976 and afterwards

In its first full month of sales in the UK, 1690 Alpines were sold, compared with 2400 Avengers and 2000 Hunters (for which demand had just increased). Compare that with 2882 Austin Maxis sold the same month, and 1.2 million Ford Cortinas were sold between 1977 and 1982, 99% of them in the UK (some went to Australia). This is in a total market of about 1.5 million cars sold annually at the time.

The Simca 1510 and its British cousin, the Chrysler Alpine, both on a 102" wheelbase, arrived for 1976. The 1510 can be considered the replacement for the 1301/1501 series, which came to an end in 1976.

My name is Shady Janzeir and I live in Irbid and Amman, Jordan. I own a Talbot Alpine that my father bought new in 1983. I believe it was one of the best cars ever made. It has a strong frame and a rugged suspension, and those engines can take all the push-it-to-the-metal you can give. Performance is super considering the 1460 kgs these engines have to haul around.

With the Alpine launched (and a sedan spin-off, the Solara - discussed later - in the pipeline for a 1980 intro, at which the Alpine would also be facelifted), the Chrysler Europe range looked like this:

• Simca/Chrysler 180/2-litre large sedan (launched 1970)
• Simca 1000 mini sedan (launched 1960s)
• Simca 1308/Chrysler Alpine mid-size hatchback (launched 1975)
• Chrysler Avenger mid-size sedan (launched 1970)
• Chrysler Hunter mid-size sedan (launched 1966)
• Simca 1100 small/medium hatchback (launched 1967)

The Hunter was to be left to die of old age and neglect (plus it would be sold off to the Iranians), as would the 1000 (it would also die in 1979, and would partly be replaced by the Avenger-derived Sunbeam). Chrysler Europe turned to a replacement for the old 1100. Although this car had been a success, it was now looking old in a number of areas — internal design, rust resistance (most cars celebrated their 7th or 8th birthdays with a trip to the crusher) and external styling.

The Horizon appears

Again Chrysler Europe used the car as the basis for its replacement, as they had with the Alpine. The new car was launched at the end of 1977 as the Chrysler Horizon. It was the same as the Plymouth product and its Dodge Omni brethren. Except for some minor details - head and tail lights were changed as per Federal requirement, as were the bumpers, and the engine was replaced by first a VW, then a Peugeot, then a Chrysler engine (in North America). The cars were technically good (Alpine was European Car of the Year in 1976, Horizon in 1978), but the European versions were poorly built and had low-geared steering, poorly-finished plastic dashboards, rattly engines, and early rust.

Bill Watson noted: "Not many people realize it, but the European Horizon used torsion bars up front, as did its predecessor, the 1100. When Chrysler took the Horizon over to Detroit, the torsion bars were replaced by a MacPherson strut front suspension." Ironic since Chrysler had pioneered the use of torsion bar suspensions.

 The European version of the Horizon/Omni was born out of a need to replace the aged Simca 1100 range. However, the 1100 lived on some 4 years after the Horizon was launched in late 1977, simply because some versions (like the wagon, panel van and pick-up) weren't replaced. It could be said that the 1100 was replaced by two cars - the Sunbeam for the low-spec 2-doors, and the Horizon for the high-spec 4-doors.  The Horizon was not built in England until the 1980s.

Effectively designed around the 1100 base, the Horizon nevertheless incorporated many of the refinements already in the Alpine. The original 1118cc 1100 engine was used, along with the 1294 and 1442cc versions from the Alpine. A 4-speed manual transmission was initially standard. The car was to be wider and of longer wheelbase than the 1100, allowing more interior room. To this end similar seating to the Alpine, being large and soft in the French style, was fitted. The Horizon was marketed like Alpine as a brand-new car but was more like a facelifted 1100 than a cut-down Alpine.

Again Chrysler Europe won Car Of The Year in 1978 with the Horizon (the Porsche 928 won the award in 1977, the year between the Alpine and Horizon winning). It was not in fact until 1993 that a Japanese car won the award (Nissan Micra), although it is open to any car sold in the European countries.

In 1978 the U.S. Omni and Horizon were launched, using a 70hp 1700cc VW engine. Why had the 1442cc Simca engine (which produced 82hp) not been used? Perhaps emissions work would have been too costly; and the engine could be unrefined and rough at times.

Critics applauded the ride but not the steering, which was very low-geared (giving an exceptionally large turning circle). The Horizon sold better than the Alpine, probably because hatchbacks were more "acceptable" in the smaller size segment, with cars such as the Renault 14 and VW Golf competing. However, it was the only "British" hatchback - the Ford Escort, Vauxhall Viva and Austin Allegro were all sedans.

For the 1980 model year the luxury SX model, featuring the 1442cc engine and three-speed auto, with trip computer, electric windows and headlamp washers. The range at this time comprised of 1.1 LS, 1.3 LS and GL, 1.5 GL and 1.5 SX auto. Unlike the U.S. range, no sporty European Horizons (e.g. Omni GLHS) were ever developed. This was left to the Sunbeam range, although other sports models had been dropped and no new ones were developed under the Peugeot takeover of late 1978. However, the Horizon featured significantly for one reason in Peugeot's plans - in 1982 it was the first model to receive the new XUD 1.9-liter 65hp diesel engine (subsequently to be developed as 71hp non-turbo and 92hp turbo versions in other Peugeot models). Since that time over 7.5 million of these engines, credited with converting many countries to diesel, have been produced.

For the 1983 model year, a shakeup of the range took place to combat falling sales of the Talbot marque in general. All cars were re-designated "Series 2". 5-speed manual gearboxes and head rests were fitted on all models except the base 1.1 LE. Specification levels rose, although the SX was dropped. A couple of special editions arrived, the Pullman (two-tone brown and gold with gold alloy wheels) and later the Ultra LX and GLX (with power steering and wheel covers). Alas, it was again too late and the Horizon died in 1985, although the U.S. model continued until 1990. I guess the priorities were different - in Europe it was seen as a family car, where the market is most hotly contested. In the U.S. it was seen either as a cult sports model (i.e. GLH) or as basic transportation, and in both areas it excelled. If it had only been seen in such a light here, but the former was firmly the Sunbeam's domain, and it was never cheap  enough to be the latter - in this country that title belongs to Eastern European cars.

Selling to Peugeot

One of the ways in which Chrysler tried to bail itself out of hot water in 1978 was to sell the entire Chrysler Europe operation to Peugeot. The product stayed the same, but the Chrysler name could no longer be used, so Peugeot dug up an old name with significance both in the UK and France, Talbot. Legend has it that many cars were rebadged in dealer's showrooms, much like the early publicity K-cars were rebadged for Dodge and Plymouth shots. Sometime later the 180/2-Litre, Hunter, 1000 and 1100 met their ends. The range was slimmed to just Avenger, Sunbeam (both only big sellers in their UK homeland), Alpine, and Horizon.

Thereafter no development was done on the existing range (except fitment of the new Peugeot/Citroen 1.9 diesel engine to Horizon in 1982), and only 2 products of the "new era" occurred. In 1981 the Linwood, Scotland factory closed for good, and shortly after demolished, which meant the death of the Avenger and Sunbeam. However, the Avenger tooling was subsequently bought by VW of Argentina and cars were manufactured for the S.America countries throughout the 80s. The remaining Coventry, England  and French factories continued to pump out Alpines, Solaras and Horizons.

Bill Watson wrote: After Peugeot took over, the Simca 1510 became the Talbot Simca 1510, and a new notchback 6-window sedan was introduced for 1980, the Solara. It was actually the 1510, torsion bars and all, but with a redesigned rear end. Given the lead times involved, the Solara project was begun under Chrysler ownership.

By the way, the 1980 Talbots, although they had "Talbot" on the front and rear of the cars where "Chrysler" used to be, they all had the Chrysler pentastar in the centre of the grille! Sometime during the 1980 model year, the pentastar was replased by Talbot's "T" in a circle.

The first new product, in 1982, was the Talbot Samba, a small (smaller than Sunbeam, about the size of the competing Ford Fiesta) front-drive hatchback coupe which was effectively a rebadged Peugeot 104. However, Talbot did get, in 1984, two unique versions. The first was a convertible model which sold quite well to young affluent people - Peugeot would learn this lesson well with the later 205 convertible. The second was the Rallye, a 600-off homologated (for Group A World Rally Championship) rocket with a hot 80bhp 1360cc motor. The Avenger (in both production-model Tiger and rally-only BRM versions) and Sunbeam (with the Lotus-engined model) were both successful rally cars, and the British take their rallying very seriously - for a long time after the death of Talbot the rally division of Peugeot was still called "Peugeot-Talbot Motorsport".

The final flourish under the Peugeot ownership was the large (and ill-fated) Tagora. While still under Chrysler's ownership there had been a planned replacement for the 180/2-Litre, codenamed C9. This was to have used a 2.2-liter stretch of the old motor and some carryover components which allowed a very sleek, futuristic bodystyle.  (This 2.2 was completely unrelated to the US corporate 2.2 as far as we can tell).

Unfortunately, Peugeot stipulated that the new car must be based on their existing 604, although the 2.2 engine was to be Chrysler's rather than the identical-displacement Peugeot/Citroen motor of the time. Other engines were the 2.7 Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V6 and the 2.3-liter turbodiesel. As such the eventual styling was very lumpy and not particularly attractive at all. The market for large cars, upon which the Ford Granada had a considerable stranglehold, was much smaller than when C9 was conceived so the Tagora sold in only tiny quantities until its death in 1984.

Not long after the Alpine and Horizon met their maker, and once the last Samba had been sold in 1986 the Talbot name, the cars, and the last legacy of Chrysler Europe was no more. But the Talbot name lived on as late as 1991 on a rebadged Peugeot/Citroen/Fiat-design van, and the Peugeot 309 of 1985-93 was in fact the intended Horizon replacement. Critics of the time said that this was evident in the cars external styling - whereas the 205 and 405 were elegant, the 309 was dull and dumpy. Still, it was the first Peugeot built in Britian (at the Coventry plant), and production of the 306 and 406 continues there to this day.

638,000 Avengers were sold of all types. 150,000 Alpines were built in  the UK from 1975 to 1985. A similar number of Horizons were built in the UK from 1980 to 1985. 10135 Sunbeam Ti's were built between 1979 and 1981.

Why Chrysler Europe failed 

The 1970s were one of the toughest decades that the automotive industry has ever faced, and even the mightiest makers were not immune. Rootes was perhaps more complex than Chrysler had first thought, and trying to combine it with Simca, with the conflicting interests and ideas this brought, was never going to be easy.

I would ask, why Federalise the Horizon and not the Alpine? The Alpine was larger, more roomy and more comfortable (with its soft French-design seating and torsion bar suspension), so would have fitted in much better with American tastes. Maybe it was much easier to fit an alternative engine to the Horizon.

Another interesting "what if" concerns the 180/2-Litre; seeing as it was easy for Chrysler Australia to make it into the Centura by adding a straight-six engine and plush fittings, maybe it could have been brought to the US as the new small Chrysler (it would have been significantly smaller than Cordoba), and stolen the march on Cadillac's Seville? Maybe Chrysler were scared of getting their fingers burnt, as they had been with the Cricket/Avenger project. If only the workmanship had been decent.

Although it met an undignified end, Chrysler's spell in Europe was a good lesson learned - witness here, in 1993, the incredible sales performance of the Jeep Cherokee, with the following Wrangler, Neon, Grand Cherokee and Voyager doing decent "niche market" sales. The parent company's innovations set the standard in many areas for the whole of the European car market as well; the transistorised ignition that was applied to the whole US range in 1973 was fitted to all new Chrysler Europe products too, and the Sunbeam advertising played heavily on the fact. Typically though, and as a final point, the small print of that same advert states that "owing to a factory dispute, some early Sunbeams will not have been fitted with transistorised ignition." It was a hard time to be new to the game. Perhaps had it been any other period Chrysler Europe would still be with us in its native form.

Webmaster note: in 1997, Chrysler made 105,000 1997 European sales, and said that it has not lost money on European operations since it re-entered the market in 1988. SIMCA was profitable throughout Chrysler’s ownership.

The museum

According to Pello, the Peugeot Museum in Poissy has a complete range of everything that was built in Poissy or studied there.  In the museum is a Dodge Omni that was sent to perform the first tests with the Peugeot diesel engine. The museum can be visited every Saturday. You may contact them at CAAPY, 45 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, 78 Poissy.

Other relevant pages 

• Rootes-Chrysler.co.uk
• Avenger and Tiger
• 160, 180, and 2-Litre
• Rootes in the USA
• Simca
• Sunbeam, Solara, Rapier
• Cricket
• European Horizon
• American Omni/Horizon
• Chrysler in Spain
• Valiants in Australia and New Zealand
• Neons Outside North America
• Chrysler Engines (including export-only: Diesels, 1.8)
• Chrysler Export Central

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Links to Simca clubs and organizations.

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