Lee Iacocca (Lido Anthony Iacocca) is an American automobile executive and author. He is famously known for the development of Ford Mustang and Pinto cars. He worked at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s. Later on, he moved to Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s. During this time he helped revive the Chrysler company that was falling.
Early Career And Education
He served as President and CEO of Chrysler from 1978. Additionally, he served as chairman from 1979, until his retirement at the end of 1992. Lee Iacocca joined Ford Motor Company in August 1946. After a brief stint in engineering, he asked to be moved to sales and marketing. His career started flourishing at the sales department.
He graduated from LeHigh University with a degree in Industrial Engineering. Later on, he went on to earn a degree from Princeton University as a Wallace Memorial Fellow. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, and an alumnus of Theta Chi Fraternity.
At Ford
He gained national recognition with his “56 for ’56” campaign. His campaign went national. He was called to the Dearborn headquarters, where he quickly moved up through the ranks. On November 10, 1960 Lee Iacocca was named vice-president and general manager of the Ford Division on 10th November, 1960.
Five years later Lee Iacocca was promoted to become Ford’s vice-president. He rose through the ranks to become president on 10th December, 1970. He participated in the design of several successful Ford automobiles. Most notably the Ford Mustang, the Continental Mark III, the Ford Escort and the revival of the Mercury brand in the late 1960s.
Through his efforts the company also introduced the Mercury Cougar and Mercury Marquis. He promoted other ideas which did not reach the marketplace as Ford products. These included cars ultimately introduced by Chrysler – the K car and the minivan. He clashed with Henry Ford II. He was fired on 13th July 1978. At the time of his sacking, the company posted a $2 billion profit for the year.
At Chrysler
Chrysler Corporation strongly courted Lee Iacocca. At that time the company appeared to be on the verge of going out of business. It had just sold its loss-making Chrysler Europe division to Peugeot in an effort to generate cash. The company was already losing millions in North America.
Lee Iacocca joined Chrysler and began rebuilding the entire company from the ground up and bringing in many former associates from his former company. Also from Ford, Iacocca brought to Chrysler the “Mini-Max” project, which, in 1983, bore fruit in the highly successful Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager.
Chrysler Bail Out
Realizing that the company would go out of business if it did not receive a large infusion of cash, Lee Iacocca approached the United States Congress in 1979 and successfully requested a loan guarantee. In order to obtain the guarantee, Chrysler was required to reduce costs and abandon some longstanding projects, such as the turbine engine.
Chrysler released the first of the K-Car line, the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant, in 1981. Because of the K-cars and minivans, along with the reforms Iacocca implemented, the company turned around quickly. It was able to repay the government-backed loans seven years earlier than expected.
Throughout the 1980s, Lee Iacocca appeared in a series of commercials for the company’s vehicles, employing the ad campaign, “The pride is back,” to denote the turnaround of the corporation. He also voiced what was to become his trademark phrase: “If you can find a better car, buy it.”
Retirement
Lee Iacocca retired as president, CEO and chairman of Chrysler at the end of 1992. In July 2005, Iacocca returned to the airwaves as Chrysler’s pitchman, along with other celebrities. In return for his services, Iacocca and DaimlerChrysler agreed that his fees, plus a $1 donation per vehicle sold from July 1 through December 31, 2005, would be donated to the Iacocca Foundation for diabetes research.
