FCA Canada celebrates 90th anniversary

Jul. 3, 2015 – FCA Canada (formerly Chrysler Canada) marked its 90th anniversary last month at a special celebration on the banks of the Detroit River and steps from its Canadian headquarters.

The celebration was attended by employees, senior executives, local media and other special guests. Fittingly, the event was held at Windsor’s Dieppe Gardens, the former location of the Dominion Typograph Company. There, in 1896, the Dodge brothers established their bicycle company, a precursor to FCA’s modern-day Dodge vehicle brand.
 
The Chrysler Corporation of Canada Ltd. was incorporated in Windsor, Ont., on June 17, 1925, only 11 days after Walter P. Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corp. in Detroit, Mich. Chrysler Corp. of Canada was the successor to the former Maxwell-Chalmers Motor Company of Canada.

In 1928, the Company acquired Canada’s Dodge Bros. operations and truck manufacturer Graham Bros., while the Plymouth and DeSoto divisions were also established, making Chrysler Corp. a full-line Canadian auto manufacturer. A year later, it opened its first new assembly facility, the nucleus for the current Windsor Assembly Plant.

Today, FCA Canada is comprised of seven automotive brands: Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Ram Truck and Mopar. It operates two vehicle manufacturing facilities in Windsor (Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Grand Caravan) and Brampton, Ont. (Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger), plus a key casting plant in Etobicoke, Ont. Nationally, the company has three regional business centres, three parts distribution centres and the Automotive Research and Development Centre (ARDC), also in Windsor.

“It is a very special honour to help commemorate the 90th anniversary of FCA Canada,” said Reid Bigland (in photo), president and CEO of FCA Canada. “Over nine decades we’ve grown into the largest automotive company in Canada and a pillar in the Windsor business community. From humble beginnings in 1925 with 181 employees and 4,500 vehicles built, we’ve grown to 10,585 employees, 596,000 vehicles built annually, 440 dealers and a position as the number one-selling automaker in Canada.”