No. 3 Fights Back

The Chrysler Corp. comeback that swept the company from a 1954 low of 13% of the car market to 17.1% last year was the most dramatic industrial success story of 1955. The next step, exulted President Lester Lum Colbert, was to recapture Chrysler's traditional 20% of the market, "and then do even better." But Chrysler, far from doing better, was again slipping fast. At the end of the first six months of this year it had assembled only 14.85% of total industry output, 3.78 less than in the same period last year v. a 5.16 rise for G.M., a .19 rise for Ford.

Last week "Tex" Colbert announced a top-management reshuffle to beef up Chrysler's faltering salesmanship. Into the newly created post of administrative vice president went crack Salesman Edgar Charles Row, 60, president of Chrysler Corp. of Canada since 1951, who had boosted Chrysler's share of the Canadian market from 16.2% to 27.8% in the past five years. Ohio-born Ed Row, an old company hand (since 1932), will have wide powers in his new post, be second in command to Colbert, who remains the chief executive officer. To prepare the company further for what he called "intensified competition," Colbert announced other appointments:

P: William C. Newberg, 45, Colbert-trained president of Dodge, to automotive group vice president in charge of all vehicle divisions and the MoPar division (truck and auto parts).

P: Rhinehart S. Bright, 44, vice president in charge of engines and transmissions, to group vice president in charge of basic manufacturing (stamping, engines and transmissions, general manufacturing).

P: M. C. Patterson, 56, Dodge manufacturing vice president, to Dodge president.

P:Nicholas Kelley Jr., 46, dealer-relations vice president, to president of Chrysler export division.

The shuffle of Chrysler's top command capped a long list of changes aimed at strengthening the company. Chrysler had already scrapped the traditionally staid Chrysler lines for the "Forward Look," broken its highly centralized corporate structure into more flexible autonomous divisions, built eight new plants, including Detroit's most highly automated engine factory, allocated more than $1 billion for capital improvements during the next five years.

But as the figures plainly showed, Chrysler's biggest and toughest job is selling. Plymouth, the company's high-volume bread-and-butter car, has dropped from 422,187 units assembled in 1955's first half to 243,541 in the same period this year, the sharpest (42%) slide in the industry. Plymouth's share of total auto production, which stood at 9.92% in 1955's first six months, has fallen to 7.63%. Dodge, the company's No. 2 seller, has fallen from 179,188 units to 108,545, a drop of 40%. Its proportion of auto output fell from 4.2% in 1955's first half to 3.4% this year. The De Soto decline from 79,895 to 57,070 represents a 29% fall in output and a percent-of-industry decline from 1.88% to 1.79%. Chrysler and Imperial plummeted from 111,753 units in 1955's first half to 64,753 a year later, off 42%, while their share of production declined from 2.63% to 2.03%.

Meanwhile, as Chrysler took the biggest dip in the industry, G.M. and Ford improved their standing. G.M.'s share of production went from 49.02% in 1955's first half to 54.18% this year. Ford's share went from 27.03% to 27.22%.

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