Chrysler Will Eliminate Imports

Twenty-five years after it became the first of the Big Three automakers to import a Japanese car, Chrysler Corp. said Wednesday that it will end the practice later this year.

Citing slow sales of its Eagle Summit subcompact, the No. 3 domestic automaker said it will not offer a 1997 model of the car built by Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Chrysler announced in September that it would discontinue its only other Japanese import, the Mitsubishi-built Dodge Stealth, at the end of this model year.

Sales of the Summit and Stealth have declined sharply in recent years, in part due to the rise in the yen’s value, which makes Japanese imports more expensive. There also is more competition today, including Chrysler models such as the Neon subcompact and the Dodge Viper sports car.

“It’s more the success we’ve had with our homegrown products,” spokesman Jason Vines said.

The Dodge and Plymouth divisions of Chrysler sold their last Colt coupe versions of the Summit in January 1995. Chrysler began its Japanese import program with the Dodge Colt in the 1971 model year.

So-called “captive imports” sold by Big Three automakers were nothing new back then. Ford Motor Co. sold European Fords in the United States as far back as 1948. Ford and General Motors Corp. offered several German- and British-built models in the 1950s and ‘60s, but none were big sellers.

But by 1970, the Big Three automakers were under an assault by inexpensive Toyotas and Datsuns, which were copying the success of Germany’s Volkswagen Beetle. Detroit was scrambling to compete.

Imports set what was then a record by capturing nearly 15 percent of the U.S. market, according to the 1970 Ward’s Automotive Yearbook. For financial reasons, Chrysler indefinitely postponed production of a subcompact import-fighter and struck the deal to sell Mitsubishi’s Colt instead.

Eventually, Ford and GM also formed relationships with Japanese automakers: Ford with Mazda and GM with Isuzu, Suzuki and Toyota.