The dependable Dodge Ram

Dodge was founded in 1900 by Horace and John Dodge (The Dodge Brothers). It was initially known as the Dodge Brothers Company and used to sell bicycles, but within two years it became a major supplier of axles, engines and transmissions to the wider automobile industry.

The company was incredibly successful from the outset and gained a good reputation as successful even during its early stages, starting by producing chassis and engines for the Ford Motor and Olds Motor Vehicle Companies.

However, with the stress and demands of the booming automobile industry, the brothers decided to tinker with the idea of manufacturing their own line of cars because they were “tired of being carried around in Henry Ford’s vest pocket”.

Therefore, after years of building cars for the Ford Motor Company, the Dodge brothers worked on building their own company and introduced their first car, Model 30 on November 14, 1914. By the end of that year, 249 vehicles were built, thus shifting the company’s entire focus onto manufacturing automobiles only.

By 1916, the vehicles built by the Dodge brothers were ranked second in overall sales for American cars, behind only the Ford Model T.

After the tragic death of the Dodge brothers (less than a month apart, of influenza, in 1920), the company was first sold to Dillon, Reed & Co. for a reported $146 million (the largest financial transaction in history then) and later to Chrysler in a $170 million stock deal.

By this time, Dodge had dropped to number seven in the US automobile sales charts, with an annual production rate of 104,000 units. In 1921, the company entered into an agreement with the Graham Brothers to build trucks and was able to expand its production capacity to 600 units per day.

Soon enough the company introduced its first all-steel business coupe to the automobile industry and improved its ranking to second in the top overall U.S sales. Due to unknown reasons however, the wives of the founders sold the company to a New York consortium for $146 million.

By 1928, Dodge was ranked seventh in overall sales in the US and it was then acquired by the Chrysler Corporation. In 1980, Dodge shifted its focus to producing more efficient vehicles that were both budget-friendly and had good fuel economy.

Many new cars with exceptionally good styling were introduced, including the Daytona, the Omni, Shadow, Lancer Shelby and a concept car named the Dodge Viper (which is now one of the most famous high-performance vehicles available).

Fun facts

Not many automobile companies can claim to have added a word to the English language dictionary. It is believed that the first time the word Dependability was first coined and used was within the context of an advertising copywriter who found it the perfect word to describe Dodge cars.

The word had never been in a dictionary before it was used in a Dodge advertisement. Now the word, just like the company, is known the world over.

Moreover, in the early years, Dodge models sported a set of six hexagonal windows in the back of each passenger cabin.

These were called cathedral lights and became the first trademark feature to differentiate Dodge vehicles from the rest.

In 1994 Dodge shook things up in the truck world with the redesign of the Dodge Ram Pickup. It became the most dramatic and emulated truck launch of the century. As Dodge changed the rules for pickup trucks, Dodge Ram secured its place in the hearts of truck owners the world over.

Today, Dodge is one of the most popular automobile manufacturers worldwide and each car built is unique, such as the extremely popular special edition Dodge Challenger, as well as new variations of the Dart, Charger, Durango, and Journey.

As an extremely profitable member of the FCA group, Dodge enters the 2017 model year as one of the world’s fastest growing automobile manufacturers.