Step by Step

The trend now is toward evolutionary styling, and that is good. We don't any longer make abrupt changes, and we don't any longer abandon people who buy our cars. It is a step-by-step, year-by-year evolution.

Those are the words of the man who designs cars for Chrysler Corp., Elwood

Engel, vice president for styling--and they are welcome words to many U.S. car buyers. Last week Chrysler's top executives went to Atlanta for a press preview of the 1969 models, which show that Engel means what he says. The 1969 cars closely resemble the 1968 models. They are handsome and functional, but they are marked by few costly changes and innovations.

Purple Horn. The big cars are up to 5 in. longer, while the smaller cars remain virtually unchanged. Plymouth Fury, a bestseller, is almost completely stripped of chrome, and a huge slotted bumper hugs the road beneath a waffle-slotted grille. The Fury is 1 1/2 in. longer and 2 in. wider than the current mod el. Chrysler has added 3 in. more leg room in the Newport's back seat and 3 in. more shoulder room in front and back seats using curvier window glass and door panels. The slow-selling Imperial (competitive with Cadillac and Lincoln) has been stretched 5 in. in length, to a total 229.7 in., and now comes with a wall-to-wall front grille that conceals the headlights.

For the modestly face-lifted intermediates like the Plymouth Satellite, customers can buy a hippie, mod or psychedelic fabric for the top instead of the standard dull black vinyl. Under the hood of Plymouth's Roadrunner now lurks an orange engine block and a purple beep-beep horn. Dodge is coming out with a new supercharged Dart model called Swinger, which sports rally stripes and can be ordered in orange. But, so far, no real competitor to Ford's Mustang has appeared from Chrysler's lair. The sporty Barracuda is built on the chassis of the compact Valiant. Specialty cars, the company seems to believe, ought to be developed out of products at hand, especially when they tend to cannibalize sales, as Mustang has done to Ford.

Clever Gimmick. If the 1969 models live up to those of 1968, they will be a big success, even with evolutionary rather than revolutionary styling. Chrysler Corp. is likely to set new sales records this year, and for the sixth straight year to increase its penetration of the auto market. The company has made a remarkable turnaround. As recently as 1961, it was barely breathing. Looking for a new, big-name president, Chrysler directors could find no one who 1) fitted the bill and 2) would take the job. They ended up by selecting former Comptroller Lynn Townsend, then 42, as a sort of interim leader. Townsend has since become Mr. Chrysler, the head of Detroit's hottest shop.

Looking back, Townsend says: "Chrysler had it all. It had the plants, the engineering, the money, the dealers, everything. But it all had to be put together." Chrysler's constantly improving slice of the U.S. auto market shows how well Townsend has put it together. The company's share of the market went up from 10.3% in 1962 to 18.4% during the first seven months of 1968. Profits soared from a meager $11 million on $2.1 billion sales in 1961 to last year's $200 million on $6.2 billion sales. That trend continued during the first half of 1968, when sales rose 29% over the same period last year and profits more than doubled. By the end of the year, Townsend expects to top $7 billion in sales and earn $280 million.

Townsend engineered Chrysler's comeback by combining novel marketing techniques with stability in product lines. An innovation, company-owned dealerships where there were none before, has paid off handsomely. Chrysler now has 512 dealers either leased or controlled by the company, and they account for some 27% of sales. Another innovation, the offer of a five-year or 50,000-mile warranty to customers, turned out to be one of the cleverest gimmicks in auto history. Insurance premiums to cover costs of repairs are, of course, included in the price that the buyer pays.

In the midst of the shoptalk in Atlanta last week, Townsend recalled: "My father taught me when you are down and out to shine your shoes and press your old suit, and put on your best appearance." Lynn Townsend had his shoes shined and his suit pressed, and his company, now far from being down and out, made a very impressive appearance.

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