Chrysler hatches midpriced DeSoto brand

Chrysler hatches plans to introduce the DeSoto brand on May 6, 1928, in what turned out to be a momentous year for one of Detroit's youngest automakers.

DeSoto was created to slot above Plymouth, also launched in 1928. It targeted the growing middle of the postwar American car market and competed against Oldsmobile, Mercury, Hudson, Willys and Studebaker over the years.

"Probably no development of the past five years has created so profound a stir in the automobile industry as the current announcement that the new DeSoto Six, which will be presented to the public in the next three months, is to be built by Chrysler," the Detroit Free Press reported on May 6, 1928.

Some historians feel DeSoto was planned in case Chrysler was unsuccessful in buying Dodge Brothers, and would became superfluous once Dodge was acquired later in 1928.

More than 500 dealers signed up for a DeSoto franchise. Production of the 1929 model began in July 1928, and the official unveiling took place at the New York auto show in January 1929. With the introduction of DeSoto, priced at $845, Chrysler founder Walter P. Chrysler was convinced he had closed a marketing gap between Dodge and Chrysler.

By the end of 1928, more than 34,000 DeSotos had been shipped to a dealer network that had grown to 1,500.

After 14 months, the 100,000th DeSoto was sold, setting a sales record for a newly launched automobile that stood for 30 years.

The 1934 DeSoto Airflow is considered by many automotive historians to be the first modern car because it foreshadowed aerodynamic styling.

The 1942 DeSoto, the brand's last model built before World War II prompted Chrysler to suspend domestic output, was equipped with fold-away headlights -- called Airfoil lights -- as well as Simplimatic, a semi-automatic transmission combined with fluid coupling.

The 1959 DeSoto -- capping a decade of unbridled design inspired by jet aircraft -- featured three rocketlike taillights with conical red lenses that suggested frozen thrust, capped by a monster fin.

DeSoto was scrapped by Chrysler Corp. on Nov. 18, 1960, with more than 2 million vehicles produced since 1928.