K-Cars and minivans

1981–82 Dodge Aries Special Edition sedan

The first fruit of Chrysler's crash development program was the famous "K-Car," sold at Dodge dealers as the Aries (Plymouth's version was the near-identical Reliant). This basic and durable front-wheel drive platform spawned a whole range of new models at Dodge during the 1980s. Most notable of these was the groundbreaking Caravan, one of the most important cars in history—not just because it helped save Chrysler, but also because it spawned an entirely new market segment that remains popular today: the minivan.

Other popular Dodge models of the time included the turbocharged Daytona, mid-sized 600 and a sporty revival of the Lancer nameplate. The original Omni remained in the lineup as late as 1990, before finally being replaced by the more modern Shadow for 1987. Dodge did continue to import certain vehicles from Mitsubishi, but dropped most of them by 1993 so that customers would focus on the home-grown models instead.

By the 1990s, Chrysler had paid back its debts and was ready to make some real waves in the marketplace. Dodge was picked as the division to start this process, having already defined itself as the "sporty" side of the company. But no one was truly ready for Dodge to give the world something as unique as the Viper, which featured a Lamborghini-engineered V10 engine and composite sports roadster body. This was the first step in what was marketed as "The New Dodge." Step two was the fresh new Intrepid mid-size sedan, totally different from the formal-style Dynasty that preceded it.

Intrepid touted what Chrysler called "cab forward" styling, with the wheels pushed out to the corners of the chassis for maximum passenger space. They followed up on this idea in a smaller scale with the Stratus and Neon, both introduced for 1992. The Neon in particular was a hit, buoyed by a clever marketing campaign and good performance.