Dodge Company History

Dodge is an American car brand that was created in 1900 as the Dodge Brothers Company. The company was founded by the brothers Horace Elgin Dodge and John Francis Dodge. Dodge manufacture a full range of passenger vehicles, pickups, trucks, vans and high performance muscle cars in the United States. They’re best known for their muscle cars and large 4 door sedans. Dodge headquarters are currently in Auburn Hills, Michigan in the United States of America.

Dodge Company Timeline – History

1900 – Brothers Horace Dodge and John Dodge created the Dodge Brothers Company and began supplying parts to the automotive industry in Michigan. A major client they worked for was the Ford Motor Company with whom they supplied a number of major parts of the original Ford Model A. Henry Ford gave the brothers ten percent of the Ford Motor Company for $10,000 worth of goods supplied to Ford. The dividends on this would go on to support the growth of the Dodge brothers company.

1913 – The Dodge Brothers Motor Company was created to produce their own vehicles rather than producing parts for other car companies like Ford and the Olds Motor Vehicle Company.

1914 – The brothers produced their first car called the Dodge Model 30/35 touring car which had a four cylinder engine. It was a premium vehicle for the time with many improvements on the popular Ford Model T car.

1916 – Dodge was ranked second after Ford for US car sales.

1916 – Henry Ford was forced to buy the ten percent of Ford that the brothers owned in the Ford Motor Company. They were paid an estimated $25 million US dollars which was an amazing return on their initial $10,000 investment which had already paid them nearly ten million dollars in dividends over the years.

1920 – John Dodge dies in January with influenza and pneumonia during the 1918 flu pandemic.

1920 In December of the same year that his brother passed away, Horace Dodge dies of pneumonia and cirrhosis of the liver.

1925 – The widows of the Dodge brothers sold the company to the Dillon, Read & Co. investment bank.

1928 – Chrysler Corporation buys the Dodge car company.

More on Dodge Vehicles

Please add to the conversation on the Dodge car company in the comments below. Have you ever owned a Dodge and what do you think of them? Check out the Dodge company page here or the Dodge Logo history here.