What in the heck is a K car? You’ve probably heard the verbiage before, but what does it mean?
Chrysler produced the original K-platform vehicles between 1981 and 1989, and the mid-sized K car was succeeded by the C-platform for minivans. In the 1980’s, four Chrysler K cars dominated the market; they were the Dodge Aries, the Plymouth Reliant, the Dodge 400, and the Chrysler LeBaron. Many other K cars got added to the list as well such as the Dodge 400, Dodge Dart, Plymouth Caravelle, Chrysler New Yorker, Dodge Daytona, and Plymouth Voyager, just to name a few.
(an old ad of the Dodge Aires from the 1980's)
The K-car platform was an automotive design featuring a transverse engine, front-wheel drive, independent front and semi-independent rear suspension configuration. It was a big departure from the previous reliance on solid axle, rear-drive unibody configurations during the 70’s. As a nod to Chrysler's L-cars (the Plymouth Horizon and the Dodge Omni), the platform was developed at first with a modest range of compact/mid-size sedans and wagons, which were the hot thing in the 1980’s, eventually taking over about 50 different models, including all-wheel drive variants. This played a vital and essential role in the comeback of Plymouth and Chrysler in the 1980’s.
(Another 1980's ad of a Plymouth from the K car model line up)
The use of a common platform (such as the K car itself) is often used for reducing the number of parts and engineering time when it comes to cars of all different makes and models. If they’re all from the same platform, they’re all going to come from similar parts; which makes tracking down parts easier and less expensive for consumers and car dealerships alike. Before the K platform, Chrysler was building vehicles from a small number of common platforms like F and L. However, there were very few common parts among the different models, which could make finding parts for cars difficult.
Due to the oil crisis of the 70’s, people were leery about getting cars that would guzzle gas or had smaller tanks. The K car alliance wanted to compete with Japanese cars when it came to gas mileage, speed, and price.
The K cars changed the automotive industry in the 1980’s for the better and are the reason that many car companies are more conscientious about their carbon footprint with gas today.
Chrysler has come a long way since the 1980’s, and we have many different makes on our lot at our Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram store! Right now, Chrysler mostly focuses on minivans, and Ram only does trucks, but Dodge and Jeep have a variety of makes and models! If we don’t have what you’re looking for, we can find it!
Swing in today- you never know, we could have a K car on the lot :)