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Chrysler Corporation's K-car platform featured a solid beam rear axle, independent front suspensions with MacPherson struts, and front- or all-wheel drive. Tracing its lineage to Chrysler's prior L-cars, the Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni — the K platform gave rise to its original compact/mid-size sedans and wagons as well as a wide range of body styles, badge engineered variants and related platforms. The first cars to employ the K platform, the Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant, second generation Chrysler LeBaron, and Dodge 400 replaced Chrysler's nominally compact F-body Aspen and Volaré; and competed with intermediates including the Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Fairmont. Though externally closer to compacts, based on their passenger volume, the K-cars received EPA "midsize" designation, as with Chrysler's significantly larger and heavier M-body cars. Other K-platform vehicles followed, including the company's minivans and upscale Chrysler division models, which used the K platform with adaptations and modifications. The latter featured modified suspensions and were longer and heavier than the original K-cars, though all shared the essential platform architecture. ==Sales figures== Following the 1973 oil crisis, compounded by the 1979 energy crisis, American consumers began to buy fuel-efficient, low-cost automobiles built in Japan. With the market for large V-8 engined automobiles declining, American domestic auto manufacturers found themselves trying to develop compact vehicles that could compete with the Japanese imports of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan in price and finish. Chrysler Corporation's answer to the import pressure was the K platform, which featured an economical 4-cylinder engine, front-wheel drive, and used many modern weight-reducing measures such as replacing metal styling parts with plastic interior and exterior components. The K-cars (Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant, Chrysler LeBaron, Dodge 400, and, in Mexico, Dodge Dart) sold between 280,000 and 360,000 vehicles from 1981 to 1988, and over 100,000 in their final year, 1989. The manual transmission provided acceleration of in 10 seconds, while the automatic was between 13 and 14 seconds, similar to or better than most competitors, while fuel economy was rated by the EPA at city and highway with the manual transmission. All had a wheelbase. The overall length of the two- and four-door models was . The wagon was longer. The vehicles had an approximate fuel tank. The coupe and sedan had approximately of luggage space; the wagons, with the rear seat upright and about when folded down. Numerous improvements to the sound insulation and general feel were made in 1983; in 1985, the Reliant, Aries, and LeBaron received a facelift, with a rounded front fascia, smoother hood, and bigger taillights, accompanied by fuel injection on the 2.2-liter engine and a 2.5-liter engine replacing the arguably unreliable Mitsubishi 2.6 liter engine, which was notorious for leaking oil and attracted to the cars nicknames like "Mr. Squishy" or "Bitsumishi." They were initially very profitable, and Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca credited them with allowing the company to pay off its bankruptcy loans early.〔Iacocca, L:"Iacocca"〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chrysler K platform」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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