Editing Chalmers Automobile (section)

=== Peak sales ===

Chalmers's best year was 1911 when it became the number eight auto producer in the U.S.{{R|lost}} The high point in sales was in 1911 when Chalmers sold 6,250 cars.{{R|history2}}  Chalmers shareholders also did well.{{R|history2}} [[Preferred stock]] dividends paid out 7% per year and the [[common stock]] paid 2.5% annually.{{R|history2}}

Beginning in 1912, sales of Chalmers fell.{{R|history2}}  Hugh Chalmers created [[Saxon Motor Car Company|Saxon Motors]] in 1913. From 1908 until 1913, the Chalmers Model 30's design remained unchanged, even as its price climbed past $2,000 per unit.{{R|Chrysler}} Despite this, Chalmers was the ninth-largest vehicle manufacturer in the United States in 1910, with 6,350 cars sold.{{R|Chrysler}}

By 1915 the auto-business was changing and became more competitive.{{R|fall}} The Chalmers survival was always at risk with over 250 automakers in the U.S.{{R|fall}}

Before World War I, the automobile economy was booming, but sales of Chalmers' cars were declining.{{R|fall}}

In 1915, the Chalmers Motor Company produced 9,833 automobiles before being renamed the Chalmers Motor Car Corporation.{{R|Chrysler}} Hugh Chalmers was a superb salesman, but once Roy Chapin and his partners defected to Hudson, he could not attract and retain skilled, active engineers and manufacturing employees.{{R|Chrysler}}

In November 1915, Chalmers presented his 1916 models to his dealers and sold 13,000 automobiles worth $22 million in less than an hour.{{R|Chrysler}}

By the end of 1915, the company had over $8 million in real estate and machinery and employed between 7,000 and 8,000 people.{{R|Chrysler}} According to one publication, Chalmers earned more than $1 million in 1915.{{R|Chrysler}}

Because it was a low-volume, high-cost manufacturer, the Chalmers Motor Company struggled to stay afloat.{{R|Chrysler}} In 1910–1914, the company produced about 6,200 vehicles per year, then boosted production to 9,833 units in 1915 and 21,408 cars in 1916.{{R|Chrysler}}

In 1916, Chalmers set up a Canadian factory in [[Walkerville, Ontario|Walkerville]] (Windsor), Ontario.{{R|Zatz}}
At first, engines were manufactured by three outside suppliers, but Chalmers brought later engine manufacturing in-house.{{R|history2}} An advantage of the new Chalmers plant was its self-sufficiency.{{R|history2}}

The plant had a foundry to make engines, transmissions, axles, nuts, and bolts{{R|history2}}
Chalmers wanted to make as many parts in-house and only bought specialized parts like sparkplugs and tires from outside suppliers.{{R|history2}}

Hugh Chalmers proposed in May 1916 that the corporation boost production to 60,000 automobiles per year while lowering prices or raising prices while lowering output.{{R|Chrysler}} The actual results attained in 1916 demonstrate the company's issues.{{R|Chrysler}} In the first half of the year, the Chalmers factory increased production, and the sales department supplied automobiles to dealers regardless of demand.{{R|Chrysler}} As a result, a year's worth of cars was on hand at Chalmers distributors in Dallas and Omaha.{{R|Chrysler}} Nevertheless, Hugh Chalmers was obliged to reduce production from 15,659 automobiles in the first half of 1916 to only 5,749 in the second.{{R|Chrysler}} As a result, Chalmers remained a struggling automotive manufacturer with extra plant capacity from 1910 to 1917.{{R|Chrysler}}

The company's finances improved in mid-1916 with better engine performance and improved body design, and the company moved from 14th to 12th place, but by late 1916 the company was close to bankruptcy.{{R|fall}}