Big Three (automobile manufacturers) in the context of "Chrysler"

American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.

American Motors' most similar competitors were those automakers that held similar annual sales levels, such as Studebaker, Packard, Kaiser Motors, and Willys-Overland. Their largest competitors were the Big Three—Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler.

Beginning in the latter half of 2008, a global-scale recession adversely affected the economy of the United States. A combination of several years of declining automobile sales and scarce availability of credit led to a more widespread crisis in the United States auto industry in the years of 2008 and 2009.

Following dramatic drops in automobile sales throughout 2008, two of the "Big Three" U.S. automakers – General Motors (GM), and Chrysler – requested emergency loans in order to address impending cash shortages. By April 2009, the situation had worsened such that both GM and Chrysler were faced with imminent bankruptcy and liquidation. With the intent to prevent massive job losses and destabilizing damage to the entire manufacturing sector, the U.S. and Canadian governments provided unprecedented financial bailout ($85 billion) support to allow the companies to restructure and jettison legacy debt via Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Both companies separately filed for this protection by June 1.