Chrysler Cordoba History

The Cordoba launched for 1975 as Chrysler's first true mid-size personal-luxury car, arriving just as the segment was booming — and proved a sales success, with over 150,000 built in its debut year and around 183,000 in its 1977 peak.

It became inseparable from its advertising: actor Ricardo Montalbán pitching the car's 'soft' (later 'fine') 'Corinthian leather' — a marketing term coined for Chrysler, with no real connection to Corinth. The campaign made the Cordoba a pop-culture touchstone.

An unpopular 1980 redesign sapped its appeal, and the Cordoba was discontinued after the 1983 model year, sold across two generations over nine model years.