Kaiser-Frazer
The company was founded on 25 July 1945, and in 1946 Kaiser-Frazer displayed prototypes of their two new cars at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
Henry Kaiser had no automotive marketing experience, but Joseph Frazer had held positions with Packard, GM, Chrysler, and Willys-Overland.
By 1956, Willys Motors built only utility vehicles, many for export, and was turning a healthy profit as a company 100% owned by Kaiser Industries Corporation.
K-F also had manufacturing facilities in Jefferson MI; Long Beach CA; Portland OR; Leaside, Ontario, Canada; Haifa, Israel; Kawasaki, Japan;[2] Mexico City and Rotterdam (known as "Nekaf", for Nederlandse Kaiser-Frazer fabrieken).
U.S. production was concentrated at Toledo, Ohio, upon the purchase of Willys-Overland starting in 1953; the Willow Run facility was sold to General Motors after GM suffered a disastrous fire at their Livonia, Michigan, Hydramatic automatic transmission plant and needed a facility quickly to resume production.
Other partners in IKA included the government-owned vehicle manufacturer Industrias Aeronáuticas y Mecánicas del Estado (IAME) and private investors.
In August, Kaiser applied for and received an import license to bring in 1,021 completed cars, manufacturing equipment and spare parts from the US.
Many have questioned the wisdom of building IKA automobile factory in remote Santa Isabel which was far from ports and transportation hubs but the primary reason is that Córdoba was General San Martín's home province and he had a close, influential relationship with President Juan Perón.
Built until the early 1980s, the Torino was based on the 1964 Rambler American 2-door hardtop and 4-door sedan, but had its own engine, front and rear end styling, and a more European-styled interior.
By the end of the 1950s, the operation was known as Kaiser-Ilin, named after Efraim Ilin, the Israeli entrepreneur who had negotiated the Haifa plant deal with Hickman Price Jr., the nephew of Joseph P. Frazer.
In 1959, Kaiser-Ilin reached an agreement to assemble six-cylinder Studebaker Larks in Haifa, to help potential buyers bypass stiff Israeli duties on imported vehicles.
Earlier that year, the Kaiser-Frazer plant at Haifa laid off 400 workers and suspended operations for two weeks because of a lack of parts.
NEKAF assembled 6,000 1949 Kaiser knock-down kits imported from the US using some local content (batteries, tires, interior, carpets, glass) and ignition and electrical system parts from France and Great Britain.
US-built Jeep vehicles were imported into The Netherlands by S.A. Ateliers de La Dyle under an agreement with Willys Overland.
In a bid to reduce the costs, the Ministry of War, having invested already in clothing for the crews, ordered the cabin heaters to be deleted.
This modification entailed considerable redesign of the engine cooling unit which eventually led to increased cost of the vehicles (some 12,000 Dutch guilders each).
