Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. These were the three large U.S. automotive companies. However, Chrysler was bought in 1998 by GermanyÂ’s Daimler-Benz in a $37 billion deal, which at that time was the largest ever takeover of a U.S. firm by a foreign company. The deal created DaimlerChrysler. Even though Chrysler is no longer independent, the term Big Three is still used.