The early 1980s Imperial was an attempt to reinvent the Imperial as a personal luxury car. This came about after Lee Iacocca took the helm at Chrysler, as he had been instrumental in creating the successful Lincoln Mark series for this market while he was at Ford in the late 1960s. Although the company was facing bankruptcy, Iacocca decided that "a new flagship would assure the public that Chrysler had a future." During the design of the car it was intended to be named Chrysler LaScala. However, when the car finally appeared, it was marketed simply as an Imperial, and the Chrysler name was not used.
For 1981, the top level sedan was the Chrysler New Yorker with the special "Fifth Avenue" trim package, introduced for 1979. The 1981 coupe was branded "Imperial" but with no model name, while the sedan was branded as "Chrysler."
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