When the second generation Imperial was introduced in 1931, the first generation was given minor updates and was called the Chrysler Six. In 1920, Mr. Chrysler, who was working at the request of the bankers to make Willys profitable, had auto engineers Owen Skelton, Carl Breer, and Fred Zeder begin work on a new car for Willys, which was often referred to as the Chrysler Six. When Willys encountered financial problems, Walter Chrysler and the three engineers who had been working on the Chrysler Six all moved on to Maxwell-Chalmers where they continued their work, ultimately launching the six-cylinder Chrysler in January 1924. (In 1925, the Maxwell car company became the Chrysler Corporation.)