Jack Tramiel, a hard-charging, cigar-chomping tycoon whose inexpensive, immensely popular Commodore computers helped ignite the personal computer industry the way Henry Ford’s Model T kick-started the mass production of automobiles, died Sunday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 83.

The cause was heart failure, his son Sam said.

Commodore rose to prominence in the 1970s and ’80s, producing the first computer to sell a million units. Another model, the Commodore 64, sold more than 20 million units — four times the sales of the Apple II, which is often said to have established the personal computer market. Sales of the 64 exceeded $1 billion.

Tramiel’s business model was ruthlessly efficient: He introduced a new product at the lowest price possible, and as the competition matched his price he went even lower. He did this by slashing costs, hiring top engineering talent, selling in mass-market stores like Kmart, and owning the suppliers of components. He changed directions in an instant, going so far as to introduce a new product even if it hurt sales of an existing one. He liked to say that business is war.

Tramiel’s boldness was suggested by a full-page newspaper advertisement he ran in 1983 when Commodore was flying highest: “Commodore Ate the Apple.”

In fact, Tramiel had so little use for Apple’s emphasis on design elegance and technical sophistication that Time magazine called him the “anti-Steve Jobs.” Tramiel wanted affordable, easy-to-use computers in every home; he spoke of serving “masses, not classes.”

In 1980 Commodore leapfrogged its competition by introducing the VIC 20, the first home computer selling for less than $300. Commodore manufactured 9,000 units a day, making it the first computer to sell more than a million units.

Tramiel introduced the Commodore 64 in 1982. It offered 64 kilobytes of memory compared with the 46 offered by the Apple II, and sold for half as much. The 64 had color graphics and was the first personal computer with an audio synthesizer chip.