Josh,
Yes, I'm afraid you may be right... if you look closely at advertising
lately, the Plymouth nameplate is getting less and less emphasis, with
Chrysler becoming more predominant.
I guess I don't personally understand the economics of deep-sixing a
nameplate with the high name recognition of Plymouth. You could certainly
re-badge any Kia-Geo-Johnny-Come-Lately car and nobody would be the wiser.
But Plymouth has a long and distinguished history as a solid, dependable car
that offered excellent bang for the buck.
I'd personally like to see new life blown into Plymouth. Dodge Division
has the performance related cars, Chrysler gets the luxury cars, let Plymouth
take the econo/value leader side of the house. It's an excellent pairing
with Chrysler. When was the last time you saw a Plymouth store without a
Chrysler franchise attached anyway? I'm sure that people a whole lot smarter
than me have figured out that the corporation will save more money than it
loses by having less offerings....
I do get a big kick out of seeing GM trying feverishly to establish
"brand identities" in one breath, then announce the new Cadillac 4X4 in the
next. ChryCo has had brand identity for decades.
Yes, it looks like the handwriting may be on the wall. The powers that
be may retire the Plymouth nameplate, much like DeSoto, AMC, Maxwell, and
countless others before.
But it will be a long time before Plymouth is forgotten (at least on my
street....). And I'll not give up hope until I hear the Fat Lady sing...
Steve Charette
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