--- van Hoy <vanhilla@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> This month's picture on thre National DeSoto Club
> calendar is a 1955 DeSoto Diplomat convertible.
> Wow, what an ugly grille application! For those of
> you familiar with DeSoto "teeth," picture not seven
> '55 DeSoto teeth but eleven! To make it fit
> there's an oddly shaped headlight door/grille
> reveal. One nice touch, it's one color and has half
> the SportTone trim, which looks good.
>
> Why did Chrysler Corp. go to such lengths to change
> the looks of their export cars?
The whole idea behind the Diplomat (and Dodge
Kingsway, and the Plodges sold by Canadian
Dodge/DeSoto dealers) was to provide Plymouth-priced
cars to their non-US dealers without giving all
dealers Plymouth franchises as had been the case in
the US. Even back then, for whatever reason, there
were a number of countries where the Plymouth name was
meaningless (in fact, classified ads in British
magazines of the era such as Motor and Autocar
regularly referred to them as "Chrysler Plymouths", as
if Plymouth was a low-priced Chrysler series rather
than a separate make).
The export stuff also served the purpose of expanding
market penetration for the make whose name they
carried, something of a big deal in countries where
American cars were expensive. It's my understanding
that Dodge and DeSoto had much greater name
recognition than Chrysler or Plymouth did overseas.
This wouldn't have been the case if these dealers had
followed the US lead and sold undisguised Plymouths.
These comments also apply to export market Fargo and
DeSoto trucks, which were usually rebadged Dodge
trucks sold by non-US Chry-Ply and DeSoto dealers
respectively.
This also made for situations where these makes were
more popular in relation to their individual markets
than they had been in the US. Chrysler South Africa is
known to have offered a rebadged '62 Dodge Lancer
under the name "DeSoto Rebel", and may have offered
other '62 Dodges under the DeSoto name as well, while
Turkey's Chrysler Kamyon Ymalat continues to offer
trucks under the Dodge, Fargo and DeSoto brand names
to this day...
=====
Mike Sealey, San Francisco CA
'57 Plymouth Sport Suburban
(coming soon!)
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