ORIGINAL: awsure
Here's the problem with resurrecting Plymouth...you need more than 1 model to do that don't you? You would need to develop at lease 6-8 vehicles to warrant that I would think. That is a large undertaking.
Question for you...so what if the Cuda was the more economic model historically? Today is a new day and you can do anything you want. Also, why would it cut into production numbers? We are only talking 50,000 Challengers per year at this point. Brampton could handle additional units easily and there are CONSTANT shifts in market demand. Who knows what the production mix in 2-3 years will look like. The beauty of the Dodge process is the flexibility of a common platform will allow very nimble adjustments in productions (by comparison to a traditional mfg. process).
No offense but I think that Plymouth could remain dead and the Cuda could be released as a Dodge. Maybe you could explain your rational. I am by no means a car manufacturing expert but I have been in sales & marketing for more than 15 years and I view the decision as a marketing one really.
Definitely a fun topic to ponder.
I'd be happy to explain. It depends on your goals. I can't image it would be that difficult to name one car Plymouth to satisfy the fans if that was all. The other thing is I think that Chrysler needs Plymouth again. Chrysler is trying to juggle being luxury, performance, import fighting, and discount all at the same time and this is causing them some image problems. Some people will not consider their more premium models because of the cheaper impact of Chrysler's luxury image. Chrysler has lost almost all of its luxury image to where they are being used to compare against Fords and Chevrolet! That isn't a good sign at all. They shouldn't be used to compete against anything lower than Buicks or Mercury models let alone the discount models. Chrysler needs to stop making cheap models (non-C versions of the 300, levels below the Limited on the Sebring, etc.) because Chrysler is supposed to be the entry-level luxury to luxury level of Chrysler Group (I hope to be able to drop the second word in that name soon).
The reason why the Cuda should remain as the cost effective model is that performance enthusasts (pardon my spelling) are very easy to upset. If you change the marketing and product placement, you will upset them. Also the Challenger is quite a premium model over the Mustang and Camaro by offering some really neat features such as the system that calculates the acceleration times and so forth. Many here have expressed concern over the price and the only way I can see to solve this problem is to offer a model without some of the extra features that most people don't care about and just want a simple car, which was Plymouth's marketing strategy, to allow them to lower the price. The Cuda shouldn't have leather come standard, it should be optional, it should be the bargin fighter so then Chrysler doesn't lose sales to Ford and GM because of pricing.
My reasoning on how it would cut into the Challenger's production numbers is the Challenger is being limited to 50,000 if I'm not mistaken. If Chrysler is going to limit the production of the Challenger to this, the Cuda versions would cut down on this even more if it is a special version of the Challenger as the Daytona is to the Charger. If the Challenger is being limited to 50,000 units, it would be the perfect opportunity to utilize the rest of the production potential for a separate model because the demand will be considerable for the Cuda as well. Having them both limited to 50,000 units will limit both of them. I also don't think they should sell both of them under Dodge. It does not make sense to sell two of the exact same cars just with a different grille under the same division. If it did, Chrysler would be the only name plate (I pray that never happens).