I agree with everything in your post. Expecting a car company to sell you a primer-only car is ridiculous, auto makers will not go out of business (only the american ones will ), etc. But, allow me to play devil's advocate for your point about colors.

The harsh reality is that, while a company should please its customers or risk losing them, it only has to please them better than the competition does. It's sort of a variation on the old joke "I don't have to outrun the tiger, I only have to outrun YOU." If Dodge doesn't offer Sublime, how many sales will it lose to Ford or Chevy? Not many. If you prefer the Challenger you'll buy it in another color rather than buying from the competition.

That said, do we really need two shades of red or two shades of gray? Are there buyers out there thinking "I wanted a Challenger, but its got to be Titanium. If I have to choose silver or black then I'll just get a Camaro instead."? If your marketing strategy is based on "if they like our car better than the competition, they'll buy it regardless of color", then why not go the Henry Ford route of "any color, as long as it's black?"

If they take away Silver and Dark Red and substitute Plum Crazy and Sublime are the Police Departments and bank VPs going to be affected? i doubt it.

PS: I'm offering up my ox to be gored here. At present, Dark Red is my choice and I'm not interested in Plum Crazy or Sublime. But I'll switch to Black or Silver if it'll get more happy Challenger drivers on the road.

And anybody who wants Panther Pink is on their own!