From Automotive News....


DETROIT -- Chrysler group CEO Dieter Zetsche told the Detroit News in a report published Monday that the automaker could introduce a new youth-oriented brand in the next two to three years.

 

More...

http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosins...a01-222586.htm

 

Oooooooohhhhhhh........dont know about that.

Think of how some cars have the boy-racer image. Most adults wont touch these cars just based on that fact. This "brand" wouldnt be able to attract a crowd that actually has money.

 

Has toyota become successful enough with their Scion brand that they're now being emulated?

It's sad that a manufacturer has to put a different name on cars to be able to market them to seperate crowds.

Tells you how much of today's youth market actually looks at the substance of a car rather than just the image it projects.

 

 

Wonder if there is any connection to Smart. Or Hyundai.

And is Plymouth....completely dead.

 

This would be the perfect way to bring back Plymouth, don't you think?

(Dreaming, but...) Perhaps this could be a way to bring Oldsmobile back if these ventures pay off?

 

If they do this, I really doubt they'd even consider "Plymouth".

It just doesn't have a "youth" vibe to it... at all.

 

No more youth brands. Lutz said it right (one thing I agree with him on lately)... "Kids want the same things we do, they just cant afford it."

Big brick looking cars are not attractive, mini suv's that I can take a hose to the inside do not make me excited, non-body matching cladding isnt cool. If you want to make a car aimed at the youth, make it look a little agressive and stick a turbocharger on it.

 

Very well said.

What is the actual average age of the drivers (not owners) of the "youth brands" or "youth oriented" vehicles of today? Probably well above the the high end of the projections of the manufacturers when they were building the concepts.

At least around here there are not too many young people driving around in Element's or Scions. :blah:

TS

 

No, it should get another name. No is saying anything about that name though. Some people think Eagle would be a better name then Plymouth.

 

Ironically, Plymouth was a "Youth" brand in the 60's - sorta...

They did have:

Roadrunners (complete with looney tunes logo and beep beep horn!)
Super Bee's
Dusters (w/ TAZ)
'Cudas

and they had all those weird colors...

 

Exactly, but the SRT-4 is pretty popular at crusins with kiddies my age (21ish). Why? Its not over the top gaudy but its fast and looks agressive. I think the Cobalt SS will do good because this, too.

 

It's kinda funny that the word youth is in the Plymouth.

 

Plymouth wasn't so much the Youth brand as it was the Cheap brand of Chrysler. Rumors are running amuck of what it will be called, but the insiders are possitive that it won't be called Plymouth