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Chrysler news! The 2026-27 plans, the Centennial celebrations, and how we got to this point
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Jun 4, 2025
Chrysler’s past and future come together as we talk about Christine Feuell’s interview with the Freep and put it into context... it’s over a century since people started buying Chrysler cars now!
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this is Dave from Stell Power and Motel
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and in the background you might hear a
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cat whining that is the Tom Cat and I'm
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here to talk about Chrysler after the
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Detroit Free Press did an interview with
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Chrysler's leader Christine i believe
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that the name is pronounced Fuel i'm
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probably wrong saw Christine F and she
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was talking about the future of Chrysler
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and some changes to how the brand how
0:25
the mark would be defined because you
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know just a few years ago they are
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talking about Chrysler being an
0:31
all-electric brand and then they were
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saying that they would only start with
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800 volt vehicles for extra fast
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recharges and since 800vt vehicles at
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Stalantis were delayed by at least a
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year the anniversary of Chrysler cannot
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be celebrated on its anniversary in 2024
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instead they'll celebrate the 100th
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anniversary over 101 years after
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Chrysler came out after the first
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vehicle was made unveiled and sold in
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January
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1924 instead we're going to have the
1:02
anniversary in 1925 and today we learned
1:05
that they still won't have product ready
1:07
even though they delayed the anniversary
1:09
for a year again they also did it for
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the 90th anniversary they delayed it by
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a year keeping in mind this is Chrysler
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the mark not Chrysler Corporation that
1:19
they're celebrating so the 100th
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anniversary the 90th anniversary
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delaying a year so that we have product
1:24
to sell as we celebrate it i understand
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that it's a good marketing trick we
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we're 100 years old here's our special
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new car we don't have any for 2024 so
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we'll make it 2025 then we'll have a new
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car i'm just surprised that they're
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doing the anniversary celebrations in
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2025 because now we find out that the
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new vehicle is delayed until 2027 or so
1:46
it's for the new crossover there might
1:48
be a minivan refresh or there might not
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uh we're not sure about that that uh
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would have been due already or it would
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be due in 2026 we'll find out when it
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comes there is also supposed to be a new
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car coming out and that would probably
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be a version of the Charger but looking
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like a Chrysler uh you could argue the
2:09
Wagon Ear S should have been that
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vehicle because it's sure not a Jeep is
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it i mean it's got traction control fine
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select track uh but it's not really a
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Jeep the approach angle is too small the
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breakover angle is way too small there
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are no skid plates on the bottom as far
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as I know there's no trail rated version
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it's not an off-road Jeep it's an
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electric vehicle that has the Jeep name
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on it and a Jeep grill on it so really
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that's kind of the Chrysler version
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because it's a more luxury oriented
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version of the electric car than the
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Dodge Charger is although the Charger
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and the Wagon Ear S have an awful lot in
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common where does Chrysler fit these
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days well it's not the electric car
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brand anymore uh that's been jettisoned
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and now it's going to come out with a
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gasoline hybrid version of the crossover
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first before maybe possibly probably not
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doing an electric version of it it It's
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kind of interesting chrysler's been
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repositioned almost constantly since it
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came out in 1924 and at that point
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Walter Chrysler had positioned it
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against Buick the price ranges were very
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similar a lot of things between the
3:19
Chrysler and the Buick were very similar
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they were aimed at the same market
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except that the Chrysler was much more
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technologically sophisticated over time
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Chrysler then added the Imperial to try
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to get more towards the Cadillac range
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and maybe yes compete with Packard a bit
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but then he also took the Maxwell took
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the Maxwell name off of it slapped on
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the Chrysler name and sold that as the
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Chrysler 52 uh the branding was all over
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the map back then it's all over the map
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back right now except that today it
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takes years for any change to take
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effect and back then the changes were
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pretty darn quick so 1926 you have the
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Chrysler 52 1928 no oops now it's a
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Plymouth ironically of course the year
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that the uh Maxwell became a Plymouth
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instead of a Chrysler is also the year
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it got hydraulic brakes which was until
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the Chrysler four-cylinders came out the
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hallmark of the Chrysler was their great
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engine which was much more powerful than
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others at the time for its size and uh
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the uh hydraulic brakes were another key
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factor but this is 2025 so Chrysler is
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going to celebrate their anniversary
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with an exclusive event for favored
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writers and uh favored influencers
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presumably anywh who so where what where
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is Chrysler going from here is there
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going to be a Chrysler it's really hard
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to know what they're planning what
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they're doing i mean Buick today is a
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slightly more upscale Chevrolet which is
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traditionally where Chrysler has been
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for se for decades and decades and
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decades you know through the 50s and
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early 60s the Chrysler was very similar
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to the Dodge but it was bigger and
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started with a bigger engine and ended
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with a bigger engine and then they
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started sharing the bottom Chrysler with
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the top Dodge that happened quite some
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time ago you know that's been going on
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for ages but then they started
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standardizing the engine uh they
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basically said "Okay it's the same for
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everybody with rare exceptions." And
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then you had the Cordoba which was a
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fancy B-body Plymouth separated by trim
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and sound insulation from the Plymouth
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but from the Dodge uh the Charger that
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they came out with they called it the
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Charger SE there was really no
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difference between the Charger SE and
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the Chrysler Cordoba and that started
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the pattern that went on through the
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years uh it was the bestselling Chrysler
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by far partly because of price partly
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because it was the right car for the day
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then you had in the 80s Leaka decided
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that he would separate out Plymouth by
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restricting its range dramatically
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chrysler would take up where Plymouth
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left off which made sense to a large
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degree because Chrysler and Plymouth
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were sold at the same dealers that made
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no sense but it was done in the
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depression and nobody ever changed it
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and by the time that they got that they
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realized probably that they should
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change it they couldn't because the
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Chrysler dealers would have risen up and
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sued them because they were mainly
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volume was mainly Plymouth where do you
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get your imperial fixed well you get it
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fixed at the Plymouth dealer where do
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you buy your Imperial at the Plymouth
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dealer who can take a Plymouth ser who
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can take a luxury car seriously when you
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buy it at the value brand dealer with
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all that that implies they they
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invariably had the same showrooms and
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the same service bays and the same
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people handling Chrysler Imperial and
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Plymouth it made no sense at all because
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you would get a Plymouth experience when
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you bought your hideously expensive
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Imperial and you can hear the complaints
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in the background even the cat knows
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that that was a bad idea and then Dodge
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of course their dealers figured that
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they needed a full line of everything
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Chrysler and Plymouth had except for the
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top cars which didn't sell at all anyway
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because that was the nature of Dodge
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dealers mostly uh they kind of forgot
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that they sold trucks and vans which
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were exclusive to Dodge well the trucks
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were the vans plymouth sometimes sold
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vans but they usually didn't sell as
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well people expected to go to a Dodge
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dealer for trucks and vans so that's
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where they went it was difficult for
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Chrysler and Imperial imperial died
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first they starve Plymouth so much that
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Plymouth uh sales started actually
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dropping below Chrysler and at that
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point they decided to get rid of
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Plymouth entirely which would have made
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some sense if they had consolidated
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dealerships then consoled Chrysler
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dealers with the Dodge franchise and
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moved all the Plymouths to Dodge which
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wouldn't take a whole lot of movement
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because all that Plymouth had that was
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unique at that time was the upcoming PT
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Cruiser and the Prowler Dodge Prowler
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might not have made much sense but that
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card served its purpose it told Chrysler
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how to work with aluminum which was the
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car's real goal it had been also
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supposed to test the waters for making
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retroos and that was supposed to be
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Plymouth's new identity forget about
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value brand that doesn't mean anything
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forget about separation by having a
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weaker engine now we would separate
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Plymouth by making it retromod and so
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the PT Cruiser was the first true test
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after the Prowler prowler tested the
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styling and it would have been followed
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by the same treatment for the Plymouth
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Voyager by the time that it was really
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ready the decision to cancel Plymouth
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had been made and so they did a odd
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thing then they assigned the Plymouths
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to Chrysler so that Chrysler dealers
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wouldn't sue them for dropping Plymouth
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you got a Chrysler Voyager that was a
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bottom-end car you got the PT Cruiser
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for Chrysler that was really too
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inexpensive and too small for Chrysler
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and you got a base model of the Chrysler
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Sebring and you got the Chrysler Prowler
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which made as much sense as a Dodge
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Prowler and so Chrysler became the
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people mover brand as later leaders of
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Chrysler would call
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it and it was not really differentiated
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from Dodge very well although it was
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still Dodge Sporty Chrysler Luxury
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Chrysler Comfort Dodge Sporty and that
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worked until the 2008 minivans when they
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both had the same tuning and the same
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engines so now it was Chrysler and Dodge
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identical so what they did there it's
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the only vehicle I know of where they
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did this they had Dodge at the entry
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levels and then Chrysler took up for the
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premium levels and that actually made
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some sense that's the way Dodge and
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Chrysler were supposed to work and had
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historically worked but they didn't keep
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it up and the Seabbring Avenger were not
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separated that way so Chrysler kind of
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was wandering in the wilderness because
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they killed off Plymouth and Chrysler
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did not have a unique place to be
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meanwhile Dodge became the muscle car
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brand all about Hemis and tire smoke and
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that probably wasn't a great idea and
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Dodge got there much the same way as
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Chrysler got to be the everyman car at
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Chrysler Corp at at former Chrysler
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Corporation just kept on killing Dodges
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until all that was left was the muscle
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cars so they killed off the uh Avenger
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they killed off the Caravan admittedly
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well past its sell by date and that left
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the uh Challenger the Charger the
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Durango known for its V8s and then they
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threw in the Hornet but I don't think
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anybody really takes the Hornet too
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seriously so Dodge got its own little
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niche a niche that could go away at any
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moment you never know so that's where we
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are now chrysler has an identity that is
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largely built around or not
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Dodge what's their one vehicle well as
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we celebrate the 100th anniversary it's
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the modern although outdated Chrysler
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Pacifica minivan that's been out really
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too long without having a major uh
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upgrade then you've also got the Voyager
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in the US and the Caravan in Canada uh
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they count those as separate models we
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all know that they're not separate
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models they they say Chrysler has four
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models it's got one it's the Pacifica
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doesn't matter how many names you slap
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on it it's still the Pacifica it doesn't
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change very much from model to model so
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that's where we are with Chrysler today
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is they're talking about new models
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they're talking about a new identity for
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it what will that identity be the
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Houseion came out that was the concept
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car it's clearly a concept car it's
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clearly not a practical car and it seems
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to date back to the Dodge M4S concept
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from years back and to the Wraith car in
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its basic styling but it's much more
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advanced and evolved from that we don't
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know where it's going but the good news
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is that we're pretty sure it is going
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somewhere because that is what we have
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been told as of today is that Chrysler
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is not being dropped and Antonio Felosa
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the head of Stalantis
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uh actually wrote to Walter Roads the
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great grandson of Walter Chrysler and
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told him "Chrysler is not going anywhere
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we're going to keep Chrysler we value
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Chrysler." So that's the good news
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anyway I'll see you soon thank you for
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listening to me and thank you for
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letting me give this little history
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lesson and an update on where we are
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today hey guess what you don't have to
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listen to my awful voice to get
12:41
information out of me you can actually
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read it in this great book Century of
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Chrysler which I wrote specifically to
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cover a 100red years of Chrysler from
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1924 to yes 2025 and at this rate 2026
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it's at Amazon there's a copy at Apple
12:59
Books there's also an old text version
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that you can get on Amazon and a hard
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cover if you really like your books to
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look nice i would be remiss if I did not
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point out that I also have a history of
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Chrysler minivans called Mopar minivans
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also sold as the rise and reinvention of
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Chrysler minivans and the great thing
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about that book is it has all sorts of
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stories from the guys who are involved
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in designing and making the vehicles
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themselves so it it is a book that has
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lots of stories and I also have a book
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on all the generations of the Dodge
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Viper that's available via Valuchcci
13:37
books or on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble
13:40
and I have a book on all sorts of Jeeps
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if you want to see all of them together
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go to my website dave.z
13:48
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