Plymouth (make of car)

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The last emblem of the Plymouth brand: The “Sailboat Logo” from 1996 to 2001
Lettering on the radiator grille

Plymouth was an automobile brand founded in the United States and marketed by Chrysler Corporation and DaimlerChrysler from 1928 to 2001 .

Company history

successes

For most of their existence, Plymouth was one of the best-selling US automobile brands, competing with Chevrolet and Ford ("The Cheap Three"). Plymouth even surpassed Ford as the second largest automaker in the United States during the 1940s. Plymouth cars were known for their durability, affordability, and advanced engineering.

The 1960s and 1970s

In the early 1960s, Plymouth was losing market share very quickly. While the brand was a role model in terms of design from 1957 to 1958, the models from 1959 to 1962 had a shape that took some getting used to, which did not score well with the public.

From 1960 Plymouth was also in competition with its sister company Dodge when it presented the affordable Dodge Dart as a sister model of the Plymouth Valiant . For the remainder of the decade, Plymouth was ousted first by Rambler and then Pontiac as the third best-selling US car brand.

In 1965, the group partially regained its market share through increased production of full-fledged models that were above all adapted to the "mainstream". During the muscle car era, Plymouth was again able to celebrate great successes, models such as the Plymouth Barracuda or the Plymouth Road Runner are among the most famous and valuable muscle cars today. In 1971 and 1974, Plymouth again achieved the third best sales in the USA.

Due to the economic problems of the parent company Chrysler, Plymouth was on the verge of collapse in 1979. In the financially weak years, mainly renamed Dodge and Mitsubishi were sold under the name Plymouth. In 1979 the list mainly consisted of the domestically produced Volare and Horizon models and a number of Mitsubishi imports.

The end

By the 1990s at the latest, Plymouth had lost its identity. Eventually Plymouth reduced production so that it was no longer "full-line" production. Until the late 1990s, only four models were sold under the Plymouth label: the Voyager and Grand Voyager minivans , the Breeze mid-size sedan , the Neon compact car and the Prowler sports car . New models were increasingly sold as Dodge and Chrysler.

After the Eagle brand was discontinued in 1998 and before the merger with Daimler-Benz AG , Chrysler planned to expand the Plymouth line with a number of unique models. The first model was the Plymouth Prowler , followed by the PT cruiser . Both models shared a similar grille and showed that Chrysler intended to revive the Plymouth brand with a retro design. Except for the Prowler , however, at the time of the merger of Chrysler and Daimler-Benz, Plymouth had no unique products that were not also available as Dodge .

Since the Plymouth dealerships also sold Chrysler cars in addition to the Plymouth models, while many Dodge dealers only focused on the sale of Dodge cars, it seemed more costly to cease production of Dodge than to part with Plymouth. As a result, DaimlerChrysler decided to discontinue the brand after a limited run of 2001 models. The last new model to be sold under the Plymouth label was the second generation Neon in 2000 and 2001. The PT cruiser was eventually sold as a Chrysler, as was the Prowler .

Film fans will know a Plymouth model from John Carpenter's film Christine (based on a novel by Stephen King ). It is a Fury , model 1958, in red paint with a white roof. For reasons of procurement, however, the similar sister model Belvedere was mainly used for the shooting .

A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere , carefully preserved, was sunk on June 15, 1957 in the city of Tulsa / Oklahoma as a kind of time capsule in a bricked pit in front of the courthouse, which was then closed to give posterity an impression of the time. When the pit was opened exactly 50 years later, the car was found to be rotten: over the years, water had seeped in.

Plymouth models

Model year Models
1928 Model Q
1929 Model U
1930 Model 30U
1931 Model PA
1932 New Finer PB
1933 Model PC , Standard PCXX , Deluxe PD
1934 Standard Six PG , Six PF , Special Six PFXX , Deluxe PE
1935 Business Six PJ , Standard PJ , Deluxe PJ
1936 Business P1 , Deluxe P2
1937 Business P3 , Deluxe P4 , Commercial Car PT50
1938 Business P5 , Roadking P5 , Deluxe P6 , Commercial Car PT57
1939 Roadking P7 , Deluxe P8 , Commercial Car PT81
1940 Roadking P9 , Deluxe P10 , Commercial Car PT105
1941 Deluxe P11 , Deluxe P11D , Special Deluxe P12 , Commercial Car PT125
1942 Deluxe P14S , Special Deluxe P14C
1943-1945 no manufacturing
Timeline of Plymouth models from 1946 to 2001
Type 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1
Small car Cricket Horizon
TC3 Turismo
Champ / Colt
Compact class Arrow Sun Dance neon
Valiant Volaré Reliant
Middle class Belvedere Caravelle Acclaim Breeze
Satellite Fury Gran Fury
Full size (Special) Deluxe Concord Plaza Savoy
Cambridge Savoy Belvedere
Cranbrook Belvedere Fury Gran ... ... Fury
Sports car Duster Sapporo laser
Barracuda
Road runner Conquest Prowler
GTX
SUV Trail Duster
Pick up Arrow truck Scamp
Van Voyager
  • Based on the Talbot / Simca Horizon developed by Chrysler Europe
  • Renamed model from Mitsubishi
  • Based on a model by the Rootes group

    • Picture gallery

    • Plymouth Special DeLuxe (1941)

    • Plymouth Business Coupe (1948)

    • Plymouth Savoy (1956)

    • Plymouth Belvedere (1957)

    • Plymouth Barracuda (1966)

    • Plymouth GTX (1970)

    • Plymouth Valiant, Swedish police car (1974)

    • Plymouth Reliant (1987)

    Web links

    Commons : Plymouth Vehicles  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files