The Fox-owned Journalof wiley-watchers of the street at Broad and Wall are reporting today Chrysler's mulling over an interesting brand strategy:
"A plan now being discussed calls for Chrysler dealers to sell all of the auto maker's passenger cars under the Chrysler name. Dodge dealers would exclusively offer pickup and commercial trucks, while Jeep dealers would sell Jeep and sport-utility vehicles, according to three dealers familiar with the discussions."
Now wait, here's the fun part — and it should make any Mopar meatheads out there jump for joy:
Such a scenario would allow Chrysler to drop some of its overlapping products that essentially compete with one another, such as the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring, which are both midsize sedans but marketed under different names. Fewer products could also mean a reduction in dealers, which would weed out poor-performing dealerships that have excess inventory and resort to incentives that hurt profitability.
What? An end to platform prostitution? For serious? Now that'd be a real game-changer. [via WSJ]