History of Plymouth

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These problems were due to both a line of poorly styled cars in 1960–1962 that did not strike the public's fancy, and infiltration into its price territory by Plymouth's sister line, Dodge.

Plymouth regained some success in the early 1970s primarily with its popular Valiant and Duster compact models but, as a brand, Plymouth never fully recovered from Chrysler's financial woes of the late 1970s. Marketing decisions had also reduced the Plymouth lineup so that it was no longer a full-line make. New models were increasingly given to the Dodge and Chrysler brands, and denied to Plymouth. By 1979, its lineup consisted of only the domestically produced Volare and Horizon models, and a number of rebadged Mitsubishi imports.

Chrysler was planning on expanding the Plymouth line with unique models before the corporation's acquisition by Daimler-Benz AG. The first model was the Plymouth Prowler, a modern-day hot rod. The PT Cruiser was to have been the second model. Both models had a similar grille, showing that Chrysler was intending to take a retro route with the Plymouth brand. Other than the Prowler at the time of the takeover, Plymouth had no unique products that were not also available in the Dodge line. Furthermore, whereas all Plymouth dealers also sold the Chrysler line of cars, many Dodge dealers sold only Dodge; thus it would cause much more dealer disarray to discontinue Dodge than it would to discontinue Plymouth. Consequently, DaimlerChrysler decided to drop the make after a limited run of 2001 models. The PT Cruiser was ultimately launched as a Chrysler, and the Prowler line was absorbed into that make as well. The Plymouth Voyager was also absorbed into the Chrysler make.