Re: IML: '80s & '90s Imperials

A big factor in lack of success for the early '90s car was the unflattering reports from the then popular automotive magazines. There may have been some favorable reports, but Motor Trend, for example, named the 1990 Lincoln Town Car the Car of the Year. That report was taken very seriously by many potential buyers of those cars. In it, the Imperial was criticized as a competitior in name only. Lincoln and FMC in general made the most of this. 1990 was a very good year for Lincoln, and not particularly so for Cadillac or Imperial.

The 1980 car was introduced at a time when people were expecting Chrysler to go broke. There was a huge amount of publicity over the bail out, which kept a lot of luxury car buyers, and otherwise loyal owner's from taking a chance on them. There were still a lot of luxury car buyers in the early 1980's that were not pleased about the downsizing of their marques across the board, although at that time Cadillac had a pretty good following. This was in spite of the flap over their V4-6-8 technology, the failure of the 350 Diesel, and the bad publicity over installing Oldsmobile V-8s in their cars. Contemporary Lincolns weren't big sellers until the middle to late 1980's. This seemed to be due to the new closed end lease programs which ran thousands of their cars through the rental car business for a few thousand miles before making t hem available for public purchase at heavily discounted prices. Cadillac's position diminished during this time, while Lincoln sales built up to its 1990 peak.

> From: "anthony romano" <mamrom@msn.com>
> Subject: IML: CHRYSLER IMPERIAL 81-83 & 90- 93-=WHY??
>
> Hello! Help me to understand why the "Comeback" of the 80's and the 90's
> Imperials never took off as a sort after car? In my opinion, the cars
> had the edge in style and engineering. Both cars were ahead of its time
> with amentias. So with all this, was it a marketing blunder or was it
> only intended to make a "Cameo" appearance for those years.

I'm not sure why the '80s cars performed poorly in the market. Perhaps people were still looking for _big_ luxury cars? Personal-luxury vehicles have always had a rocky sales history, look at the new T-Bird, or the Caddy Allante, or Buick Reatta.
In the early '90s, Chrysler had a terrible reputation, and the platform was heavily derivative. I expect a lot of people just never tried them, and thus never learned about the features our '90s club members admire so much.

> It makes
> you think that the new Imperial concept car might have the same fate,
> unless Chrysler really intends to resurrected permanently as to compete
> with the ever growing Luxury market. Let's face it, back in the day
> Imperial had only two rivals to compete with, unlike today fierce
> competition.
>
> Your Thoughts Appreciated!

It could happen, though Chrysler hasn't had many sales failures lately - they seem to have their fingers firmly on the 'market pulse' these days.
-Kle.
'69 Crown 4DHT

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