Looking at that article, I couldn't help but think of the movie Tommy Boy, when Zalinsky tells Tommy he doesn't want to buy the Callahan factory, just the name and reputation. Same deal here. The name Barracuda sounds "bad" and invokes memories of the real 'Cudas. Slap it on a modern POS and they think people will rush to buy it for sentimental reasons. Same deal with the Dart and Charger.
What's interesting with the Charger was I was working for Ford in 2004 when the new "old" Mustang was being developed and readied for market. The pre-sale activity was just unbelievable, and this was all happening right after Chevy had shut down production of the Camaro due to their feeling a market no longer existed for mid-range performance cars.
So, Ford rolls out a retro-styled Mustang with decent performance, and the consumer base goes bezerk. People are paying two and three times MSRP in dealer premiums to get their hands on one while The Next Big Things "performance" sedans from GM and Chrysler are sitting on the lots collecting dust. All of a sudden, out of the blue, Chrysler announces they're releasing a new Charger... that looks nothing like a Charger, and it shouldn't because it was meant to be a Thunder, or Shaker, or whatever goofy name Chrysler had on it before the retro frenzy hit. At least GM had the decency to wait a few years and design a car that had some Camaro styling cues before releasing their retro machine.
And now we have Chrysler finally realizing, well after the fact, that they might sell more Chargers if the car actually looks like a Charger. One would think they would have learned from the success of the Challenger relaunch that making a new car look like its older counterpart is what really drives retro sales, but between the new Dart and this 'Cuda POS, I guess they've gone back to the Ray Zalinsky business model of buying a name and reputation and slapping it on a cheap piece of crap.
