CBS' Chrysler scoop: Coulda been a 'Cuda
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A story on "60 minutes" last week sent Chrysler watchers scurrying to a gearhead Web site to share a blockbuster bit of maybe-style news: The Barracuda might be back.
As a CBS correspondent interviewed Chrysler design chief Ralph Gilles, visible in the background was the roofline and tail of a saucy red coupe. On the Chrysler-centric Web site Allpar.com, posters speculated that the performance-type spoiler visible on the tail might belong to the much-rumored Barracuda, said to be based on the Dodge Challenger and headed for Chrysler's SRT lineup.
In January, Chrysler resurrected the 'Cuda name in trademark filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. But Gilles has declined comment when asked if a new version of the Plymouth muscle car, which was sold from the mid-1960s to the mid-'70s, was in the works.
It's all just a name game, since carryover content from a 40-year-old vehicle would be precisely ... zero. But the nostalgia game has worked for names such as Camaro and Challenger, so some car companies keep playing it.
Shown a screen capture of the coupe in question from the "60 Minutes" segment, a Chrysler spokesman said the car was "just one of the many concepts and projects in our studios. That one is a student model."
Yes, it could be a full-sized student design model sitting there in Chrysler's design dome, alongside all those production cars.
Or it could be an aggressive fish about to strike.
