Brand revival has become a hot trend in the automotive industry, but while European marques like MINI, Maybach, Bugatti and Spyker have returned to the limelight, American automakers have yet to climb on board. According to this Brandjunkie survey conducted by Interbrand's website brandchannel.com, the public most wants to see the retired American auto marques Oldsmobile and Studebaker revived. The gone-but-not-forgotten car brands follow names like Pan Am and Atari on the list, which also happened to include the retired Chrysler division Plymouth.Elsewhere in the survey, respondents answered that BMW would make a great dinner party guest; Ford and Toyota have made a significant impact on the course of history; GM and Ford deserve a good tongue lashing in an argument; BMW, Toyota, Mercedes or Volkswagen would be good brands to be if one could be a brand; BMW, Mercedes and Toyota inspire people; GM, BMW and Mercedes need to be rebranded; and Toyota, Honda, GM and BMW are truly "green" brands. Outside the auto industry, Apple is apparently the best brand ever created, as it nabbed the No. 1 survey spot in most questions.
[Source: brandchannel.com via NYTimes Wheels]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
pmalloy4391 @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:45PM
personally i think plymouth should come back and be used as the "rental" devision
this would in essence limit production of chevy/pontiac models and therefore keep their residual values higher than currently
im not an economist but im fairly sure this is what would happen
Anti-believer @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:49PM
Come back for what?
The market is already saturated!
Plymouth come back as rental??? What to sale Chryslers? Just got to Budget. Stupid.
pmalloy4391 @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:06PM
im saying rather than saturating the market with cheep dodges and chryslers, use the plymouth brand to go to the rental places. im pretty sure that would ensure that resale values of customers chryslers and dodges would remain a little bit higher. I could be missing things but from everything i read, the problem with resale values of the cars have to do with the fact that there is way more (due to rentals)
Cornholio @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:50PM
The last thing GM, or anyone, needs is for Oldsmobile to come back to life. GM needs to keep killing brands....
Of course, this is just some silly survey designed to capture media attention as "news".
Tragedy @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:53PM
Oldsmobile just died. Let a few generations pass, then dream about its revival. Oldsmobile, like the rest of Generic Motors, sucks.
easyrider425 @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:05PM
Wait a minute Toyota inspires people??
almost Dr. G.. @ Apr 4th 2008 7:48AM
and bmw's are green???
napkindoodle @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:25PM
Oh my, these surveys really make me lose faith in the intelligence of some groups of people - how could GM be a truly 'green' brand? Those GM green Suburban SUVs must've worked :rolls eyes:
The Luigiian @ Apr 4th 2008 1:36AM
What made me lose faith is when they mentioned Atari as a brand they'd like to see come back. People, Atari still exists. It still makes games. Its games are terrible, sure, but they're out there.
I guess they think my brand-new Compaq PC doesn't exist either.
Also, I can't believe the top-rated brands. The public would most like to be Nike? As in, the sweatshop "hey how cheap can we make shoes" company?!
One last thing: LOL at Barack Obama's on the list. One year in public and they're already calling him a "brand".
*facepalm*
elprogramer @ Apr 4th 2008 3:45AM
How could any manufacturing company be "green", let alone a producer of a machine that causes pollution?
Frank @ Apr 4th 2008 8:00AM
napkindoodle,
These same people will be voting for our next president.
elprogramer,
Ask Toyota. They make what, 8 or so pickups/SUV's but the general public thinks they're green primarily based on *one* car.
Miguel @ Apr 4th 2008 6:11PM
@Luigiian
I am so sick of hearing this tired cliche about Nike. It's not true. http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/
In the mid-90's, the brand caught an excessive amount of flack for it. The truth is, that t-shirt you bought from Macy's along with that t-shirt someone else bought from Wal-Mart are both made for ridiculously cheap labor to produce excessive revenue. What, a company's out to make money? Who knew!?
Esprit bird @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:35PM
No way they would bring those brands back...Plymouth edition Chrysler Cuda maybe with the challenger body...a Hurst/Olds or a 442 from the Camaro body just for collectors sake...anything else? a waste, and this is coming from a proud owner of a Aura 4.0 as my DAILY driver.
Jay @ Apr 4th 2008 1:07AM
I didn't know they made the Aura with a 4.0. I thought the biggest engine available in the Aura was a 3.6. Wow. Must be an aftermarket swap. Tell me, compadre--how'd you squeeze that in there? Does it bolt up to the Epsilon drivetrain? You should drop GM a line telling them how you did that. Impressive, young Skywalker.
Man, the torque steer must be a bitch. Bet it's a little tire-smoker, though.
Esprit bird @ Apr 6th 2008 8:00PM
Hah my bad, Ah my bad, for a daily driver, i sure do not even know how to spell my cars name, thats why its just a beater and why i came to autoblog to find and read opinions on whats good. I drive a silver 2003 Olds Aurora (i just call it the Aura). Car does have torque steer, plenty of it in fact but i use it as a cruiser to and from work.
PJ @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:36PM
Nooo!! I was counting on my '04 Alero "Collector's Edition" to send the kids to college!
FezMan88 @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:43PM
Studebaker would be a cool revival brand. My dad always talks about the one his father while he was growing up. Oldsmobile doesn't fill any niche in the market today, but honestly, I'd love to see some broader activity in GM.
Travis Rassat @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:36PM
I love Studebaker - the '50 bulletnose is one of my favorite cars of all time. With that said, I hope they don't try bringing Stude back - it would ruin the brand.
jamey @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:49PM
I vote Pierce-Arrow makes a return. If we Americans are the fattest and laziest nation then surly we should best know how to make a luxury car.
gokartn @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:56PM
The only American car brands that need to come back would be ones like Deusenberg. Maybe it could be built by the Saleen folks.
Studebaker or Plymouth would be like the British bringing back Rover.