Let’s say that many years ago your company stopped producing a popular car model in the line-up. Now time has passed, and you want to reintroduce it, using the model’s old name in the hope of using its storied cachet to attract buyers.
Nothing wrong with that in principle, of course, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. Here’s the right way:
The original 1969 Dodge Charger Hemi R/T, a roaring, powerful and dangerous muscle car pushing 375hp:
The relaunched 2010s Dodge Charger (SRT Hellcat), a still-more powerful, even-more dangerous roaring monster pushing a jillion (okay, 700+hp):
The styling may have changed,the engineering improved, but the essence of the beast remained the same.
Now let’s look at the (oh-so very) wrong way to relaunch a brand. From Ford U.K.:
The original 1969 to mid-70s Ford Capri, a sporty, spirited and sexy little two-door number:
The 2025 proposed Ford Capri, a blocky, all-electric (!!!!) SUV (????):
…which retains absolutely nothing of the spirit of the original, and isn’t worthy of even carrying the name.
Someone From Marketing needs to get summoned into a windowless, soundproofed room for a four-hour ball-kicking. (And yes, I’m quite aware that a woke model like this may well have emanated from a womb-bearer, or someone with pretensions thereto. Or a committee — same thing, really.)
And no, I’m not taking bets that this abhorrent abortion of a vehicle is going to fail, abjectly and miserably.
