Why Chrysler Killed Plymouth

On June twenty-eighth, 2001, a silver Neon rolled off the assembly line in Belvidere, Illinois, and it was the last Plymouth ever built. Seventy-three years earlier, the brand had launched as an affordable car for American farmers, with a name borrowed from a ball of twine. In 1973, Plymouth sold about seven hundred and fifty thousand cars. By 2000, it was selling roughly eighty-six thousand. But the company that shut it down, DaimlerChrysler, called the decision part of a growth strategy. So what actually killed Plymouth, and how far back does the story really go?