I believe a modern-day Bruckell would be something like this. After Bruckell was done making plasticky, enemic midsizes in the 80's, the 90's were a time of plasticky, enemic, rounded midsizes. Pairing bulbous, smooth, flowing, and unattractive designs with cloth interiors and cassette players, Bruckell was quickly losing their "More-for-less" reputation that they somehow had managed to cling to. (A mid-trim 1996 LeGran cost $30,000 adjusted for inflation.) Bruckell's corporate overlord, AMM, decided to make some changes to the brand in 2000. Bruckell was forced to finally give in to the light truck market with the Lyon, a decently-selling but bland SUV (Buick Rendezvous). It was developed along with its bigger brother, the Lament. (Buick Rainer) Between 2000 and 2008, Bruckell coasted along on their premium-priced slushboxes. When the financial crisis hit, AMM, had to make some changes to their lineup. Soliad was cut, despite turning a decent profit, as well as armored-car manufacturer Brutus and a small Belgian electric car startup called Ingon, which AMM had aquired two and a half years prior. Bruckell, however, was kept- but forced to redisign their lineup. Bruckell's new lineup consisted of- Allegrando-Compact Crecendo-Midsize LeGran-Fullsize Lyon-Crossover Lament-SUV Bruckell's new lineup wasn't a favorite among die-hard Bruckell fans who had wet dreams about the metal bricks of the '70s and '80s, but they sold well among middle-aged buyers with small-to medium sized families. The redesigned vehicles were reliable and packed with tech. In 2012, the brand turned a profit for the first time in 13 years- and marked its 100th anniversary. To celebrate, (and to fill a hole in their lineup) Bruckell released the all-new Moonhawk. It's a fantastic testament to American design- A sturdy, smooth V8 shoehorned into a light and agile body. Fun, cheap, and durable, the Moonhawk moved over 500,000 units in its first two years. Now, Bruckell is an upper-middle-class icon, peppering TV screens across the nation with an instantly recognizable slogan- ("Is that a Bruckell? Says a millenial. Bum bum bum BUM BUM bum bum-bum bum tun tun BUM BUM bum dun dun bum tun)
By that time, we've establidhed in this thread that Bruckell is an independent corporation. However, some of your ideas are pretty good.
Ideas for the positioning of different brands, part 1: AMM - The main US corporation. Did quite a few innovative things, but is rather mundane in general, and lacking in durability. Neptune (?) - A defunct brand with a somewhat youthful image. Mainly based on Geo and Saturn. Gavril - The main brand. Has a mass-market image that got just a minuscule bit sportier after the sportier brand bit the dust. Sporty brand - Based on a mix of Pontiac and Oldsmobile. Dead of inability to create an image stronger than "sporty premium Gavril" Burnside - A brand premium enough to be kept alive, but mostly because the Chinese keep buying it. Isn't the engineering powerhouse it used to be. Sporty luxury brand - "what if LaSalle stayed alive?". Used Bolger's powerful, yet smooth engines and suspensions in smaller and sportier bodywork. Got a resurgence in the 60s and 70s as the domestic/import middle ground. Bolger - One of the premier US luxury brands. Like a slightly higher-up Cadillac or Lincoln. Stays on the market by up-engineering the corporate parts bin just enough to feel luxurious, at least to old folks and boys in the hood. --- Post updated --- Bruckell - The company that traded engineering excellence for tried and tested technology and innovative ideas, such as minivans or FWD hatchbacks, and so stayed on the market despite lacking quality in their products (though they had to end their passenger car production). Bruckell - the mothership of brands. Has been bringing in most of the sales for decades, and even maintained a slightly fancier image than Gavril by making more attractive (at first sight) products. Soliad - Sporty? Premium? On Bruckell's level or above it? The lack of a defined image ultimately killed the brand in Bruckell's post-financial crisis restructurisation. Upper-midrange brand - Inspired by 50s Lincoln. A brand that used to be luxurious, but then dropped to being just above Burnside, and then ended in the early 90s, once Bruckell realised it was just another competitor of Bruckell and Soliad. High-end brand - Inspired by Iacocca's ideas for Continental. A brand that used ordinary Bruckell tech and put it in "Olde Worlde Luxury"-style bodies, becoming a lifestyle brand for aspirational/not-caring-about-cars rich folks. Now close to faltering away when the market got tired of upmarketing ordinary Bruckells. CVC (Commercial Vehicle Corporation) - Inspired by GMC, Ram and Fargo, and kinda Hummer. Started out as trucks for workingmen and farmers who lived too far from Bruckell dealers, now slowly becoming a lifestyle brand for suburbanites (all while Bruckell is turning towards the blue-collars). Milcar/Brutus/? - A brand inspired by Jeep and Hummer. Spent decades as an utilitarian brown-/black-collar brand, but since the 80s it has become a premium lifestyle brand, after losing much of the reliability. Some still buy it for the utility, but many of those customers have since turned away. --- Post updated --- Here's an example of the look the high-end Bruckell brand was striving for, the Duesenberg Model D: Imagine this, riding on essentially an enlarged, softened Bruckell sedan chassis.
Well the only two that were there were Burnside and Gavril anyways, but models could work. Still can’t wrap my head around why Gabe doesn’t really like his older cars, they’re sick.
My idea was of Colburn being "America's own imports" - a brand that would have more European characteristics than Detroit's own had at the time in real life, in order to capture other customers than the other two makers did. Actually, I imagine it in deep financial trouble (or even bankrupt) after failing to respect the rising truck market's importance.
Im not saying to not make new ones, but dont just make like 10 extra random brands. Try to keep it Light and minimal.
Bruh you haven’t done shit. We’ve discussed like maybe 5-6 new brands. In other news: More thorough breakdown of DMC: A more successful, still-surviving AMC with a knack for quirky, innovative cars.
I still have no idea how it would be surviving. Also, I imagine Colburn as either bankrupt or in deep financial trouble as a result of selling oversophisticated cars - or do you have other ideas?
Colburn itself: Financial trouble. Major sub-brands: Less financial trouble. Basically Chrysler right now. DMC survived because of slightly different buyer tastes to IRL, and the energy crisis dragged on for longer in Lore than irl so the Prophet hatchback was a top seller. Also they had generally higher sales than AMC did, just as an addendum,
I'm aware, they stand for different things. Also I doubt anyone from GM or DMC would give us any greif for using the name,
But do you imagine Colburn as sophisticated, Euro-style, cars, or something else? --- Post updated --- Also, the problem with AMC's cars wasn't the fuel efficiency - it was that the company could only make half-assed attempts at things by the 1970s.