Glad that this article was written, as it's always a great thing to see the spotlight shine on Imperials. I do wish it had gone a little deeper. For starters, the article seems at first to say that the stand-alone "Imperial Division" launched in tandem with the industry-leading 1957 "Forward Look". This is not correct.
Imperial Division officially launched in mid-1954 in anticipation of the "One Hundred Million Dollar Look" models of 1955 - the first Chrysler Corporation cars designed fully under Virgil Exner's leadership. While not 'revolutionary' in the manner of the tailfinned, slim-roofed 1957 designs, the handsome 1955's bore crisp, modern styling that finally left behind the conservative lines favored by a Chrysler Corporate management system still smarting from the Airflow debacle of the mid-1930's.
With their full-radiuses wheel openings, unique split grille and free-standing taillights, the 1955 Imperials looked great. But Chrysler Corporations lack of judgement as to how to market a luxury car began to show before the car itself even hit the streets.
Mistake Number One: the cars of the Imperial Division were introduced without Model Names for 1955 and 1956. The model designations "Custom," "Crown" and "LeBaron" didn't materialize until 1957. Thus, the public - which had been calling the cars "Chrysler Imperial" for 29 years - was given no new monikers to help shift public perception for two full model years. It was especially odd, since they continued to discreetly use the 'Newport' trim designation for the hardtop coupe, they could have easily introduced the "1955 Imperial Newport." In addition to Crown, and LeBaron (...which was genius) names that would emerge for 1957, there are so many other names that might have been used: "Imperial Regency". "Imperial Scepter" "Imperial Viscount", and on, and on. By not giving the public a new combination of 'sounds' to retrain itself with, they condemned the new division to continue being a "Chrysler Imperial" to the average person.
Mistake Number Two: Just months after Imperial Division's auspicious debut, Chrysler Corporation authorized the Chrysler Division to "borrow" the Imperial grille and put it on the new Chrysler 300 performance coupe. From a branding perspective, that was positively inane. Imagine for a moment that the Buick Skylark convertible had carried into 1955. Now imagine General Motors permitting Buick to "BORROW" the Cadillac grille. You can't imagine it, because GM understood the importance of exclusivity in branding a luxury car.
Furthermore, had the Imperial Division been introduced with actual model names, Chrysler Corp. could have made a really bold statement: instead of the Chrysler 300, they could have introduced the "1955 Imperial Three Hundred" as the upscale 'Eldorado-fighter' of the new luxury division!
Make no mistake, I love Imperials, having owned four: a 1960 Crown 2dr hardtop, a 1960 LeBaron 'Southampton', a 1967 Crown convertible, and currently a 1966 Imperial LeBaron 4dr hardtop. However, that love doesn't change the fact that Chrysler Corporation dropped the ball when it came to branding and marketing the car for a successful run at the luxury car market.
