If there’s one thing I find hard to stomach from the period where Chrysler owned Rootes it’s the axing of the Asp project. The Asp was to be Rootes’ entry in the Spridget/Spitfire end of the sports car market. It was to use the overhead cam, all alloy Imp engine. Rootes hadn’t quite worked out whether the engine was to go in the front or back. In any case it looked like being huge fun.
Unfortunately when Chrysler stepped in they couldn’t understand why anybody would want to buy a funny little car like that, so they scrapped the whole idea.
It’s ironic then that Chrysler is now considering building the Dodge Slingshot, a car that seems very much like a modern interpretation of the Asp.
Chrysler mentality was only Chrysler America ! they’re weren’t interested in anything outside their ‘little’ cocoon. i believe the purchase or take over of Simca and Rootes was to become a European Manufacturer and give them cheaper entry into that market for their yank tanks.