Dodge

The Matador and Polara were two new models produced by Dodge in 1960 when the marque dropped its long-running Coronet, Custom, and Lancer models. Sharing the same newly engineered unibody platform as the slightly smaller Dodge Dart, the Matador was designated Dodge's full-size base trim vehicle, with the Dodge Polara becoming the make's full-sized premium model. However, full-sized cars in the U.S. market were at their lowest sales level since the end of World War II, and 1959 was not the best time to launch a new nameplate into the full-size segment. The cars featured styling cues that were carried over from 1959 models, themselves an evolution of Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" cars, introduced in 1957. A total of 27,908 Dodge Matadors were produced for the 1960 model year. The Low sales volume of the Matador, the continuing popularity of the Dart models, and the launch of the compact Lancer meant the Matador nameplate was dropped for the 1961 model year, leaving only the Polara as the full-size Dodge.