The 1964-1974 Plymouth Barracuda has been out of production for more than 40 years now, but the name has been popping up in the rumor mill with great frequency over the last six years, and Fiat->ke30 Chrysler->ke21 only keeps fanning the flames. The latest Barracuda-related->ke1486 news comes from a trademark filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the name under “motor vehicles, namely, passenger automobiles, their structural parts, trim and badges.”

Chrysler enthusiast site Allpar spotted this trademark news, which was filed on June 23rd, but is quick to point out that it doesn’t necessarily mean that FCA has any plans to apply the name to a future vehicle. Trademarks are updated all the time, and the site even speculates that it could be just to maintain licensing.

As for the rumors of a next-gen Barracuda, they started popping up about the same time as the Challenger’s->ke249 arrival, and most recently as an SRT-badged replacement for the Dodge Challenger. Of course, that never happened and most likely won’t, especially with the SRT brand being folded back into Dodge.->ke28

Either way, only time will tell, but with the strong streak that FCA has been on recently, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a Chrysler Barracuda sports car->ke506 hit the road in the near future.

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Why it matters

It is unclear what FCA’s intentions are with the Barracuda name, but the interesting aspect of this trademark filing is that it comes at the same time as other performance trademarks, giving credence that the name could be used on an upcoming sports car. The other trademarks include the “Trackhawk” name (expected to be used on a high-performance Jeep Grand Cherokee) and a new SRT Hellcat logo that combines the “SRT” letters with the current Hellcat emblem.

1964-1974 Plymouth Barracuda

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