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Location: NJ | Chrysler to Stop Making PT Cruiser
By Bernard Simon,Financial Times
Posted: 2007-11-01 08:02:37
Chrysler is set to eliminate three slow-selling models, including the once-popular PT Cruiser hatchback, as part of a widening shake-up since its acquisition three months ago by Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity group.
Photo Gallery: On the Chopping Block
Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Chrysler plans to discontinue three models that haven't been selling well. One is the PT Cruiser, which was a hit when it launched in 2000. Also See: Autoblog
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Chrysler, the smallest of the three Detroit-based carmakers, has built more than 1m of the retro-styled PT Cruisers since the model was launched in 2000. But sales in September were 42 per cent lower than a year earlier. The PT Cruiser's appearance has changed little during its lifetime, and it has faced growing competition, including from Chrysler's own Dodge Caliber, which went on sale in 2006.
The other two models likely to be axed are the Dodge Magnum station wagon and the Chrysler Pacifica, a crossover vehicle that looks like a sport-utility vehicle but is built on the same platform as the company's minivans.
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Credit Suisse falls 11% to SFr1.3bn Citi executives sacked over credit turmoil Murphy to step down as Kingfisher chief More Financial TimesPacifica sales were 44 per cent lower in September than a year earlier. The three models set to be dropped were identified on Tuesday by the Detroit News, and confirmed by a person familiar with Chrysler's strategy.
In the latest of a series of senior management appointments since the Cerberus takeover, the carmaker this week named John Cataldo, a former General Electric executive, as vice-president of business development and mergers and acquisitions.
Mr Cataldo will spearhead Chrysler's drive to forge partnerships and joint ventures with other companies as a way of expanding its fledgling business outside North America. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Al,
Ever since your last birthday you've brought nuth'in but bad news. If I didn't owe you money I'd have to disown you.
btw - check is in the mail |
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Location: closely held secret | That explains why the new PT's have been selling at such low prices here lately. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Cliff.. the Chrysler headquarters is not to far from here. Yaz wants mez to goez ova dare and talks ta dem? |
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Location: GA USA | This is great news. One day they'll be as valuable as the Volkswagon Thing. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Hey Cliff, maybe it's time to pull your hair back into a pony tail, stick it out the back of a baseball hat, and drive around summit in a rover. Dave |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Hey Cliff, maybe it's time to pull your hair back into a pony tail, stick it out the back of a baseball hat, and drive around summit in a rover. Dave |
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Location: Tennessee | Originally posted by Captain_Lovehandles:
This is great news. One day they'll be as valuable as the Volkswagon Thing. I love my Thing ... homemade paint job and all ...
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Location: NJ | Alpep - Harbinger of Doom & Gloom - :D
Yeah, I'd read this yesterday.
Okay,
The FIRST time I'd seen one of these was when I was walking the floor of the NY AutoShow during the Press Peview (best time t'go - no crowds, no riff-raff) when it was JUST prior t'being released (I think it was the year previous). I thoght that the car was a REALLY cool "concept", a synergy of new/old styling, small yet roomy, & somewhat "eye-catching".
The following year, Jeanette was shopping for a new car, and we checked em out. I HATED it!!
She was coming out of a fully-loaded ChevyBlazer, and this thing just paled in comparison. Cheap, noisy, and couldn't get out of it's own way. Let's be honest, it's a friggin' Dodge Neon with different body dropped on it. We blew it off.
She settled on a Subaru Impresa RS (just below the WRX) - cool car.
A couple years later, the car that I escaped with from my divorce (a '91 Toyota Cressida) died.
I was paying my lungs in alimony/support, couldn't afford much, and didn't have the time to research the used market on something that I wouldn't have eventual problems with.
I searched various dealers.
The only criteria that I really wanted met were:
Something I could fit my gear in.
CD player.
Sunroof.
5-speed stick.
4WD woulda' been nice, but notta' deal-breaker.
It just HAD t'be stick. I can't drive automatic.
My primary choice was a Nissan Xterra.
Nobody, . . . I mean NOBODY had 'em in stick.
Had t'be a Special Order.
Same with Jeep Wrangler/Rubicon. Automatic only.
Same with Volkswagen Golf's
??????????
I was driving home from the last dealer ship, dejected. My car was dead, and I NEEDED t'get another one. On the way home, I was driving past the same Chrysler dealer that Jeanette & I had been to a year or so previous. There was a bunch of PT's out front. I figured "what the hell" & drove in. There was ONE on the lot that was stick. It was a Special Order that fell through at the last minute. Took it for a TestDrive.
The difference in these cars in manual/auto is night & day! MUCH more responsive! MUCH more fun t'drive!! When I got it back, the guy showed me how much cargo space it had with the seats folded down/taken out. I tried to cut a deal with the guy on buying it WITHOUT back seats. He declined but offered t'throw in a free power sunroof. SOLD.
That car got rear-ended/totalled, and I replaced it with a Series3 "DreamCruiser". 5-speed Getrag trans, turbo, sport suspension, heated leather, custom wheels, custom glass, free Sirius, custom paint, etc. All for under $20K.
The car SAT on dealers lot for almost a year and a half with 13 miles on it.
Nobody wanted it - because it was stick.
Dealer gave it to me for $10K off the sticker.
This Thanksgiving, I'll have had it for two years, and almost 35K miles. Just put new tires on it.
Are they GREAT cars??? No.
With an automatic, they're just "dogs" - especially on a hill with a full load. They really NEED t'be stick.
But it fits the bill for what I need.
It's relatively inexpensive, I can fit ALL of my gear (including 4 guitars in it and STILL see out the back window), it's decent on gas (my old one got 30mpg, the turbo knocks it down to 20, but does better on long-distance highway "cruises"), and it's fun to drive. That's all I really need for right now. If I could take the drive-train out of Jeanette's Subie, and put it in my Cruiser, it'd be PERFECT!!
It's very reminiscent to the old Volkswagen "square-back" wagons. Roomy, cheap, fun.
I try t'take really good care of it, to last me for a while, and when it "goes", I'll re-evaluate my needs.
A LOT of people think there just plain "ugly".
I think that (for a utilitarian vehicle) the design works pretty well. The guy who designed it based it on the old-style "panel truck" (hence PT), a hot rod, and a London taxi. He later left Chrysler to go to GM & designed the Chevy HHR (which I think is ugly).
I think that it's demise is a product of the Cerberus purchase of Chysler. As I was typing this, the radio just reported Chrysler lay-offs. And so it goes . . .
Bottom Line:
(For Now) It suits my needs.
Hell, ther're people out there that think Ovations are "ugly" too . . . |
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Location: NJ | Hey, Dave!!
LickMe. |
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Location: south east Michigan | We rented a PT convertable when we did the Grand Canyon / Vegas / Utah thing a few years back.
I really liked it! |
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Location: GA USA | I love it too, Bobbo. My son's car got a custom paint job on Tuesday. It was his birthday and his friends surprised him at dinner. They took the paints that you're only supposed to write on windows with and wrote "Happy Birthday" on the hood, and "You Suck" on the roof.
They've been alerted to be saving their pennies for a paint job. |
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Location: SoCal | The only 2 PT Cruisers I've ever ridden in were Clifford's and a rental that some friends visiting out here were using. Stick vs. Auto. Fully loaded vs. Stripper. 2 different cars entirely.
But 6 years w/o a makeover is the kiss of death in the auto world. Most cars get a makeover in about 4-5 years. |
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Location: NJ | In 2006, they DID make changes to it.
The changes were "subtle" (headlights, front bumper/grille, and interior console) but they were enough t'make me not want one. They kinda' Soccer-Mom'd it out . . .
When I needed a replacement for my totalled one, I was looking for an '05 leftover. They didn't exist. Then the tricked-out '04 fell into my lap (under my ass, actually) . . . |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Couldn't find a Jeep with a stick??
I just got sad...
(I miss the hell out of my Wrangler... though I gotta say my automatic Liberty has grown on me in ways I didn't think it would... HOWEVER, there's another Wrangler w/stick in my future) |
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Location: NJ | It's all "demographics", Jeffrey.
f@ckwits that wanna' "look cool" but can't/don't know how t'maneuver traffic with a standard shift.
Y'should see the sh!t I gotta' go thru when I hand my car over to a valet or the carwash clown . . .
A Jeep might be a viable candidate for my next vehicle . . . but let's just see how this whole Chrysler drama plays out . . . |
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Location: south east Michigan | Read an article in the Detroit Free Press during lunch. The PT convertable is gone for sure. The "wagon" version may live on. And.. there is some grass roots, fan club type pressure being exterted on Chrysler's new management. |
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Location: NJ | So . . evidently, it's just the convertible-version that they're "axe-ing" . . .
. . . never liked those, anyway. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Thanks. |
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Location: Tychy, Poland | from my (european) point of view the biggest challenge for Chrysler is to build with more precision, and - in general, to improve quality and fuel efficency.
In Poland PT Cruiser never sold well, because with 2 liter engine it takes well over 13 l of fuel in city (per 100 km) and smaller units were too weak. Diesel was too expensive.
In company we have two Chryslers 300M, and with both of them we had a lot of issues.
Both are 3,5V6 automatic.
One is running on 2nd gearbox (1st one failed after 50,000 km), had mechanisms in mirrors replaced and there is a problem with starting that car when it's under -10 degree Celcius. and it's 4 years old with 87 tkm on it
2nd one has never ending problems with blowing head gasket. It started when engine overheated because fan didn't start in time (bad sensor) and dealer didn't want to replace engine with new one. It has 47 tkm on it.
Other than that, those 300M are great cars. Comfortable, for it's size they don't use much fuel (about 13l / 100) and they look really good.
btw.
considering gas prices here (about $2 per liter) if US car makers want to sell cars in europe, they have to make good diesel powered cars or throw in some "small" A - class models powered with small engines. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I hear ya... |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Next stop ... Bio-Diesel! |
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Location: Tychy, Poland | our last governament tried to force minimum 10% usage biocomponents in ALL fuel sold in poland.
politics...politics...
scheisse. |
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Location: NJ | At the last NY Auto Show, there was an ancillary exhibit pertaining to proposed NYC taxis.
One of 'em was a Cruiser fitted with an electric motor and a bank of wide, flat batteries in the rear compartment . . .
BioFuels won't be an alternative until a viable non-food source is found. Corn isn't all that efficient (right now, at least) as the ratio of energy expended to energy culled isn't all that great. Brazil's been doing it (for years) with sugar cane & getting a much better yield . . .
There's a small, up-start company working out in the AZ(I think) desert that's propagating a fast-growing algae that yields even better results. Still in it's infancy stage, tho . . .
Bullsh!t'd be good source . . we seem t'have PLENTY of that around . . . . |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | My next car may be a used new york taxi or cop car. I'll leave it yellow, or just spray paint over the "police" markings. Settle into that front seat ass groove created by 200,000 miles of driving in two years. Savor the aroma of chicken buryani wafting out of the a/c on a hot summer's day. Feel that crust of grime and after hour's cigarette smoke on the steering wheel.
Nah, my wife would never go for it ... but I'm tempted. And I'm tempted to say something about the country's energy policy ... must resist ... must turn off computer ... reaching for the switch ... while typing ... pressing the off butt |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I'd pay ya 20 bucks for a ride that scares the shit out of me, Rick... |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Sure........but will you help clean up? |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | by, "help"... you mean move outta the way... |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by cliff:
BioFuels won't be an alternative until a viable non-food source is found. Corn isn't all that efficient (right now, at least) as the ratio of energy expended to energy culled isn't all that great. Brazil's been doing it (for years) with sugar cane & getting a much better yield . . .
Bullsh!t'd be good source . . we seem t'have PLENTY of that around . . . . Corn-ethanol is a Scam. You make beer-mush, then distill it to Everclear... In the long-run you use more energy to make it than you get. (farming, transport, brewing, distilling, storage and mixing of finished product) Basic physics: Conservation of Energy. The same reason you cannot get a Perpetual Motion Machine to work. It is just politics of corn-belt politicians, making Frito's and Dog Chow cost more! Whatever happened to running a Diesel VW Rabbit on KFC grease?
PLUS YOU MORONS ARE BURNING OUR FOOD! :mad:
More to the real topic, I'm gonna miss the Magnum wagon. Nice car, just over-priced or they would have sold more. |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Cliff: What ever vehicle you end up with next, just make sure you stick the "Ovation" name plate on it. That's the important thing. I just leased another "love it or hate it" type vehicle, a Ford Edge. The trans in my Explorer died and I had no intention of putting a new one in it. So far, I love it. It's fun to drive, quick, and fits all of my gear with relative ease. I'm not happy about having a car payment again, but you can't have everything. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Just make sure whatever you buy is a "Pre-Fender Bender". |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
I'm gonna miss the Magnum wagon. I could never warm up to the moustache. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I just noticed ... isn't Cerberus the three headed dog guarding the gates of hell? Boy! what a name. |
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Cliff now what?