Oh Happy Days!! (no offense Steve haha)

Chrysler's PT Cruiser hits end of the road

Iconic vehicle was hit with consumers, but didn’t change with times




The PT Cruiser, one of Chrysler’s most
successful and iconic vehicles, ends production Friday after a decade of
service.


The retro-looking vehicle was launched in 2000 at a time when
nostalgic car design was all
the rage, inspiring a raft of revamped vehicles, from the redesigned
Volkswagen Beetle to the updated Mini Cooper.
Chrysler’s design move was bold and it paid off handsomely. The PT
Cruiser was an instant success, striking a chord with buyers. Chrysler
sold more than 1.3 million of the vehicles in total, according to the
Detroit News, with sales levels never dipping below 120,000 during the
first eight years.
Chrysler kept car buyers interested in the vehicle by adding several
variations and special editions over the decade, but its failure to come
up with a second-generation PT Cruiser led to the vehicle’s demise,
according to the newspaper.
Chrysler was unable decide on the kinds of changes it should make for
future generations of the car, according to the Detroit News. Should it
remain a compact car with a four-cylinder engine or increase in size to
become midsize car with a V-6? No decision had been made by the time
Chrysler ran into financial
difficulties in 2008 and the company didn’t have the financial resources
to make any changes.
Sales of the PT Cruiser turned lower in 2008 and Chrysler’s
then-owner, private equity firm Cerberus
Capital Management, said it planned to discontinue the vehicle in 2009,
sending sales down sharply.
Still, the PT Cruiser was a one-of-a-kind vehicle that briefly
defined Chrysler as a producer of distinctive and eye-catching vehicles,
something the automaker was able to recreate with the introduction of
the Chrysler 300 sedan in 2004.
But the same excitement about Chrysler cars has remained elusive in
recent years, and it’s the kind of buzz that Chrysler needs today as it
struggles to re-establish itself after filing for bankruptcy in 2009 and
establishing a partnership with Italy’s Fiat.

I guess my dream of owning a brand spanking new neon.. er PT is over!

i cried a little............. not really............ ok a little. but all bs aside they are pretty good little cars.

Peter MS3 wrote:

A friend of mines caliber srt4 did this very thing wednesday nite. Lol

Blown91LX wrote:

Peter MS3 wrote:

A friend of mines caliber srt4 did this very thing wednesday nite. Lol

WHY???

not really sure. He said it went through a half tank of gas in like 5 miles. Then the car died, when he went to restart it.... Wooof. I assume a fuel line let loose or something to that effect.

Blown91LX wrote:

not really sure. He said it went through a half tank of gas in like 5 miles. Then the car died, when he went to restart it.... Wooof. I assume a fuel line let loose or something to that effect.

damn