Last PT Cruiser Rolls off the Assembly Line

[Zembonez]

The bulky, retro-styled Chrysler PT Cruiser — its fans found it positively alluring, its detractors called it bulbous and cheaply made — becomes an automotive legend on Friday when the final PT comes off the line at Chrysler’s plant in Toluca, Mexico.

So farewell, PT Cruiser, and hello, Fiat 500C, which will be assembled at Toluca later this year, the company said. Fiat took over Chrysler last year. The Cruiser, which had a sensational start and sold more than a million units since its debut a decade ago, was put on life support a year ago during Chrysler’s bankruptcy proceedings. But the automaker decided to maintain the line to fill its inventory pipelines and use up PT Cruiser parts.

“I’m feeling a bit sad and a bit angry because there was so much that should have been done with the PT that wasn’t,” said David Zatz, who organized the fan site ptcruizer.com in 1999, before the car even was put on sale. “People could actually afford the thing, and when they bought one, they found it more than they expected. There was a lot of space inside, and the PT could fit into just about any parking space.”

The unique look of the compact PT — which stood for “personal transport,” although some students of the brand say it was coined to mean “Plymouth truck” — inspired high-volume sales and was a moneymaker for the former DaimlerChrysler company. But a redesign in mid-decade did little to goose sales, and after that the model was pretty much left to age not-so-gracefully. The Cruiser did morph into a convertible coupe in early 2005, a turbo engine was added to some models, and Chrysler tried to interest buyers with a number of “limited” editions with cosmetic dress-ups. In 2006, the band Sha Na Na wrote a song, “The Cat in the PT Cruiser.”

Still, sales dropped off, advertising for the PT was minimal and in 2009 Chrysler sold only about 50,000 cars, according to Autodata. At its peak in 2001, the company sold nearly 145,000 Cruisers.

Despite the evaporation of the PT, Mr. Zatz says he’s still a loyal Chrysler buyer, and he’s looking forward to Chrysler’s new breed of midsize cars due next year. “I know good things are coming,” he said, “so maybe this is a good time for this to happen.”

(Source: New York Times)
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/last-pt-cruiser-rolls-off-the-assembly-line/

 

[Bigredmariner]

Better off without them.

 

[Zembonez]

Never drove one myself. Haven't a clue what they are actually like.

 

[Carolinaboy]

Never drove one myself. Haven't a clue what they are actually like.

CRAP, it's like riding in a kidney bean

 

[NMRam]

Boo Hoo, another piece of crap model bites the dust. What did they expect for an ugly re-bodied Neon with poor quality control and problems from day one? I'm surprised they lasted this long.

 

[Bigredmariner]

Never drove one myself. Haven't a clue what they are actually like.

CRAP, it's like riding in a kidney bean

A really slow kidney bean at that.

 

[Zembonez]

I was never a fan of the styling.

 

[ScottyBoy]

I drove one like 3 or 4 years ago, while my wifes car was getting warranty work done and we a PT cruiser as a rental. Its slow as monkey balls, barely has enough power to get out of its own way. It made my wife's 4cyl Altima seem like it had a supercharged V6. Plus the ride is very noisy. You can "feel" and "hear" all the road noise. I guess it was just a cheaply made car. Or else it had no noise deadening whatsoever.
Surprisingly the interior room wasn't "too" bad. And the AC was cold as eskimo pussy. Those were the only two positive things about the car.

 

[Bowtie2Sierra]

I had the unfortunate experience of having to drive a rental PT Cruiser. I drove it out of the parking space and directly to the front office for something else. What a piece of crap.

However, the wood panel's on certain models do add a touch of class.

 

[Zembonez]

HA!

Not many members of the PT Cruiser Fan Club in here.