The best-selling Chrysler nameplate?
Just happens to be the smallest Chrysler vehicle, the PT Cruiser, which also just happens to be the vehicle brought out in the 2001 model year to build showroom traffic to entice folks to buy other Chrysler nameplates.
Cruiser leads the next closest nameplate, the Town & Country minivan, by about 6,000 units.
Says a lot about Chrysler.
Available for only two model years, the PT ’40s retro sedan outsells the midsize Sebring sedan, coupe and convertible combined by about 11,000 units and the full-size Concorde, LHS and 300M sedans combined by just under 50,000 units.
And while PT outsells Town & Country, keep in mind that more soccer moms (albeit affluent soccer moms rather than the Dodge Caravan owners) tool around in T&C minivans than they do in Sebring coupes and convertibles and high-performance 300Ms, too.
Dieter Zetsche, head of Chrysler Group, recently said the automaker will refocus on cars. Two-thirds of the 21 new or restyled models Chrysler will bring out between the 2003 and 2005 model years will be cars to help meet his goal of increasing annual sales by 1 million vehicles within five to 10 years, or more than 40 percent over the 2.3 million sold in 2001.
With so many owners favoring $17,000 retros and $30,000 minivans, there’s little doubt why Zetsche has to get people thinking about coupes, convertibles and performance sedans.
But Tom Marinelli, vice president of Chrysler brand marketing, says we’ll all understand the game plan soon, because the latest expansion of the PT Cruiser lineup will benefit those new cars coming.
“With PT we moved the image of the Chrysler brand from mainstream up to aspirational. In early ’03, you’ll see two more Chrysler vehicles, the Crossfire and the Pacifica, that will move the image even more and account for significant growth and improved volume over the next several years,” he said.
Marinelli said PT’s role of bringing folks into Chrysler showrooms will be more evident when Crossfire and Pacifica are in the lineup.
(This month, Chrysler guaranteed the PT will bring owners back to dealerships when it recalled all ’01-’02 models built to inspect for a possible fuel-pump leak.)
Crossfire is the upcoming two-seat coupe that borrows 39 percent of its parts, including the 3.2-liter 6-cylinder engine, from Mercedes-Benz and its SLK roadster.
“Crossfire is the poster child for our synergies with Mercedes,” he said, synergies that will find parts and components sharing as well between the new Mercedes E-Class sedan coming this fall and the next-generation Chrysler LX sedans.
The LX sedans are rear-wheel-drive replacements for the front-wheel-drive LH lineup. Chrysler will give consumers an early look at the LX on the auto-show circuit next year, though which show gets the debut is being debated, as is the date they’ll go on sale as ’04 or ’05 models.
Paci fica is an all-wheel-drive sedan/sport-utility crossover designed to attract those looking for better ride, handling and mileage than they get in a sport-ute, while offering the all-wheel-drive that attracted them to an SUV.
And to win over SUV owners who would like to migrate back to the ride, handling and mileage of a sedan rather than a sport-ute or a crossover, Marinelli said Chrysler is considering AWD versions of the LX sedans.
“We’re looking at broadening AWD applications,” he said.
But before Crossfire and Pacifica arrive, Marinelli and his colleagues bring out a couple new PT Cruisers–a high-performance GT, or PT Turbo, edition with 215-horsepower 4-cylinder and a Dream Cruiser Series 2 (Cars, Aug. 15) dressed in tangerine colored sheet metal that also sports the turbo 4.
“Everyone loves the PT, 99.9 percent of all owners, only they’ve told us that if one thing could be added to the wish list it would be a more powerful engine and that’s why w took the 150-h.p. 4 up to 215 h.p., though I suspect some would still want the V-10 (500 h.p. for ’03) that we have in the Dodge Viper,” he said.
PT versions–on sale or planned–are up to seven and range from limited editions finished in simulated wood or vinyl flames decals to pocket rockets such as the turbo and its companion PT convertible coming out in early ’04. Marinelli promises PT derivatives on a regular basis to keep attracting folks into showrooms who might opt for other Chrysler nameplates.
PT comes up for a design change in ’06. Marinelli is mum about plans but hints that, “any styling updates won’t stray too far from what it is today, but maybe we’ll come up with a new level of interior where no one has gone before.”
Finally, what about the PT pickup that made media eyes bulge when shown in Las Vegas last year at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show?
“Stay tuned,” Marinelli said, “we might make your dreams come true.”
