"It's PhaT!" - discusses DaimlerChrysler's 2001 model PT Cruiser - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, Jan, 2000 by Gail Kachadourian

Nobody knows what to expect when the new PT Cruiser goes on sale. So we hit the streets in one to find out.

It's provocative. It's polarizing. Chrysler's 2001 PT Cruiser has a strong personality -- either you love it, or you hate it. And DaimlerChrysler is prepared for either reaction toward its gutsy new creation.

The PT development team is actually pleased that there is not an instant acceptance factor for this vehicle, because it means that DaimlerChrysler is taking a major risk. "Senior management isn't really too different than the consumers in general," says Mitch Bonich, of DaimlerChrysler's small car platform program planning features group. "This vehicle is beyond the norm. It stretches the comfort zone in styling."

Indeed. Everybody from product planners, to the public, to the press is wondering how this little crossover trucklet will fare when it goes on sale this spring. AI was aching to find out, too. So one recent afternoon we grabbed DC spokesperson Sam Loccrichio and Phil Cousino, senior manager for PT vehicle development and synthesis, and asked them to bring a pre-production PT to an impromptu "customer clinic." With Sam and Phil, we took the deep purple Limited Edition model to the streets of trendy Royal Oak, Mich., parked the PT on the main drag in front of the popular Mr. B's Pub and let the vehicle speak for itself.

For Young and Old

The reactions we observed were overwhemingly positive -- from all age groups. Highlights are noted on the following pages,, They seem to prove

Daimlerchrysler's theory that there is not just one target market for PT. The automaker skirts the usual demographic questions by saying PT is for "anybody with money."

From early focus groups, the PT team found that young people who were confident weren't afraid of saying they liked the Cruiser and were immediately attracted to its functionality and flexibility. However, kids looking for social support said they did not like PT, because it was too much of a risk, and that the Dodge Neon was a much better fit for them.

Younger drivers, in their 20s or early 30s, consider the PT modern, because to them, the boxy, square lines of the 1980s represent retro. Older generations consider the PT's wide, toothy grille and curvaceous body retro, as these cues remind them of the cars their parents used to drive.

Part of the appeal for both age groups is PT'S price, which is expected to be less than $20,000, fully loaded. Base models are expected to start at about $16,500. However, DaimlerChrysler claims price is not the only appeal.

"The reason why you buy it is because of the interior flexibility and the affordability," predicts Joe Cadell, general product manager for DaimlerChrysler small car operations.

Based on research, PT buyers will want their vehicle to serve all their transportation and lifestyle needs, as it will most likely be their only car. Therefore, designers and engineers worked together to make sure PT has the capability to handle both urban driving and sporty activities -- currently the roles of minivans and SUVs.

The production PT is the evolution of Chrysler's Pronto Cruizer AWD that debuted at the 1998 Geneva Auto Show. It's officially classified as a light truck, and its sales will help boost DC's truck corporate average fuel economy, now skewed heavily toward gas-guzzling pickups, Durangos and Jeeps. The PT will be sold in the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific and South America. Production begins this month at DaimlerChrysler's Toluca, Mexico, plant. The Toluca plant has the capacity to build 180,000 vehicles per year; however, the automaker is not yet estimating sales volume.

The Program

"We didn't ask the traditional questions that the automotive industry usually asks itself, like `What are we missing?.'" Cadell says. "We said let's create something that doesn't exist. It was like the Big Bang theory."

The formal design phase of the PT (which stands for Personal Transportation) began in 1996, and management approved the final fiberglass models in summer 1997.

A primary design brief was to create a C-class car that would appeal to customers on a global basis. The PT's generation-bending form was penned by Bryan Nesbitt, a 30-year-old DaimlerChrysler stylist. His basic package configuration confirms a trend that DC's research team noticed about three years ago, when consumers began demanding that automakers combine interesting styling with functionality and practicality. Such a blend has been a characteristic of many popular European cars. Nesbitt, an Arizona native, found this out for himself. He went to Europe to study the wants and needs of car buyers and how they use their vehicles every day.

Nesbitt wanted the PT to have the utility of the European vehicles, but to also "borrow design cues from classic American automobiles and interpret them with a healthy dose of American fun and freedom," he explains. This fits perfectly with the need to satisfy the growing number of urban dwellers who explore the outdoors on weekends. They demand a vehicle that can support all their lifestyle and transportation needs.