| Subject: |
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Off Topic, Plymouth Truck Related (PT) Can you feel the love? |
| Name: |
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MoparNorm |
| Date Posted: |
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Aug 20, 07 - 6:48 AM |
| IP Address: |
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71.119.187.197 |
| Email: |
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moparnorm@hotmail.com |
| Message: |
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From Allpar;
Chrysler’s Jason Vines is firing back at Bob Lutz over remarks the GM car czar made when comparing the new SS version of the Chevrolet HHR and Chrysler PT Cruiser’s Sunset Boulevard Special Edition.
While the SS may be the PT Cruiser SRT we’ve always wanted to see, Lutz’s description of the HHR as “the real deal” is comparing apples to, well, “plums” might be more appropriate than “oranges” considering the Sunset Boulevard’s “Sunset Crystal” paint. The Sunset Boulevard is the eleventh specially priced color-and-trim customized Cruiser. The SS is Chevrolet’s latest effort to make the HHR more popular than the PT Cruiser, a vehicle that is seven model years old but is still in the top 15% of American light vehicles by current year-to-date (YTD) sales. It was in the top 11% in 2006.
Perhaps, as Vines suggests, Lutz is feeling the heat. Even though he hired Bryan Nesbitt, the Cruiser’s designer, to work on the HHR, he hasn’t been able to make the magic work at GM. From August 2005, its first month on the market, the HHR has lagged the PT Cruiser in every sales month except two: August 2006 and July 2007.
Chevrolet has sold 210,576 HHRs since the trucklet was introduced. 2007 YTD sales total 59,267.
During the same period, Chrysler has sold 256,980 PT Cruisers, including 60,305 in the first seven months of 2007. It’s currently just ahead of the HHR in the sales rankings.
Granted, the HHR may finally overtake the PT Cruiser this year, especially considering the support Chrysler management has given the Cruiser. But there’s no question about which is the real deal and which is the knockoff.
Source: Manufacturer’s reported sales August 2005-July 2007.
Reported by Bill_Cawthon.
It should be noted that Bob Lutz left Chrysler after the Daimler take over and that the New Chrysler may resurrect the PT. |
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