2005 Chrysler PT Cruiser in Hollywood

Cue the shot, drop the top. Chrysler, makers of America's best-selling convertible, the Sebring, adds a new open machine to its lineup: the long-awaited PT Cruiser convertible. Revealed as a design study at the New York auto show in 2001, it took a little longer than expected to materialize, but it's ready to hit the stage at last. It's late, but with PT Cruiser looks, a standard power top, a spacious back seat, and prices beginning at $19,995, you can be sure that there's an audience waiting.

Say what you like about the PT Cruiser, but as the last legacy of the pre-English-as-a-second-language Chrysler, it speaks of a company that did not have any apologizing to do in the creative thinking department. With more than 640,000 built since its spring 2000 introduction, this Neon-based retrovan was a fresh breeze that not only earned its keep in the budgetary scheme of things but also has inspired a fanatical following. Among those following is General Motors, with the upcoming 2006 Chevrolet HHR (for heritage high roof), designed by the PT Cruiser's designer himself, Bryan Nesbitt, who was hired away from Chrysler by GM.

Every car manufacturer struggles to keep sales interest piqued in a new model as the years following its introduction accumulate. This reality seems especially acute for the recent wave of retrostyled vehicles. With a self-selecting and quickly sated audience, new conquests are hard to find. At the same time, these cars are meant to have long life cycles, which leaves their makers time to answer the perplexing question: How do you update something deliberately made to look old?

The PT Cruiser, whose sales declined by more than 20 percent (to 107,759) in the United States in 2003, fell victim to the same malaise Volkswagen suffered a few years back with its retro New Beetle.... Read full article