Chrysler to End PT Cruiser, Seek Buyer for Equipment
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler LLC, pruning its lineup to save money, will stop building the PT Cruiser this year and is seeking buyers for the equipment used to make the model, President Tom LaSorda said.
Production “ends this summer,” LaSorda said today in a telephone interview. “Would we sell those assets? Yes. Do we have any offers to sell those assets? No. Would we be pursuing a buyer? Yes.”
The PT Cruiser, with a rounded body to mimic 1930s-style station wagons, would be the seventh model to be canceled since Cerberus Capital Management LP bought Chrysler in August 2007. The third-largest U.S. automaker is using $4 billion in federal loans to stay in business while reshaping operations to end losses.
“The need for that product has passed,” said John Wolkonowicz , a product analyst at consulting firm IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “It created a buzz back in 2000, but it’s outlived its usefulness.”
Classified as a truck, the PT Cruiser has four passenger doors and a liftgate at the back. The model once targeted to appeal to younger buyers instead ended up attracting older consumers looking for a cargo-hauling vehicle, Wolkonowicz said.
