Not sure if this was posted here anywhwere but about a week ago Fiat anounced they will keep the PT around a little longer.

I think they are buying time till they can get some of their cars into our market since Chrysler has no small cars other than the Caliper.

This will not effect the life of the HHR as it is already set die in 2011-12.

No GM will not change this as the platform will be gone as will the tranny that fits it. Also the Orlando is a done deal and is coming soon. So please do not read anything more into the PT move than to buy time will we see things like a Fiat 500.

 

From the Detroit News on June 30th...



Chrysler's PT keeps cruising
Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

The Chrysler PT Cruiser should be history.

But the new Chrysler Group LLC has given the retro-styled car a last-minute reprieve.

Chrysler Group chief spokesman Gualberto Ranieri confirmed Monday that Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who also is CEO of Fiat, said the company will keep building the PT Cruiser.

Chrysler had announced earlier this year that it would discontinue it this summer. Now, the assembly plant in Toluca, Mexico, will keep churning them out.

Jim Hall, an auto analyst at 2953 Analytics in Birmingham, said continuing the PT Cruiser makes sense.

The company sold 50,910 last year.

Sales peaked in 2001 at 144,717.

Analysts said the decision to keep building it was a good one.

"The PT Cruiser is a car that is selling even without marketing," Hall said.

"The labor costs are cheap and the tooling is paid off."

Karl Brauer, editor and chief of the automotive research Web site Edmunds.com, added, "Every PT Cruiser Chrysler sells ... is pure profit."

The car will likely stay in production through 2011, Hall said, until Fiat vehicles are ready for production in North America.

Chrysler planned to end production of the PT Cruiser because redesigning it would cost too much, Hall said.

Additionally, retro-themed cars are extremely difficult to redesign.

Brauer said the change of heart came after Chrysler entered bankruptcy and emerged in a partnership with Fiat, the Italian automaker that has management control of the company.

"Chrysler is in bridge mode," Brauer said. "Fiat can't do anything immediately, and in the meantime, this car will make Chrysler money."

 

i dont blame them for keeping it going. if its making money why stop. kinda like the old saying "if it aint broke, dont fix it"

 

I wonder haw many HHR's GM would have sold it they threw some $$ on marketing??

GM sold 100 000 HHR/year in 2006 2007 and 2008.

 

O man, Still gotta look at that POS for another 2-3yrs by then the PTC will be 10yrs Passed its Life Cycle.

 

A lot of car companies do that. GM did that with the A-car Olds Ciera and Buick Century. They still produce the Impala on the W-platform that dates all the way back to 1987.

 

If they're making money...why stop!

By the time it's done it will be a pretty long lived model, over ten years with very few styling changes!

 

Hmmm... Does this remind anyone of another car?