Just about every car-shopper seems to want one. Young or old, affluent or penny-pinching, avant-garde or traditional, people have fallen for the PT Cruiser–and it’s not even on sale yet.
Not unlike last year’s automotive phenomenon, the Volkswagen New Beetle, the Chrysler PT Cruiser is attracting favorable attention from across the demographic spectrum.
But besides its retro look and mini-van functionality, there’s the allure of its name. Why is it called the PT Cruiser? What does “PT” stand for? Is there a deep meaning to the Cruiser designation?
Automakers learned long ago that while the right name can’t sell a bad car, it will boost sales of a car that boasts more than the expected virtues. So auto names can be plain or catchy, loaded with meaning or cryptic, elegant or coarse.
Because a new name is risky business, marketers devote countless hours and dollars to coming up with the “perfect” one. Once in a while, they make an easy choice, as when Nissan called its old compact pickup–simply–Truck. Those charged with naming the new Ftord Focus, Toyota Echo and PT Cruiser put vastly more effort into the task.
Work on what evolved into the PT Cruiser began in 1996, and the name turned up soon afterward.
“I actually badged one of our initial concepts” as Cruiser, said senior product designer Bryan Nesbitt, chief stylist of the PT Cruiser’s exterior.
The vehicle began as a two-door concept named Pronto Cruizer (with a “z”), which was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1998. Its goal was to “communicate where we were at thematically,” said Nesbitt, referrring to a “hot-rod direction” that focused on the “individualism of our culture.”
A previous concept, seen first at the Detroit Auto Show in 1997, had been called the Plymouth Pronto–a youthful, “affordable” hatchback made of composite plastic.
At Detroit’s auto show in 1999, DaimlerChrysler displayed a four-door, all-wheel-drive concept vehicle evolved from the two-door Pronto Cruizer. The Chrysler Pronto Cruizer AWD had agate leather seats and door trim panels, a soft roll-back top and a color-keyed instrument panel to match its Aztec Yellow exterior.
Overwhelming enthusiasm from the press and public induced marketers to plan for production. Appearing alongside the Pronto Cruizer was a silver-colored prototype named PT Cruiser, announced as a soon-to-be-produced vehicle. Enthusiastic reports from journalists joined with word-of-mouth comments from consumers, to create a “buzz” for the PT Cruiser, planned as a 2001 model.
Even when a seemingly ideal name emerges early on, it seldom makes the grade without leaping hurdles.
Advertising agencies became involved with the PT Cruiser project in 1998. As usual in vehicle development, the agencies generated a list of possible names. More than 2,000 came up, ranging from the prosaic (Sedan Delivery) to the quasi-poetic (Rockster).
“Cruiser recurred over and over,” Nesbitt said of the period when potential names were weighed. “Cruiser really seemed to stick.”
A suitable name had to reflect “the philosophy of the vehicle,’T’ Nesbitt said, and how “personal” it could be. DaimlerChrysler also needed to tell its customers “you can afford all that.” The name had to communicate “this kind of American way of driving,” as well as the “lack of compromise in styling.”
Pronto bit the dust, but “Cruiser” hung on. Personal Transport, the “PT,” then became the “perfect complement to modify the term cruiser,” Nesbitt said.
Taken together, the name highlights “this American culture, this individualism.”
DaimlerChrysler took the approach that it did not want to tell people what their vehicle is supposed to be and to do or what they can and should do with it. “They’ll find their own definitions,” Nesbitt said.
Some people were disappointed that the PT Cruiser didn’t fall under the Plymouth badge. They believed a vehicle this extraordinary could have breathed new life into Plymouth, which entered the automotive world in 1929. Instead, DaimlerChrysler announced late in 1999 that it would drop the Plymouth brand. “Plymouth isn’t an international brand for us,” Nesbitt said.
“Cruiser was kind of a theme of this car,” said Sam Locricchio, public relations manager for Small Cars and Dodge Cars. The vehicle “had that hot-rod heritage to it, that American heritage.”
Design and engineering work–and naming–took place at DaimlerChrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Early in development, management sought to virtually invent a new category for the vehicle. “All the cues on the Cruiser are intentional,” Nesbitt said, evoking a blend of contemporary and nostalgic sensations. The PT Cruiser “borrows design cues from classic American automobiles and interprets them with a healthy dose of American fun and freedom.”
Some see the PT Cruiser as strictly retro, styled like a 1930s fastback sedan or panel truck converted into a hot rod of the ’50s. Others consider it an unusually stylish compact mini-van that offers plenty of interior space. Many cannot quite put their finger on where the PT Cruiser fits. DaimlerChrysler Co-Chairman Robert Eaton has called it “a segment breaker too cool to categorize.”
Practical values round out the package. “Nobody wants to drive a cargo van,” Nesbitt said, “but they want the utility. Everybody wants the utility.”
Designers adopted the term “duffel bag” to explain that utility, because a duffel bag is so flexible. An owner will be able to fold the PT Cruiser’s passenger seats down so an 8-foot ladder can go inside.
Interior room was a prime consideration all along. Early in the Cruiser’s development, rear suspension components were occupying a lot of space. Engineers had to design a more compact rear-suspension linkage.
“That was a huge challenge for the engineers,” Nesbitt recalled. At 168.8 inches long, it’s 5.3 inches shorter than a Ford Focus. Yet, 119.8 cubic-foot interior volume rivals that of a full-size sedan.
Developers would like to “challenge the consumer a bit too,” said Locricchio. There’s a “love/hate tension in the vehicles” that ignites the passion, he said.
What happens next with the PT Cruiser? “It’s really up to the consumers,” Nesbitt said.
At the Detroit Auto Show last month, Eaton introduced two “personalized” renditions of the basic idea: a turbocharged GT Cruiser and lowered body, and a turbocharged Panel Cruiser that substitutes plain bodysides for the usual side windows. Judging by early reactions from automotive journalists and Detroit Auto Show visitors, the potential of variants such as these is likely to push the PT Cruiser’s stock even higher.
DaimlerChrysler had promised that the PT Cruiser would sell for “significantly below” $20,000. When the vehicle goes on sale this spring, it will start at $16,000 (including destination charge). A Limited Edition, “with almost every available option,” will sticker for $19,995.
Will consumers–young owners, in particular–modify and customize their Cruisers?
“I sure hope so,” Nesbitt said eagerly. A turbo package for the PT Cruiser is available over the Internet. “You can do anything you want with this vehicle,” Nesbitt said. “This is more of a canvas” for people to form their own vehicle.
“We expect many PT Cruiser owners to personalize their vehicles,” said Eaton. They can “apply their own unique touches (and) make sure that their Cruisers are as individual as the people who drive them.”
Employed by DaimlerChrysler for six years, Nesbitt interned at Chrysler’s Pacifica Studio after graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. That internship was “when I fell in love with Chrysler,” Nesbitt said. At DaimlerChrysler, product people are “continually challenging ourselves to invent new ground.”
Nesbitt has been involved with the PT Cruiser project “from its infancy.” As one of his early tasks, he designed the Chrysler CCV, a “Third World market car” seen at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1997. “That package led to the final invention that evolved into the Cruiser,” Nesbitt said.
Meet the Cruiser
– Wheelbase: 103.0 inches
– Length: 168.8 inches
– Width: 67.1 inches
– Height: 63.0 inches
– Track: 58.3 inches front, 58.2 inches rear
– Interior volume: 119.8 cubic feet
– Cargo volume: 18.3 cubic feet
– Base price: $16,000
