Chrysler's retro superstar

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

Cher has one, so do Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise. Newlyweds Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt had theirs gift-wrapped.

No, it isn't a popular pet or paperweight. It's a car - Chrysler's PT Cruiser, a 1930s-40s lookalike that is just the ticket in Tinseltown and the rest of America.

The right-hand-drive version is in New Zealand officially from today. Chrysler is launching the car in compact Wellington, where it is expected to get more of a captive audience than widespread Auckland.

Aucklanders got a glimpse of it last week when a woman took a dark blue model shopping in Parnell. The response from Wellington and Christchurch was expected - "Trust Aucklanders to be driving it before it is officially released in New Zealand."

Its early appearance has more to do with demand than inter-city rivalry. But Auckland was seen to be showing off again.

"People either love it or hate it - but they can't ignore it," says Brett Aspden, Chrysler New Zealand general manager.

"Our phones have been hot since the car broke cover in America last year. We have been amazed at the demand."

The first shipments have sold out despite the collapse of the New Zealand dollar. Early last year, when the kiwi dollar was worth closer to 60c American, Chrysler was talking about the PT Cruiser costing between $35,000 and $37,000 in New Zealand. Now the standard Classic is $41,500. The better-equipped Limited model will a bit over $50,000.

For that you get a sedan which Chrysler says is "too cool to categorise." It has become a cult car overnight in America, lining streets from Broadway to Berkley, Houston to Hackensack.

But it wasn't always like that for the five-door. When it was launched at the Detroit Motor Show last year, reaction in America was mixed - a one-day wonder, they said, a blast from the past more suited to the warm and fuzzy Fonz and Happy Days than the slick, fly-by-wire 21st century.

Now it represents everything that is good about America, say Americans. It even had its own car club before it went on sale.

Young Americans are getting married in them. Old Americans are getting buried in them ... or rather taken to the cemetery in a home-made stretched version. It is being hired for fancy dress "gangsta" parties.

The PT (for personal transport) has set sales records in America, leaving the other retro-styled superstar, Volkswagen's New Beetle, in its dust.

After-market body shops are adding chrome and plastic wood kits to ape the style of the 50s "woody" wagons, the surfer-set vehicles the Beach Boys used to sing about.

A custom specialist in Michigan, Auto-Tech Plastics, is using modern polymers and advanced manufacturing processes to duplicate the look of the original woodies, which used marine teak for large panels and Santa Rosa oak for the trim.

The polymer panels and trim are pre-cut and bonded to the Cruiser's body panels. Auto-Tech also fits a customised chrome grille on to the existing grille and wraps a chrome belt around the car's waistline.

Next year Chrysler will unveil a two-door Cruiser panel-van which will lend itself even more to customising.

The PT Cruiser sits on a modified Chrysler Neon platform and is powered by a 104kW 2-litre four-cylinder engine with a five-speed manual or four-stage automatic transmission.

The suspension system consists of MacPherson struts up front, with trailing arms, a beam axle and coil springs at the rear.

The Cruiser is available in two models in New Zealand. The five-speed manual Classic has air-conditioning, anti-lock ABS brakes, traction control, power windows and mirrors, CD/audio system, twin airbags and remote door locks.

The four-stage automatic Limited edition adds chrome wheels, leather upholstery and leather-covered steering wheel, fog lights, overhead console, side airbags and a sunroof, which Chrysler calls a moonroof.

But what kind of car is it? "Everyone sees a different era in the PT Cruiser design," says Chrysler engineering executive Larry Lyons.

"It is too versatile to be locked into one segment or one vehicle style."

Look past the radical retro styling - not easy to do - and the PT Cruiser's flexible five-seat layout and tall interior makes it a mini-MPV competitor.

The 65/35 split rear seat can be folded forward in two positions or removed completely. An optional modified front passenger seat can be folded down to form a table for the driver, or tumbled forward for extra-long loads.

The car was created with export markets in mind. Chrysler designed it using digital modelling and virtual reality. Engineers constructed a three-dimensional computer version before building full-size physical models.

They were also able to experience the interior from the point of view of the occupants without stepping away from their computer screens, which accelerated development of the Cruiser's ergonomics and interior packaging.

While it might offer the practicality of a mini-MPV, Chrysler expected a much broader market all along, bearing in mind that the mini-MPV genre does not exist in America.

Fashion-conscious buyers were first in the queue when the car hit American showrooms last April. The same applies outside America.

Retro styling has become a surprisingly well-established concept among carmakers. Volkswagen's New Beetle was the biggest attention-grabber until the Cruiser came along. Other cars include the Audi TT, Jaguar S-Type and Rover 75. Next up will be the all-new Mini, which will be unveiled at next week's Paris Motor Show.