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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This paper examines how the success of DaimlerChrysler's PT Cruiser, introduced in 2001, actually resulted, somewhat, in a failure for the company. This essay discusses how Chrysler's management failed to predict the demand for the car, and as a result, created ill will among customers, especially those in Germany. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_MTcruise.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
its ease in handling, its toughness, and most of all, its new "nostalgic" design. Designed to be a cross between a minivan and a jeep, the PT Cruiser with its
thick-bodied appearance, brought a sense of nostalgia to those who wanted to remember the childhoods they had experienced in the huge automobiles that were common in the 1950s and 1960s.
PT Cruisers success, however, has been a mixed blessing. Focus groups failed to predict the overwhelming response to the car. And meanwhile, in Germany, where DaimlerChrysler is based, the car
is still awaiting the much-desired engine that is similar to Mercedes. So when the question to Chrysler is, has your PT Cruiser been a success, the answer is - a
qualified yes. This paper will examine why the PT Cruiser has been a confusing car for a member of the Detroit Big Three.
The development of the PT Cruiser was the stuff of legends, at least as it is told in the automotive industry. The car was the result of the collaboration
between Bob Lutz (a former top executive with Chrysler), David Bostwick (Chryslers research director), Bryan Nesbitt (the cars designer) and G. Clothaire Rapaille (an outside psychological consultant who was hired
to help Chrysler design a new type of car) (Patton, 2002). But instead of relying on the standard focus groups of people sitting around a table and discussing the pros
and cons of a particular car, Rapaille persuaded future customers to lie on mats in darkened rooms, and to let their minds drift back to childhood (Patton, 2002). In
this way, customers were able to supply customers with what Rapaille called their "reptilian hot buttons" (Patton, 2002). And what was hot was apparently, in Rapailles words, "Al Capone at
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