[hyracer]

In an effort to kill the popularity of the PT Cruiser and keep the "cute" little grocery getter from getting a reputation as a "Muscle Car" Mopar dropped production of Stage II.

When Chrysler was asked why they would risk losing a segment of their loyal customer base it was whispered that they could "make much more money by selling $35,000 Hemi powered vehicles than selling a $1,000 Stage kit." "Why would anyone want to stand in line and buy our new muscled line-up when they could get their doors blown off by a Stage 2 or Stage 3 Turboed Cruiser"? "We have spent millions in advertising on how many positions the seats will fold and how cool the Crusier looks as it drives buy, not on it's power potential. Those are the customers we want to reach. Our customer base are the little old ladies who want to be able to carry an extra bag or two of groceries and are afraid to drive a large SUV."

Even the internet Cruiser sites are now being affected. Where once many a question was asked on power potential, anticipation of Stage 1 and 2 arrival, answers from a Mopar engineer named 3BarBoost, new Crusier owners boasting of Mopar/Chrysler loyalty, now only tired repetitive questions are being asked. Questons like "will Stage 1 kill my warranty" or "I just got through spending $23,000 on a GT, got a Stage 1 kit, spent another $2,000 on mods and want to know if I can run on regular fuel since I'm so cheap". Long gone are the original belivers in the potential of the PT Cruiser, some banned to other sites, some selling their beloved Cruisers as Chrysler dropped it's loyalty base.
"We're getting the job done" a high-up insider recently said. "The Stage forums have been reduced to Noobies asking the same old tired questions and customers are now standing in line to plunk down $35,000 on Hemis. We think we will be able to kill off the PT completely when we get to restyle it sometime in the 2006 to 2008 model, just like when we kill the SRT4 next year. We don't want our customer base to get excited about high tech turboed cars when we can sell them old fashioned low-tech V-8's that get 17 MPG with a high profit margin."

Deen