I don't find the Caliber ugly, maybe I'm one of the few who actually likes it. But I have seen much more attractive cars. The Aztek certainly isn't one of them but thankfully they quit making it. As far as it's equally ugly sibling, the Avalanche; at least GM had the sense to stop putting all of that black plastic cladding all over it. ===============
Probable thought of GM brass when they saw the first "Aztek" coming off the line: "Holy shit...this is worse than the '59 Cadillac! WHAT did we DO here???" Trying to "camouflage" the Aztek body with softer Buick parts with lots of Tiger Woods advertising didn't work, either. The Aztek/Rendezvous disaster cost GM plenty, and announced their out of control slide toward bankruptcy. For some strange reason, the Aztek, especially in black paint, has become a ghetto favorite on the used market, where they sell far over high Blue Book. Another reason why DC MUST "deghettoize" the 300!
I always thought the Aztek looked better in person than it did in pictures. I am not saying it looked good in person but it looked horrible in photographs. The Caliber seems to be very popular in Hawaii. Zillions of them there when I visited in July. Rentals?
When I saw my first Aztek, I thought, "Holy crap..they glued the shell of a Daewoo/Pontiac Le Mans they had left over to the bottom half of an Astro Van!" It was THAT bad. Dealers simply couldn't give them away. Its replacement, the "Vibe," like all GM models, is having a mediocre reception by buyers. In fact, I've actually seen more Calibers on the road in California than Vibes. Dunno...perhaps DC is test marketing them there in an attempt to crack the Japanese domestic market? Things that do well in Japan always do well in Hawaii and vice versa.
Probably rentals. There are hundreds of bone stock, base model PT Cruiser rentals in Florida. I travel FL on biz and since I have a PT, my eye is always caught by one. And I'm pretty busy there checking them out on the road. Quite a few Calibers there now as well. =================================
The 59 Caddy was WAY cool! Don't call one of my favorite symbols of american overkill ugly. Many godfathers are turing in their graves hearing you say thay. "No such ting as a ugly Gadilllaca"
IMO in some colors it looked better. Yes I'm sure rentals are a big factor, even here in Vancouver where I live. I still don't see many Calibers on the road or on dealers lots here and no one I know has one. All I do see are red, is that the only color it comes in? < The Chrysler dealer suddenly got a pile of 300s, Pacificas and trucks in late summer. I'm wondering if they will survive getting rid of them.
It would seem that Chrysler Division is resorting to old ways that got them into trouble in the early '70s, like the "car bank," where Highland Park, which wasn't watching weekly sales figures, would keep churning out product that the dealers couldn't or wouldn't sell. As a result, thousands of new Chrysler products would wind up sitting in lots and fields all over Michigan and Illinois, waiting to be sold to dealers. This was called the "bank," and savvy dealers would deliberately keep their inventory too low, wait for the bank to build up to overflowing, and then get the cars at cost, since HQ would then try to blow them out late in the season just to get rid of them. This probably was the #1 cause of Chrysler Corporation's insolvency issues in the late '70s...very poor inventory and production control, and dealers who were gouging the company for cars at cost, or sometimes at a loss. Once Iacocca demanded that the "bank" be ended and production cut back through short layoffs, dealers had to pay wholesale again, and many marginal dealers who were getting along by screwing the corporation for cars at cost went out of business. The proof of this was easy to see in those days. Popular models at the time, like the new J-bodies, couldn't be found at franchised stores early in the model year, but were overflowing at the factory stores, which are far fewer in number. However, the franchisees would gladly take an "ordered car" with half cash up front. I don't know if DC (or anyone else) still has "factory stores," a setup where the dealer simply owns the physical dealership and shop and the corporation "floors" the car without the dealer buying it up front, but Chrysler depended on them back in the late '50s and in the '60s to move a lot of cars. When Chrysler started getting into trouble, it was interesting to see the differences in inventory between franchisees and factory lots. Ford also used a lot of factory retailer stores years ago, and that's where, in the '40s, Iacocca learned about how dealers who were paying the flooring costs on new product would "work the system." From what you say, it sounds like the "bank" is back, and reports on CNN and in the press also say that DC has been "banking" cars and trucks all over Michigan again...a very bad inventory control problem of which old timers at Chrysler should already be wary. One problem Daimler seems to be having is realizing that the US sales network is NOT like that in Germany.
