Car, Truck Of The Year Announced
And The Winners Are...
DETROIT, 10:01 a.m. EST January 8, 2001 -- The Chrysler PT Cruiser and the
Acura MDX have been chosen as the North American Car and Truck of the year,
in voting by a panel of journalists.
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automotive section.
The awards were announced Monday morning at the North American
International Auto Show in Detroit.
The PT Cruiser has been a rare bright spot this year for Chrysler. The
automaker has sold almost 92,000 of them in the United States.
Chrysler actually stopped taking orders on the car until later this year.
It also canceled orders for some customers, who had waited for months for
the cars.
The PT Cruiser beat out the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius for the
award.
The MDX is the first entry by a Honda-owned line in the luxury SUV market.
It beat out the Ford Escape and the Toyota Sequoia.
Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Related Story: I was at the "no star" Simi Valley Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep
last week dropping my truck off for the recall. While waiting for my wife
to pick me up, I roamed around the lot. The dealer actually had two of the
glorified Neons on the lot. I came to a Silver Limited Edition PT Cruiser
first and checked out the sticker (which was on the window upside-down),
the sticker read in 24K neighborhood. Mona, the salesperson (and I'm
restraining myself from what I really call her since I almost strangled her
during negotiations) who sold me my Dak, recognized me and came over to say
hi. She saw me looking at the sticker and told me they just got this one in
and they hadn't marked it up yet. They would be asking $32,000 for the car,
but they would negotiate.
My thought: What person in their right mind would pay 8 grand above sticker
for what is basically a Neon powertrain and frame packaged in attractive
racked body (or at least original if you're not into the appearance). If I
had the inclination to spend $32,000 on a vehicle, I think I could find
something out there where I would get a heck of a lot more bang for my
buck. Hell, at 24K I know I could get something that was more than just a
novelty car.
I understand supply and demand, but it bugs me that the dealer would mark
the car up so much (knowing how this dealer operates it does not surprise
me) and it bugs me even more that some dumb smock, who just can't wait
until the supply catches up with demand, will pay the 32 grand.
Car of the Year? More like rip-off of the year.
I'm now stepping off the tailgate of my truck that was serving as my
soapbox (and giving this a little Dak content)
-- Miles Harris III Simi Valley, CA 01 Silver Dakota CC Sport, 2.5L, 5speed 01 Gold Saturn SC1 (3 door coupe) 1.9L SOC, 4speed auto
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