PT Cruiser Special Brazil Edition: Yours For $38K Only!

by Marcelo de Vasconcellos

Published: May 15th, 2010

pt cruiser special brazil edition yours for 38k only

Brazil’s Chrysler is launching a special edition called the Decade Edition. Love the little retro wagon? Well come on down to Brazil, where for the cool little sum of $69,990 Brazilian reais (at 1.8 reais to the dollar, around USD$38,000) you can get your fix!

According to Brazil’s best known car rag, Quatro Rodas, for that tiny wee of money you’ll get a special logo glued on to the back lift gate with the saying, “Decade Edition 2000-2010”, not to mention a certificate of authenticity. Wait, there’s more!

You’ll also get specially designed 16 inch alloy wheels. Plus, the super well known (for its thirst) 2.4 engine good for 143hp that’ll get you from naught to 100km/h in a hair over 10 seconds. Give it a little time (and pray for favorable winds) and the thing will take you to a top speed of 171 km/h. Imagine, many puny 1.0L cars will be 5 km/h slower! The mighty mill comes mated to the super exclusive 4 speed auto transmission with sequential gear changes.

Not convinced yet? Chrysler do Brasil will throw in A/C, leather covered seats, power sun roof, radio with CD player and USB port, ABS, double airbags, and a driver’s seat that’s adjustable for height.

What are you waiting for? Haven’t you always dreamed of buying a PT Cruiser for a mere 38K?

Come on down! I’ll write you a note to prove to your wife that your trip was strictly for the car.

#Brazil #Chrysler #MarceloDeVasconcellos #PTCruiser

Marcelo de Vasconcellos

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12 of 33 comments

Pgcooldad on May 15, 2010

VW New Beetle for USD35,500, Fiat Cinquencento (500) for USD$32,700, Smart ForTwo for USD$33,300 Mini that goes for a cool USD$50,000 PT Cruiser Decade Edition USD$38,000 They are all overpriced. I don't see why Chrysler is being made out to be the bad guy by some here when the Smart ForTwo is going for a whopping USD$33,300! Marcelo, can you break down the price of the vehicles. How much is the actual cost of the car, taxes, and import tariffs? How much is the new Fiat Uno? And is it equipped comparably to the above cars? http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/new-fiat-uno-unveiled/ Obrigado, Paulo

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- Stingray on May 15, 2010
  
  Yes they're expensive. I think they're marketed as luxury items due to their design "uniqueness" I'm going to give you further context, an Aveo costs here about US$ 20K, an Optra (Forenza, Nubira, Excelle) goes for about US$ 32K. A Corolla is roughly US$ 40K. Those are "list" prices. The stealerships also put markups, but if they get caught by the government, they'll have to refund it to the customer. On the used market, a new Aveo goes for US$ 29K. The Aveo I'm mentioning is the so to say 1st gen one.
  
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- Marcelo de Vasconcellos on May 16, 2010
  
  In this caregory I'm sorry but this is the bad little duckling. All the other cars (except the new Beetle) get slapped w/ a 35% import tarrif. Cars that come from Mexico don't have to bear that extra cost. So what's up? Well, Chrysler banking on the avearage consumer's lack of reference.
  
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- Marcelo de Vasconcellos on May 16, 2010
  
  The new Uno starts at roughly USD$13,0000. If this were a 1st world market I'd say overpriced by at leat 50%. Being in the 3rd world hellhole we're in, I'd say yeah" Right on! Fact is, I'm thinking this (the new Uno) car will be such a hit 'cause among other reasons, but mainly pricing, the new Uno is right on. Right on the price most Brazilians expect to pay. It's gonna kill, kill, kill. In America it'd be grossly overpriced. But for Brazil, well, it's hit the sweet spot. Let's see. I'll be reporting on it.
  
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- Pgcooldad on May 16, 2010
  
  Ok, I see. Since Mexico has a free trade agreement with Brazil, the PT Cruiser should not have the 35% tariff, and the ridiculous price. I'm assuming the VW New Beetle is built in Brazil and it's priced so high because it's for the "High Class" people? So the Fiat 500 that is going to be build in Mexico should be reasonably priced and Fiat will have two hits in Brazil. It is going to be interesting to see the price of the 500 in the US and Canada versus Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, etc.
  
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- Stingray on May 16, 2010
  
  @pgcooldad I'm afraid we're not going to see both the Uno or the Cinquecento here in Venezuela until the government grants import licenses to the local Fiat distributor.
  
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- Windswords on May 17, 2010
  
  Marcelo, It's not my problem that your country overcharges such high tariffs for cars. I'm sure Chrysler would love to sell a PT or any car for a lower price as long as they made a profit. Instead of ripping on the PT maybe you should be ripping on political leaders and trade laws? Just a thought. By the way, the 2.4 I4 "Chrysler-Mitsubishi-Hyundai World Engine" makes 172 hp @ 6,000 rpm according to Allpar.com. If your not burning gas in that thing (ethanol?) than you need to state that. You make it sound like it has less horsepower than it really does.
  
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- Marcelo de Vasconcellos on May 18, 2010
  
  Hello Windswords, I'm actually pretty sure that the PT Cruiser runs only on gasoline here. Everytime someone adapts a vehicle to run on ethanol too, a big buzz is created 'cause it's a strong selling point. No such buzz on any Chrysler car. And I'm pretty sure that the site from which I gleamed the info from is accurate as it is a pretty reliable site. I myself was impressed at such bad numbers. Maybe it has to be detuned to run on the fantastic stuff known as Brazilian gasoline (which carries an average of 27% ethanol in every liter, an average yeah, as the government changes the formula every once in a while to suit the sugarcane planters). Like the first PTs we got down here has the 3speed transmission. In the US no more. So it seems everytime they have some overstocked parts they put something together and send it down here. As to the political part, you're right. But it wasn'r really relevant to the post. Nor Chrysler's situation in particular. Chrysler has abandoned this market twice (in the 70s Lee Iacoca'a retiring from world markets and in the 90s with the whole Daimler thing). To make it here they have to concentrate. And put out something that will resonate and have consequence in the market. For this car that'd be price as they are the weakest brand in the "retro" car market. And they could bring the price down as its produced in Mexico and doesn't pay the import tarrif. So this car, and I'm sorry for this since as a rule I like and respect Chrysler cars, all of Chrysler's operations down here seem like an afterthought. So the market reacts appropriately and basically ignores and sometimes pokes fun at them. Because this car has potential here. But not at those prices.
  
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Gsnfan on May 15, 2010

Is there a market for this type of car there?

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The_Bink on May 15, 2010

2000-2010 is 11 years. Is it a 'leap' decade?

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Jackalope30 on May 17, 2010

Hey Marcelo, is Brazil really a 'third world hellhole' as you put it? Is it that bad over there compared to the states?

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- Marcelo de Vasconcellos on May 18, 2010
  
  Hello Jackalope30 A little hyperbole of course. But it's all relative. I'm sure if you live in Switzerland and come down here and take a job as a, say, waiter and then go and live in a favela and experience the lack of health care, transport, security, you'll consider it a hellhole. But say you come from Rwanda, or even something closer to home, like Paraguay and Bolivia, you might feel like you actually have a future. At the same token, but on the flip side of the coin, if you come down here from a 1st world country, to work in a multinational, in a comfortable position, you might find live even more enjoyable than in Europe or the US (as your Euro and dollars buy a lot more services here). As we pistonheads like to say, YMMV.
  
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