1802199801_Pronto “From pop bottle to automobile” is by no means a new theme for the Chrysler designers, who have already worked on two interpretations of it.

The first was the Pronto, a compact of ‘European’ dimensions, presented at the 1997 Detroit show; the second, the spartan CCV that debuted eight months later at Frankfurt.

Two practical examples that demonstrate the effectiveness of the build technology Chrysler is proposing, based, in fact, on the same plastic material used to make soft-drink bottles: polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

“We decided that one of the three concepts for Detroit 1998 would be an evolution of the Pronto project and, given its low cost, the idea of affordability,” explains Neil Walling, director of exterior and advanced design for Chrysler and Plymouth cars.

“With the CCV we took the idea to extremes. But, in America, an affordable car has to be cheap and desirable at one and the same time: hence the decision to do a car like the Pronto Spyder.”

The article continues in Auto & Design no. 108