Chevy HHR - Hideous Huge Rip-Off

A long time ago in a galaxy far away, VW made the new Beetle. This is turn started a strange trend of retro cars, few of which are all that inspiring. When the PT Cruiser debuted people loved it and hated it. I'm on the fence.

Chevrolet got on the bandwagon with the SSR - a slow selling, um, thing. It was a sports car that wasn't because it was a pickup, and it was a pickup that wasn't because it tried to be a sports car (with a reeeeeally long truck). I was on the fence with the styling of that one too.

They they had an idea - lets make a PT Cruiser clone! It's successful! And so it isn't plagiarism, lets hire the guy who designed the PT! So out pops the HHR. Of course, directly compared they don't look like each other that much, but in theme and execution they're identical. They even have acronym/letter names! I don't recall what "PT" stands for, but it has to be better than the HHR's ridiculous acronym's meaning: Heritage High Roof. Ironically, the Ford Thunderbird was spawned in a similar way - the guy who designed the New Beetle designed it. Look closely at the style of the front air damn and the tails and you'll see the similarities.

But I'm off topic. My real meaning for posting was the remarkably similar rear and 3/4 views of the HHR and the Durango. I wonder if the PT guy designed the Durango too?