Few vehicles have been more universally panned than the Pontiac Aztek. While it was lauded for its versatile interior, people could not get past the exterior design. Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman of Global Product Development, often referred to it as an “angry kitchen appliance” or “angry toaster.”
Those were pretty harsh words from the man who pushed the Chrysler PT Cruiser on the buying public when he was at Chrysler. When I was at GM, Lutz made fun of the Aztek in company meetings whenever he could. He claims it was the reason he was hired–to fix the poor product designs that were common in the early 2000s
Not everyone shared Lutz’ opinion–I had a new 2003 model and loved it. It had some really cool features that I will share later. But first, let’s take a look at the basics and how the design evolved.
The Idea
The Aztek concept car was shown to the public in 1999, to a favorable reception. It was designed with the young and active Generation Xers in mind. With that demographic target, Pontiac designated it a “sport recreational vehicle.”
Using a shortened platform shared with GM’s minivans (Pontiac Montana and Chevrolet Venture), Aztek was marketed as a mid-size crossover SUV from model years 2001 to 2005 . Unfortunately, this platform sharing was part of its shortcomings.
The Reality
The 1999 concept vehicle took on a different shape in production, because the product team was forced to use the GM minivan platform to save cost. Even with that requirement, every attempt was made to keep the bold styling. GM Design Chief Tom Peters was emphatic on that point, declaring: “we wanted to do a bold, in-your-face vehicle that wasn’t for everybody.”
It seems GM achieved that goal, but not in the way they planned. The design was widely criticized by both the automotive press and just about anyone else with an opinion. The main fault was the gaudy gray body cladding, which accentuated the shortcomings of the exterior styling. The cladding was quickly replaced with smoother body colored body panels in the 2002 model year (as seen in the picture below).