It has two doors, and an iconic, compact design.
EISENSTEIN: This car really has done a great job of reading what the consumers want these days.
Auto expert Paul Eisenstein publishes TheDetroitBureau.com.
EISENSTEIN: Whether you’re talking about its performance which is pretty good depending on who’s behind the wheel. It has a lot of really nice features. You don’t have to worry about these vehicles breaking down. In this case, the driver might break down a little bit. Get a little tired and have to count on mom and dad.
Wait, mom and dad? Yes, the nation’s best selling car is the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe: that molded plastic yellow and red sub-subcompact with countless fans like three-year-old Audrey Kuntz of North Royalton, OH.
Audrey says that when she’s behind the wheel of the Cozy Coupe, it sounds like this:
AUDREY: Beep, beep, beep, beep, vroom vroom vroom!
REPORTER: What’s your favorite thing about the car?
AUDREY: That I ride around…that I like to ride!
The Cozy Coupe is delightfully low-tech and environmentally friendly. No gas or batteries, it’s powered by a toddler’s legs or a parent’s push.
The Little Tikes factory in Hudson, Ohio runs 24 hours a day, cranking out a Cozy Coupe every minute. Sales have remained strong, moving over 450,000 of these cute plastic cars every year in the US. That’s more than runners up in the sales race: the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord.
Bill Holcomb is the plant manager.
REPORTER: So how does it feel to be in an auto factory that’s actually doing pretty well in Ohio right now?
HOLCOMB: Well, it feels very nice. The Cozy Coupe isn’t subject to the same woes that Chrysler and GM are subject to today.
REPORTER: No bailout money here.
HOLCOMB: No bailout money.
The little car has only gone through a few minor facelifts in its lifespan. Little Tikes executive Tom Richmond says the biggest change actually came this year with a new front end that looks like a happy face, with big cartoonish eyes.
RICHMOND: We’ve given Cozy a personality. He has a full length video. He has eyes, he has a mouth; we’ve humanized him.
And don’t forget those new cupholders.
RICHMOND: Of course those are primarily for mom and dad (laughs), but also a great place for sippy cups and so on.
As the Cozy Coupe celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, it entered automotive history.
Last weekend, the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland inducted the Cozy Coupe into its permanent collection. Museum director Allan Unrein says it deserves to be among the historic Model T’s and Packards.
UNREIN: This, of all the cars I’ve ever seen in my life, that’s the only one everybody aspires to. That’s the Cozy Coupe.
Unrein says that when the kids came for the induction, he realized the beleaguered auto makers could learn a thing or two from the Cozy Coupe when designing their new models.
UNREIN: Sometimes they become too appliance-like. They just lost that emotional appeal where there is emotional appeal. Those kids who were riding around, I can take it from them and they’re all sad and crying, you know. I can take your Honda away from you and you’re not going to be sad and crying. I’ll find something else or whatever.
No wonder Honda and Toyota can’t compete. Oh, and maybe the fact that the Cozy Coupe sells for the low-low price of $49.