DETROIT — Having struggled to meet demand for its PT Cruiser, Chrysler now looks to see whether there's a market for a convertible version of the popular car.

        Next week at the New York Auto Show, the ailing DaimlerChrysler AG unit will debut a mock-up PT Cruiser convertible to assess whether there's enough public buzz to justify producing the topless, retro-styled car.

        “Basically, it shows what potential the PT Cruiser has for the future,” Sjoerd Dijkstra, Chrysler's senior manager of design and technologies, said Friday of the convertible “styling study.”

        The ragtop variation of the vehicle that resembles a gangster getaway car follows Chrysler's other auto-show concept derivatives, including the turbocharged GT Cruiser and the three-door PT Panel Cruiser van.

        A tall wagon wrapped in retro-styled sheet metal, the PT Cruiser has proven nearly too popular and a rare bright spot for Chrysler, which has sold 175,000 of the vehicles since the model's launch last spring.

        Demand blew away Chrysler's estimates of selling 70,000 PT Cruisers a year, prompting the company to stop taking orders, angering some customers and contributing to Chrysler's lingering financial troubles.

        Still, Mr. Dijkstra considers the runaway demand “wonderful.”

        “We've never had this, and it's definitely not a problem in our view,” he said.

        The vehicle is priced from $16,000 to $22,000, with the average sales price of $20,000.

        Mr. Dijkstra said the PT Cruiser “really strikes a chord throughout all ages.” Ninety percent of buyers are married, and six in 10 are men. Those snapping up the cars have a median age of 52 and $72,000 income, he said.

        Chrysler is waging a three-year, $3.9 billion turnaround plan, having lost $1.8 billion over the past two quarters and expecting to be in the red this year.

        As part of its revival bid, Chrysler has bumped up PT Cruiser production capacity at its Toluca, Mexico, plant to 180,000 units a year, up 100,000. The company also plans to ramp up by 50,000 the number of PT Cruisers made in Graz, Austria, for global distribution outside the United States, Mexico and Canada.

        “We do not want to anger our customers,” Dieter Zetsche, Chrysler's president, chief executive and point man behind the turnaround plan, said of the restructuring plan in February.

        To its credit, Chrysler has been adept at swiftly turning ideas into production vehicles, Autodata Corp.'s Ron Pinelli said. But he reserved judgment on the ragtop and its prospects if ever produced, saying it all rests with execution.

        “It's not a bad move, but it depends on what the public thinks,” he said. “The market's fickle, and there's a lot of consumer boredom out there. They're looking for the latest, greatest product.

        “In this market today, automakers who can bring out fresh product on a regular basis are the ones that will benefit. For consumers, something new is fresh bait, and they're gonna bite.”

        Chrysler also banks on heady sales of its new Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicle and popular, retooled Dodge Ram pickup trucks, both to be rolled out this year.

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