The new Chrysler Crossfire, a stylish, sexy little coupe, will almost certainly match or exceed its modest sales targets. It may also put a slight dent in the sales of the Audi TT, Honda S2000, Porsche Boxster, BMW Z4, Alfa Romeo GTV Spider, and Nissan 350Z. But the new two-seater, very much a Mercedes SLK in disguise, has a secondary and much more important role, writes Neil Winton.
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The Crossfire must be more than just a great car. It has to excite the public, mainly in the U.S., and help make them believe that Chrysler is no longer a run-of-the-mill, faceless car company, but a manufacturer of high quality, charismatic, must-have cars.
Chrysler puts it this way. “Within the next two years, Chrysler brand will have refreshed and remade its entire line-up and introduced incremental and all-new vehicles. The new Crossfire will elevate the brand and further solidify its premium positioning”.
Disciplined pizzazz
“Delivering disciplined pizzazz”, is Crossfire’s role, according to Chrysler’s public relations machine. That’s the ambition for Chrysler. The reality, so far, has been rather different. The merger in 1998 of Daimler Benz, maker of upmarket Mercedes cars, with perennially ailing Chrysler, was aimed at transforming the American company into a high-quality mirror of the German firm.
Chrysler was always the member of the US “big three” that seemed to be closest to extinction every time the US economy took a downturn. An injection of capital and engineering expertise from the Germans would mutate Chrysler into a company that no longer had to sell its cars as mere commodities in a cutthroat market place.
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By GlobalDataChrysler dealers wouldn’t have to use crude things like incentives, discounts, or cash-back to sell its cars. Like, say, Honda, the sheer quality and desirability of Chryslers would have the public camped out on dealer forecourts desperate to pay the full asking price, not like those common hagglers up the road from Ford and General Motors.
DC lost two thirds of its value
Unfortunately this scenario is still in utopia for DaimlerChrysler shareholders. The dream has been replaced by the reality of a share price that has lost two-thirds of its value since the merger with Chrysler. That’s the value of the combined company.
DaimlerChrysler management continually claims that success for Chrysler is just around the corner. Then another bombshell drops. Only last month an embarrassed Chrysler chief executive Dieter Zetsche announced that, sorry, but the €200 million profit expected in the three months ended June 30 had turned into a €1 billion loss. The hoped for rejuvenation in the market after the Iraq war simply didn’t happen. The $2 billion in operating profit planned for 2003 was also scotch mist.
“It will be better in 2004. I strongly expect that we (Chrysler) will be in the black,” Zetsche said in an interview with Germany’s Welt am Sonntag.
Pacifica missteps
Chrysler’s marketing missteps with its new Pacifica “crossover” six-seater station wagon, an “entirely new proposition in premium automotive transportation” don’t augur well for the balance sheet.
This is one of Chrysler’s new wave products planned to electrify the public. Unfortunately sales flopped. According to US auto consultancy Autodata, 2,471 Pacificas were sold in May, with 19,629 in stock, and 214 days of supply available.
According to Mark Fulthorpe, analyst with CSM Forecasting, the Pacifica, an upcoming saloon called the 300C, and the Crossfire, are the first of strongly design-led products from Chrysler. “These vehicles share a lot of the cues that are there on the Crossfire. But the Pacifica is off to a dreadful start; they are already worried about sales levels. Chrysler has gone out with this strong design policy, and wants to leverage the technology from Mercedes, but it doesn’t seem to have been a hit with the consumer,” Fulthorpe said.
Crossfire crucial
“The Crossfire becomes important because it can be the product which proves the value of the new shared design and engineering with Mercedes not just in the U.S., but in Europe too,” Fulthorpe said.
If looks are crucial, then the Crossfire will be a winner. Although it uses the Mercedes SLK platform, suspension, and drivetrain, the body, designed by Chrysler, completely transforms the car’s personality. No longer a girlie, apologetic creature, the Crossfire is all aggressive macho.
Speedlines
The bonnet is long, with streaks or so-called speedlines streaming down from the bulbous windscreen. The curvy rear-end stops abruptly just behind the wheels. The front grille – “the new face of Chrysler” appears enigmatic. Fancy design cues are everywhere.
“The front-end of this coupe will engrain itself on the public mind as the new Chrysler face, and the way it drives will be the yardstick for future Chrysler products,” said Thomas Hausch, Executive Director of International Sales and Marketing, Chrysler Group.
The car is powered by a 3.2 litre, V-6 engine producing 215 bhp, borrowed from the Mercedes SLK. Standard equipment is impressive including powered leather seats, dual zone air conditioning, and remote keyless entry. The usual high tech safety features are all there with electronic ABS, Electronic Stability Programme, traction control, “thinking” air bags, thorax side air bags, and 4 halogen projector headlamps.
Howling, snarly
Journalists driving the Crossfire around the unlimited speed autobahns near Mainz, Germany, were able to test the top speed claims without worrying about speed cameras and police, and, yes, the car does go all the way to its limited 155 mph (204 kph). The rear-wheel drive car accelerates from 0 to 100 kph in 6.5 seconds. The engine makes a splendid howling, snarly noise under acceleration. The five-speed automatic version performed well, with instant kickdown when required. The six-speed manual is probably going to be the choice of Europeans and does its job neatly, although never getting to the sublime heights of the BMW Z4 gear change. On the unlimited sections of the autobahns, fifth gear brought up about 110 mph. The fat tyres gave a feeling of security at high speeds, and on the curvier roads along the stupendously beautiful Rhine valley. The steering was precise and secure and the car felt absolutely solid at high speeds. The car has bigger – 19 inch wheels at the back, with 18 inch wheels at the front – to give it a more aggressive stance.
Fails golf bag test
The dashboard was understated and classy, although some of the switchgear felt tacky. The spoiler on the rear, designed to add down-force and more grip to the car at speeds, automatically deploys at 90 kph, and this can be annoying if you are driving around this speed. Up and down, up and down goes the spoiler. You can turn it off if becomes tedious. The boot is hopeless small, and will fail the golf-bag test, even if you were strong enough to lift your clubs as high as the narrow little aperture.
Journalists like it, crowds fascinated
Reaction from journalists driving the car for the first time was pretty positive. The car attracted a lot of attention from other motorists. Crowds gathered at stops, and the reaction was mixed – one older gentleman saying the car was “bijou” (a small and delicately crafted ornament, usually a piece of jewelry, says my dictionary) another, more cynical reaction was “Zat is a second class Mercedes!”
Chrysler expects to sell 20,000 Crossfires in the first year, with 17,000 in the U.S. and most of the rest in Europe.
CSM Forecasting’s Fulthorpe expects that target will easily be attained and reckons that next year sales will hit around 30,000, falling back to between 20,000 and 25,000 for couple of years after that. Fulthorpe said Chrysler Europe will also get some glory from the halo effect emanating from the Crossfire. Last year Chrysler Europe sold about 100,000 cars, mostly Voyagers, Jeep Cherokees and PT Cruisers, with a smattering of Chrysler 300Ms and Sebring convertibles. In the first half of 2003, at 48,334, sales were 12 per cent down on the same period of 2002.
The Crossfire concept was first unveiled at the 2001 car show in Detroit, and the actual car has been toned down only slightly from this. Chrysler makes much of the short time – 24 months – it needed to bring the car from concept to market.
Thanks, SLK
That’s not so impressive when you remember the huge role that the SLK plays in the Crossfire’s DNA. But this is also reassuring for potential buyers, as will be the knowledge that the car will be built in Osnabruck, Germany, by Karmann. The car, already on the market in the US, goes on sale in Europe in the autumn, priced from around €37,200.
