The Sunday Mail
TODAY is Fathers’ Day and one car stands out as a neglected bastard and orphan in the automotive industry. No “father”. No “mother”. Very sad. There is no better way to describe what was once a promising but failed product of Germany’s Daimler-Benz and America’s Chrysler – the Chrysler Crossfire.
Only 76 000 units were built for the global market (both left and right hand drives). Very poor sales indeed. The first car rolled off the assembly line in 2003 and the last one rolled off in 2008.
A “tormented victim” of strained Daimler-Benz and Chrysler relations in every sense.
However, since its production was discontinued, the Chrysler Crossfire still remains a souvenir of what could have been and a painful memory of a dream shattered by fate of a wrong union.
When relations strained between Chrysler and Daimler-Benz, neither Chrysler nor Daimler-Benz wanted to take ownership of the Crossfire.
Imagine, both your parents disowning you, it hurts doesn’t it? Ouch!
Initially, this car was being marketed as a car that was bringing out the best of two of the world’s giant car makers – Chrysler and Mercedes, but reports suggest that problems between the two car makers began when the Crossfire’s advertising campaign began projecting superiority of Germany’s craftsmanship over the Americans at a time when Mercedes-Benz quality ratings were falling while Chrysler had made gains in its quality ratings.
Above all, cultural differences and corporate culture played a significant role in the failed merger.
Okay, let me throw in a few figures to show you how this “marriage” irretrievably broke down.
In 1998, Daimler-Benz paid US$38 billion for Chrysler and the strained relations resulted in the fall of share price in the firm, resulting in another investor paying just US$7,2 billion for Chrysler.
However, while all this drama was happening in the boardroom with the hope of resolving issues, this did not deter the two from showing off their offspring (the Chrysler Crossfire) to the world.
Poor sales of the Chrysler Crossfire forced Chrysler to make a painful but necessary decision to discontinue the first product of the Daimler-Benz and Chrysler marriage just after five years in production.
It was pretty clear that this was bound to happen considering that Chrysler, one of the top three automotive brands in the United States, allowed their brand,Chrysler, to be built in Germany by a German firm, while they (Chrysler) were only restricted to design.
The Germans dictated that it (Crossfire) be built in Germany, be fitted with a Mercedes-Benz engine and gearbox amongst other issues. Being propelled by an SLK 320 engine, every part that, including bolts and clips in the Crossfire, are Mercedes-Benz parts.
Truth be told, the Crossfire is a Mercedes-Benz through and through though it has its own character and personality as it remains very American in design.
It has one of the most amazing sleek and aesthetic body designs but its cost of maintenance is also on the high end.
The Chrysler Crossfire was built by Karmann of Germany and never on American soil.
I guess it was the first and last American branded vehicle to be built on Germany soil.
Americans love Chrysler and they are proud of it, it doesn’t matter whether one is in Michigan or Chicago, Americans just love their Chrysler.
Same goes for the Germans, they just love their Mercedes-Benz brand.
That you cannot take away from the Americas and Germans.
Failure to take ownership of the Chrysler Crossfire by the Germans and the Americans when the cracks in their very short marriage began to widen led to the car being vulnerable to merciless attacks from the motoring paparazzi such that its sales were greatly affected, and hence, the price took a nosedive to alarming levels for such a beautiful car, a few years after its debut onto the global market.
While there was nothing really wrong about it being highly priced, the attitude of “German superiority” (whether real or perceived is another issue) over Chrysler led to the motoring paparazzi to go on a “slaughter campaign” of the Crossfire, in the process greatly affecting its price.
Some have criticised the Crossfire for being a Mercedes-Benz SLK “wanna be”. When it made its debut, the Crossfire was priced at par with the Mercedes-Benz SLK but it was viewed as being expensive for a “Chrysler”.
The first Chrysler Crossfire in Zimbabwe was bought through a local dealership by flamboyant businessman Dr Phillip Chiyangwa as soon as it was launched in Germany.
The few Crossfires that are in Zimbabwe were bought through Zimoco while some have made their long journey by sea from the United Kingdom to Zimbabwe, longing for whatever country could be home to them.
Chrysler designed the body of the Crossfire while Daimler supplied the 215 horsepower 3,2-liter Mercedes-Benz engines fitted into the Crossfire which makes it accelerate from 0-100 kilometres in just 6,5 seconds.
Another fiery supercharged 330-horsepower (not turbocharged) version of the Crossfire called the SRT-6 (Street and Racing Technology) was also unveiled to the global market although at a premium than its 3,2-litre peer. It came as a coupé and a roadster (convertible).
The drive-train comes in 5-speed Automatic and 6-speed Manual with cruise control.
The Crossfire doesn’t come with a spare wheel as it has two different tyre sizes.
The rear tyres are bigger than the front tyres. This is a concept that is found in Formula 1 cars. It has size 18 rims at the front and size 19 rims at the rear of the Rear Wheel Drive luxury sports car.
The challenge with this type of a car is that if you are to drive it on our roads, you definitely have to use run-flat tyres and, at the same time, not every tyre manufacturer makes the tyres for that particular vehicle and therefore they are pretty expensive to buy.
It is natural that when a car goes out of production, issues of parts and body panels become a concern to owners and would-be owners of that particular model.
There are reports that some insurance companies in other countries are now writing-off the Crossfire once it has been involved in an accident due to none availability of its spare body panels.
A very quick car, a very reliable engine, a very solid car and luxurious two-seater, the Crossfire is now a collector’s item.
As of last week, the most expensive Chrysler Crossfire with 12 000 kilometres on the clock was on the market in South Africa for R1 million. Although I feel the price was a bit on the high end, the price could be, to some extent, justifiable.
The sound system in this car is very impressive for an original car system but, look, you don’t need it as the sound from the two tailpipes that meet at the centre of the rear will blow you away.
I can confirm that the Chrysler Crossfire is very comfortable for short distances and very uncomfortable for long journeys due to its stiffer suspension as a luxury sports car.
However, it still remains a very reliable car and it comes with a speed sensitive rear spoiler that deploys automatically once you exceed 100 kilometres per hour in less than five seconds and folds back in when speed is reduced.
The purpose of the speed sensitive rear spoiler, coupled with the rear tyres (rear tyres are bigger than the front tyres), is to add down force of about 356 newton metres to the Crossfire and to give it added stability and ability to take curves at high speeds.
This is the same technology that you find in the Bugatti Veyron whose production began two years after the Chrysler Crossfire. With a top speed of 260 kilometres per hour, the Crossfire is electronically governed to 250 kilometres per hour.
Happy Fathers’ Day to all the fathers out there today as we also remember the Chrysler Crossfire dubbed, in motoring circles, as the “orphan” of the automotive industry.
