Crossfire Continues on Life Support Despite Slow Sales

When Chrysler brought its premium-grade Crossfire coupe to market in 2003 as a 2004 model, there were more than a few that questioned its potential for success. Even at the launch programChrysler’s executives talked more about the car being an image builder for Chrysler, and an example of the brand’s cooperative development with then-owner Mercedes-Benz (a.k.a. Daimler), than anything about sales volumes.

It didn’t take long for deep incentives to make it clear that North American sports car buyers who were already buying up Audis, BMWs, Porsches, and the Mercedes-Benz that this car is based upon in record numbers, weren’t ready for a compact Chrysler in the mid-$30K range ($34,495), therefore a stripped version hit the market at under $30,000. Heavier incentives followed, yet even with massive discounts Chrysler’s little SLK re-body was so unpopular in the first quarter of 2006 that it managed to top the coldest seller list by staying on dealer lots an average of 302 days, which was longer than any other car sold in North America according to J. D. Power and Associates’ Power Information Network. For good reason production was suspended later that year, or as a Chrysler spokesperson stated the company “stopped taking orders (for seven or eight months) inNorth America to balance the inventory”. Model year 2006 and 2007 Crossfires sat in storage in Europe before shipments resumed this spring, yet even with sales back on track they’re extremely slow this year, with last year’s volume at only 8,216 units, just over half of what 2005’s Crossfire managed, at 14,665 sales.

So, with Cerberus Capital Management now in control of Chrysler Group and a long list of ex-Auburn Hills execs advising the new owner of what to keep and what to kill, does the Crossfire stand a chance? Not only will a 2008 model be produced, but it will get a tire pressure monitoring system and other minor changes. Why would the troubled carmaker soldier on with such a slow seller?

You might find it surprising to find out that Chrysler is happy with the Crossfire’s sales performance, with one of the car’s engineers, Allan Mecca stating, “We’ve beenoutselling the Audi TT”. This may be true, yet what Mecca leaves out is that the TT is selling for tens of thousands more than the Karmann-built Crossfire, and making a profit for its Ingolstadt producer. Nevertheless he added, “In our mind, it’s meeting expectations.”

Despite its reprieve from the proverbial pasture, it’s unlike that the Crossfire will continue to be built for much longer than 2008, with most analysts expecting Chrysler’s new management to focus more on core models than expensive side projects. If Chrysler does choose to go the sporty route again, expect something larger and with V8 power such as the Firepower concept coupe that debuted at the Detroit auto show in 2005.