Who designed the Chrysler Crossfire? The original "concept" coupe exterior was designed by 25 year-old Erik Stoddard, a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art. The Chrysler Crossfire roadster became the 500,000 design patent approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which protects a products appearance from being copied for up to 14 years. The roadster took 24 months to design according to Joe Dehner, director of design studies for DaimlerChrysler in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The coupe's exterior features creases in the sheet metal that are the inspiration for its namesake. Chrysler began building Crossfire in Germany, in conjunction with Karmann, a long-time Chrysler partner which also built the Mercedes SLK on which the Crossfire is based. Chrysler engineers did a substantial amount of retuning, so that even some German magazines consider the "American" version to be superior to the original (SLK).