In a way, I'd also have to agree with HDDP.

I was hoping that the article in AEI was more of a third-party technical tear-down and analysis but it reads more like an editorial piece and, I might be wrong, but back in 2003 when the car was launched, I doubt that anyone at DC was allowed to publicly comment that the Crossfire was an SLK with different dressing.

While I would say that the Crossfire is a unique car, different from the SLK but it shares enough of the key components with the SLK more to be a brother than a distant cousin, but not a clone in the pure sense of the word.