Originally Posted by driver1
I made the choice based mostly on the appearance of the car (interior and exterior) but a large part of it is working in a segment of the automotiive industry. It is very hard to own a vehicle without an American name on it. i.e. Mazda, Mitsubishi, BMW, etc.... If only for the fact that I would have to listen to EVERYONE I work with tell me about being a traitor and how I'm destroying our jobs,. With the Xfire, I get the German engineering with a big Chrysler badge so the uneducated have nothing to say but "Cool car man!" Never knowing it's hidden Mercedes heritage.
My boss is a mopar head. Him and a couple of guys at work gave me a little grief over buying it. The company is Daimler-Chrysler. To properly pronouce it remember that the Chrysler is silent. They where all up in arms about the "merger" that happened and how it was actually a take over that cost a lot of american jobs... I know that Chrysler Stock holders sued Daimler over the deal but am not sure that anything came of it. It was mentioned that this type of car (a SLK320 kit car) is just what they needed to do to push the Mercedes stuff into Chrysler and stop Chryslers from ever being built here again.
After they checked out the car they said it was a good deal but they could have got more if they slapped the Mercedes-Benz logo on it instead.
-marc