At the risk of being super redundant here's my take on the Crossfire tale of woe.

• The Design - Eric Stoddard penned a stunning looker. Better than the SLK from every angle IMHO.
• The Pricing - $30 ==> $50K was precedent setting for Chrysler way back when. Many people were simply not prepared to pay those prices for a Chrysler.
• The Engines - A 215 hp 3.2L V6 did not help to justify the pricing of the Base/Limited models. The AMG engine was fully competitive in a 3,200 lb coupe.
• The Gearboxes - The SRT in particular suffered from the stigma of an automatic as the only choice. As good as this automatic is, many macho men simply wouldn't consider an auto transmission. That really eliminated a good number of potential buyers.
• The Interior - While not bad (I love the look), it never got the updates to keep it competitive with other brands that were getting nav screens and bluetooth, and satellite radio.
• The "Age" - Journalists loved to point out the "old hand me down" R170 chassis and recirculating ball steering. Never mind the coupe was a nice rigid platform at 3,200 lbs and the old style steering box is built rugged as hell compared to rack and pinion designs.
• The Marketing - What marketing? I don't think I've ever seen and ad for a Crossfire in print or on TV. Chrysler did nothing to educate journalists or the public. The public in particular was completely ignorant of what the Crossfire represented. And the SRT-6 was even more obscure. Nobody understood what SRT did for the car's braking and handling. The car was being sold in showrooms next to minivans and Jeeps. Chrysler and it's dealers simply didn't know what to do with this car.

I bought two new Pacifica Limiteds in 2006 and still have one of them. That's another Daimler Chrysler progeny sharing Mercedes design and parts that didn't sell well. I love the car and so does the family. But once again, the market wasn't willing to write a check for a $43K Chrysler people hauler and DC did very little to market the car.