The next time you run into some car guys at a show, cruis-in. cars and cofee etc. and the conversation eventually turns to how the XF is going to be remembered by the status quo. Here's some interesting statistics to throw out there.

Pontiac Fiero 370,167
Honda S2000, 110,000 built.
1st. Generation Viper, 105,000
Opel GT, 103,463
Chrysler Crossfire, 76,047
2nd, Generation Ford Baby Bird, 68,098
Pontiac Solstice 65,724
1st Generation Baby Birds, 53,166
Saturn Sky, 34,415
Buick Reatta, 21,751
Cadillac Allante, 21,430
AMC AMX, 19,134
Plymouth Prowler, 11,702
DeLorean, 9,200
Chrysler Maserati TC, 7,300
Ford Pantera, 7,200
Ford GT, 4,038
Bricklin, 2,854
Authentic AC Cobras, 998
Nash Healy, 504
Kaiser Darrin, 435

 

I never fully understood why our cars are considered sales flops. The xf production numbers in what was a five year run actually stack up very well if you look at the list. On the other hand they are more rare than 1st gen Vipers and the s2000 which had longer production runs.

 

Very interesting and useful info!

Thanks!

Mary Ann & Bob

 

If you only look at the list, sure. But if you look at other stats, not so good:

1) Some sat on dealer lots for over two years - the industry does not like that.
2) A TREMENDOUS number were sold well below sticker price, I mean REALLY below sticker price, like over 1/3 off.

 

This car was plain and simple a marketing flop, a bad idea from a business perspective. The car was priced between $40K - $50K with the exception of the base model, which at that point were trying to adjust the price. Nobody was going to pay that kind of money for a car with a Chrysler badge when for a few more thousands you could get the SLK with the MB badge. I paid almost 50% list on my roadster, and knowing I was getting a MB for that kind of money, yet sexier was an easy choice. At the end we have a great car, and a great following. As I see it, we benefited from the blunder.

 

One of dodges most rare would be the Lil' Red Express pickup . Less than 7300 made in 78 and 79 !!!!! Fastest production vehicle availible in América those two years !!!

 

Well said...

 

Some of the most fun cars around were flops in the marketplace (though with 76,000 produced over five model year I don't think it fits that category) - in four years Buick produced 22,000 Reattae with about 2,500 convertibles mostly because of the same issue, prices about the same as Crossfires but 15 years earlier.

Personally have always liked relatively small two seaters with "interesting" engines, preferably a six & every decade or so there are enough improvements to make a new look advisable.

What does surprise me is that the interior seems to be a 3/4 sized replica of what is really needed. Thought I had gotten it close but an hour's drive felt cramped, I may need the sawzall after all or may need to rebuild the seat. (Just bought another driver's seat to experiment with.

For the height impaired it is probably wonderful but at 5'10" I feel like I am unfolding from a clown car, something I never felt in a Fiero (the car you wear).

So I want to like it, Ireally do but one thing I require of my cars is the ability at any moment to head up the turnpike, make a right at Wildwood, a left at Lake City and on 'til I reach the left coast.

With the Crossfire, I don't think so. Yet.

 

I couldn't agree more !!!!

 

Well said. For us, we were happy to pay $40k in April/05 for our gorgeous Aero Blue Roadster Limited, even when our salesman (personal friend) rumored that they were slow sellers and backing up in storage on the east coast. Did not know much about MB, but wanted one and we didn't need no stinking badges. We think that Daimler/Chrysler did a terrible job of marketing! To this day, we get admiring looks and comments/questions often from folks who don't know who built it. If it had the Big Badge, they probably wouldn't say anything. Bottom line: we bought it just to enjoy it! Happy New Year All! and Thanks for this great forum and all your help along the ride!

 

Don't think you can say it was a marketing flop with over 70,000 sold particularly if you do not know why it was produced in the first place or what the marketing goals were.

MSRPs were not that high for a luxury two seater, probably more sales were lost to people who could not easily enter and exit than to price. Also its lack of visible electronics thoroughly dated it to the last century

Particularly when other than the exterior sheet metal most of it was parts and tooling left over from earlier models. Cannot think of any other reason for the absurd gearing or a fairly mild engine that requires premium fuel.

I have seen the same thing happen in other low volume cars when elements like seats and powertrains are carried over from other cars and do not make much sense for the application particularly in this country. Guess we should be glad the coupe did not have a sunroof of headroom would have been nonexistent.

For me it was a matter of wanting a later Fiero GT and ceasing to be pure GM. Paid a little but not much more than for a late Fiero and really think I have a much better car.

Do suspect it was more a matter of Chrysler needing a halo car that was not quite as over the top as a Viper, more practical than a Prowler, and yet requiring the least amount of scarce engineering & tooling dollars.

Is interesting to think of what a more modern Crossfire would be like with a 305hp regular fuel DOHC Pentastar, a six speed with more appropriate ratios for American highways and a rear interior crossmember shortened by four inches so the seat could go all of the way back when reclined. Add an 8.4" display in the console with a digital dash and you would have something salable.

 

That may all be well and true but, the biggest issue with marketing was the breakup of Daimler and Chrysler. The car was a cyborg mongrel with it's creators in divorce court. And neither Chrysler or Benz wanted to support, much less pursue, the project.


Most car buyers have little knowledge or care about what is actually going on under the pretty skin. they depend on the source, the factory and it's dealers, to stand behind it and keep it running well. this arrangement was uncomfortable.


Only gear heads who understand the unique reality, as you described here, of the car's intrinsic value are seriously interested in the Crossfire for what it is.. I still hear sales people misspeak about the inner components of the car and it's percentage of MB vrs Chrysler components and heritage. I suspect a majority of buyers, especially today, have no idea of the car's true pedigree.


It's sporty and it's cheap. They buy it for what they believe it to be. Sporty and cheap.

 

You'd have something I wouldn't buy. Never liked Chrysler products and don't today. I bought the AMG engine plain and simple. I like the outdated suspension just fine. It works for me. The rest I like, is the design of the body. This was outside of most of Chrysler thinking for the time, and they soon lost that designer who moved on. That is why I dislike the Sebring grille so much. It reminds me of a Chrysler. The car was designed body wise by a contracted design team, whom I am sure are all long gone, and built by contract at the Karmann plant. Some parts were provided by the old suspension of MB but not all, and certainly the engines. I'm not sure what both sides were thinking when they built this car, but I wouldn't want it any other way. It is what it is and won't be changed or built ever again by long gone owners... Karmann is done, and Chrysler has new owners, and MB laughed all the way to the bank with the profits.

 

I am curious how many members here bought their Crossfires new in 2004 and 2005. These were the two best sales years and I was wondering if the dealers were selling the XF at huge discounts during those years or were they selling them at sticker or above like they tend to do with new models (Roadsters/SRT'S). I have a '05 Base Roadster and I was wondering what it might have sold for when it was new.

 

When you could buy a brand new coupe for around $20,000 in 2006/7 I think you can say it was a flop.

 

I find it interesting that the build numbers between the Fiero and Crossfire are so close. My last two-seater was an '86 Fiero GT, just like this one:





Man that was a fun car to drive! That mid-engine really handled well, not to mention it was a stick. But after driving it daily for ten years, I swore I'd never buy another two-seater. But then came along the Crossfire. And, the SRT-6 shares similar wing to the GT.

 

I purchased our 04 Crossfire brand new in late March of 2005 off EBAY. I got it for $21,700.00. A week earlier the same dealer sold a new black 04 with a cedar slate interior, and 6sp. (like ours) for $19,500.00.
The window sticker was just under $36K on both of them.
It's one of the best automotive bargains I ever made, I'm totally satisfied with how it performs, and the way it looks. I hope to add another Crossfire to our collection eventually, looking for just the right one.
There is no other new car on the market today (that I can afford) that could hold my attention as long as the Crossfire still does. The Sabaru BRZ is close, but I still like the XF more, for $10k less.

 

XJken. My roadster window sticker was 51k and some change. I paid 25K as it was coming off a 2 yrs lease by the 1st owner. My coupe listed for 50k and I gave 15.5K coming off a 3 yr owner. So the prices were heading down. I had looked at a brand new coupe n/a on the lot that was marked down to 36k, dealer offered it me for 24. That was in '07. So, marketing flop, I would say was certainly there, as many even today didn't know anything about the car. Most of the performance press put the car down. Hell, they didn't even know the true HP of the SRT6. Lied about it being old parts, left over from other makes. Many cars share similar suspension parts, shocks, struts, spring rates, etc. So marketing had a lot to do with it. Being disowned by MB didn't help. Being compared to a cheap Chrysler didn't help either. Chrysler I think wanted an expensive sports car like the Viper. Well, they should have been at the drag strip and round tracks beating up on the Viper to prove their worth, and that never happened. It happens today. The Viper is a beast and I would own one in a minute, but for a 6 banger, the XF holds it's own.

 

I love my Crossfire...I don't care what anyone else thinks. If I cared, I would be $45,000 poorer for an "accepted" car that is to my eye not nearly as good looking or fun as this SRT6 Roadster. I got a timelessly styled very rare car because other people decide that value is based on what other people think. I don't. I win.

 

Bottom line, that's all that matters.