Remember the Chrysler Airflite concept car?

http://www.auto123.com/en/info/news/...rtid=9211&pg=1

Crossfire styling details on a four door hardtop/hatchback family car. It worked surprisingly well. Chrysler has been very successful in the past translating concepts into production cars. Too bad their attempt at using Crossfire/Airflite styling details on the new Sebring is so awkward looking. I mean, what's up with all the panel seams and clunky door/window frames cluttering up the roof line? If they couldn't make a real hardtop like the show car couldn't they have used frameless door glass like Subaru or at least small "blacked out" window channels like VW and Mazda cars ?

These "mid-segment" sedans are really important to car makers. I have no need of such a vehicle but, as a Crossfire owner, it pains me to see styling details so obviously derived from my car applied in such an artless, clumsy fashion to a vehicle sold in such high volume. I know it sound snobbish but it reflects poorly on my beloved little Crossfire.

Slim

 

i like it. a nice family xfire.

 

Here are some other pics of the Airflite with the XF. This car could have become the Sebring, some will say it is the new Sebring, but I think the Airflite was a competitive design and I don't see the Sebring in it.

Click on image to enlarge.

 

Looks like an Altima.

 

Slim, I totally agree with you about the Sebring. They had the right idea trying to incorporate the aggressive styling into the Sebring but it just doesn't work. The way the lights are rounded in the top outside corners takes away from that sharp "don't mess with me" look of the XFire. Also the rear is just ugly. I don't think it would have been that difficult to follow the topflite design for this car. It would have made it much more appealing by just rounding out the back some. The Sebring runs in the same class as the Camry and other such midsize sedans. In my opinion the new Camry is more aggressive and sporty looking than the new Sebring which is sad, because Chrysler engineers were obviously trying to replicate XFire styling cues.

 

I guess I'm in the minority here but I like the new Sebring. I like the Crossfire-like front and I think the back end looks good. It's distinctive. It has much more character than the Chevy Impala or the Ford Fusion. I even like the interior. I think the convertible looks sharp, too. The press has been way too harsh on the Sebring. I got to check one out at a car show earlier this year and liked the styling. If I were in the market for a midsize sedan, I'd buy a Sebring Touring or Limited over an Impala, Fusion, Accord, or Camry.

There are some cars people rave about--like the G35--that do nothing for me. Automotive design is just another kind of fashion; everybody has their own tastes.

 

airflite = much better looking than the new sebring. reminds me of an acura tsx mixed with a crossfire and a new eclipse.

 

radmanly I will agree with you on one point... the Sebring convertible does look good. I saw it for the first time on the road last week and I had to take a double take to make sure it wasn't a XFire roadster. But alas upon closer examination it was not.