Aussie Motoring

Earlier this month Chrysler in America announced that it would be stopping production of the Chrysler Crossfire and the PT Cruiser convertible. Of course by extension that means they’ll disappear from Australia too.

The Crossfire was supposed to represent the “synergies” between Daimler and Chrysler for many Crossfire components were shared with the Mercedes SLK but apparently something was missing and sales were not quite what Chrysler was hoping for.

One sports car enthusiast that I spoke to had looked at a Crossfire with a view to buying one but the $80,000 price tage for a car that offered a rather strange driving position (her opinion) was enough to make her change her mind.

I guess the fact that the only PT Cruiser convertibles I ever saw were in the rental car parks at various airports may have something to do with why Chrysler is dropping that vehicle from its lineup too.

You would hardly expect to find a brand new Commodore or Falcon going for a song on Pirate Pete’s Aussie Freebies now would you?

But if you were in America and happening to be surfing through Overstock.com just before Christmas last year you certainly would have seen this car going for a heavily discounted price.

Meet the Chrysler Crossfire a rather neat looking car that comes from Karmann in Germany. The 2005 model sold so poorly in the US that Chrysler resorted to the unusual sales ploy of selling them online through Overstock.com (the name says it all).

In fact so bad were the sales of the 2005 Crossfire that Chrysler will not be selling a 2006 model in the United States even though the 2006 Crossfire is being built in Europe.

The Crossfire is powered by a 3.2 litre V6 that certainly delivers some credible performance figures - but with a price tag of around $30,000 for the base model 6 speed manual coupe I guess it’s no wonder the Crossfire has not found much favour with the buying public in the US.

The Chrysler Crossfire is available in Australia with the base model coupe selling for $69,990 with your choice of auto or manual transmission