2004 Chrysler Crossfire

Styling is sports car All-American in its visual flare and long hood/short deck proportion. "In addition to romantic shapes and sleek, athletic lines, we gave Crossfire a unique new glass-to-body proportion," says Trevor Creed, Chrysler's Senior VP of Design. "We made the body sides tall while minimizing glass surfaces. We wanted to give the driver the feeling of being inside the cockpit of something very special, sporty, and serious."


Horizontally arranged projector beams replace the concept car's vertical headlamps, but the rest of its handsome face is pretty much intact on the production Crossfire. The big, bold egg-crate grille, capped by a full-width winged chrome badge, is Chrysler's new "signature" look, shared with the '04 Pacifica crossover SUV and others soon to come.


Visual character is plentiful. A "negative" (indented) side line begins just aft of the front wheel, crosses into a "positive" shoulder beneath the mirror, then sweeps rearward and inward to top the wide rear fenders. From there it slopes downward to incorporate the large flush taillamps and define the tapered tail. A sextet of grooves picks up the grille's vertical lines on the hood. Scoops behind the front wheels are set off by lovely chromed louvers reminiscent of those on the legendary Mercedes-Benz SLR sports cars of the 1950s.

A Porsche-like retractable spoiler below the rear window activates above 60 miles per hour.

Front wheels are big at 18 inches, rears bigger still at 19 inches. A Porsche-like retractable spoiler below the rear window activates above 60 miles per hour. The only styling question mark to our eyes is the thick chrome windshield surround, which blends in on silver Crossfires but seems jarring with other colors. One DC designer said they were going for a "convertible look" and had not carefully evaluated that feature with the full palette of colors.


The distinctive center spine along the length of the exterior continues inside, through the instrument panel, console, shifter, and even the headliner. Seats are trimmed in two-tone leather with the winged Chrysler badge embossed into both headrests. Instruments, controls and switchgear are mostly borrowed from the SLK, the gauges redesigned in stylish white-on-black with a metallic accent bezel and a chrome trim ring. The metallic look dominates the full-length center console and continues on the doors, steering wheel, and instrument cluster.