Synergy used to be a perfectly inconspicuous word tucked 1452 pages deep into Webster's New World. We never used it for fear of sounding like a guy who would use a French term when a perfectly serviceable English term would do.
It means "combined or cooperative action or force." Things working together. Nothing confusing there. It's just that in the orgy of automotive mergers and acquisitions of the '90s, we would almost daily hear some suit say something like: "Can you get your head around thinking outside the box regarding synergies?"
Few companies reached for that word more often than DaimlerChrysler. As a corporate catch phrase, it was de rigueur. Of course, when you're talking about car companies and synergies, you're talking about co-developing and sharing parts. So if all the synergy talk sounded a bit hollow between the 1998 merger and now, it's partly because it takes several years to develop a new car.
Now we are to believe that the car pictured on these pages is the embodiment of the word. "Route 66 meets the autobahn," says Chrysler. This is not entirely accurate.
True, under the hood of the 2004 Chrysler Crossfire two-seat sports coupe, with its winged Chrysler badge, reside mechanical bits from Mercedes-Benz, another company owned by DaimlerChrysler. But because the Crossfire uses the existing Mercedes SLK320 platform (including suspension pieces, engine, and transmission), the creation of the Crossfire is less a cooperative effort than a rebody.
The real synergies will arrive with the so-called LX sedans that replace the LH cars (Chrysler 300M and Concorde and Dodge Intrepid) beginning next year. Those cars will use about 20-percent Mercedes hardware but will feel less like existing Mercedes cars, says Chrysler.
With the Crossfire, Chrysler is betting that styling and suspension tuning will sufficiently differentiate its new Audi TT-fighting coupe from its donor car.
And although the Crossfire is built on the SLK-roadster platform, it looks nothing like a Mercedes. Chrysler was intent on making it look quintessentially American, pointing out art deco design touches such as the ribs on the hood. This Americanness, the company hopes, will help sell the car in Europe. We're not sure exactly what constitutes quintessential American design anymore, but we will say the Crossfire is striking and endlessly interesting to behold.Continued...