By Edward Niedermeyer
May 21, 2008
It turns out that Chrysler does have assets worth selling. Automotive News (sub) reports that Mercedes has agreed to purchase Chrysler's recently-shuttered Pacifica design center in Carlsbad, California. The 35k square foot building was listed at $7.3m, but with neither side commenting on the terms of the sale, one has to assume that Mercedes (once again) took advantage of its erstwhile partner. Mercedes already has a design studio some 51 miles away, in Irvine CA. At less than half the size of Pacifica, the Irvine design studio will likely merge into the newly acquired building, although Stuttgart is staying mum on the topic for now. Pacifica was responsible for some of Chrysler's most successful designs, from the 300 to the Challenger, from the Plymouth Prowler to the eponymous Pacifica. Of course they also designed the Dodge Intrepid and the Jeep Compass, so… maybe it's not a huge loss after all.
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POWERED
May 21st, 2008 at 2:21 pm
The caption on the pic says that the Pacifica name is “now oh-for-two”. But actually it was first used as a trimline for the Dodge Daytona fwd sport coupe. The Daytona Pacifica was the equivalent to the Camaro Berlinetta and the Firebird Esprit – a sport coupe with touches of luxury.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The same year the Pacifica debuted at the Detroit car show, MB had their R-class there just to do one better. (??) Looks like we can count on seeing more heavy-ass, heavily discounted minivans from MB. Damn.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Will M-B rename it the R-class Design Center, to stay consistent with the theme of naming it after failed minivan wannabes?
May 21st, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Good for Chrysler, as I’d leave California too.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Good for Chrysler, as I’d leave California too.
I don’t know what California has to do with this, but if you compare the fortunes of the two automakers, I’d say California is better off for having Mercedes instead Chrysler…
May 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
“Of course they also designed the Dodge Intrepid and the Jeep Compass, so… maybe it’s not a huge loss after all.”
Although any idiots knows how much of a fucked up idea the Compass is, what was wrong with the Intrepid? Both generations were great designs.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Did MB buy a building, or are they keeping the talent too? Big difference.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Why would they keep the talent? They worked for Chrysler, so they must be second class talent, just like the rest of the company. No, only genuine Mercedes employees can design a Mercedes car. Mercedes is the the ultimate. They have nothing to learn from any other maker or it’s employees.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I’m guessing building, as the talent has already been moved.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Is it fair to blame the Pacifica design center for the Jeep Compass? I think the blame lies with the executive that told them to take the Dodge Caliber platform and make it look like a rugged Jeep but come in at a $18k price point and 27 MPG highway figure.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:31 pm
“Why would they keep the talent? They worked for Chrysler, so they must be second class talent, just like the rest of the company. No, only genuine Mercedes employees can design a Mercedes car. Mercedes is the the ultimate. They have nothing to learn from any other maker or it’s employees.”
Yes Benz showed the true depth of their talent by
destroying Chrysler in less than a decade. Man they sure are the “ultimate” something, but it sure as heck isn’t first class talent!
May 21st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
windswords I hope this doesn’t fall under the definition of flaming but you’ve got to be kidding. I had a C-Class and it was so bad I threatened legal action against Mercedes once (they caved and fixed under warranty like they should have in the first place) and then followed through with another suit a year later, which they settled. And MB consistently ranks in the bottom of CR’s quality surveys. We used to have Intrepids in our sales fleet, and not a one of them was as bad as my car. Mercedes laid waste to Chrysler, not the other way around.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
” Of course they also designed the Dodge Intrepid and the Jeep Compass, so…”
Bah..those were probably designed by summer interns.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:56 pm
“Pacifica was responsible for some of Chrysler’s most successful designs, from the 300 to the Challenger, from the Plymouth Prowler to the eponymous Pacifica.”
Really, the building designed cars, wow! That must be one of those top secret artificial intelligence projects.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:43 am
Why is it so hard to sense sarcasm? Maybe I should use the /sarcasm tag in my posts.
(If anyone is a regular reader here you know how I feel about Dumbler and their “merger of equals” with Chrysler and also how I feel about Dieter (aka Dr. Z, but really Mr. Hyde)).
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:56 am
windswords…my apologies. But sarcasm can be difficult to detect over the internet.