I recently got to spend a few days back in Berlin, right by my old neighborhood, and I was surprised at how many American cars I saw there (more than zero) and how many were Chrysler Sebrings (most of them).
If there was a contender for the number two spot, it’d be Jeeps. In the city’s trendy Mitte neighborhood, you didn’t have to walk too many blocks before spotting a new Renegade or an ‘80s XJ Cherokee. A genuine WWII Jeep passed me one afternoon, looking like it had forgotten that the war was over. Teslas were common, too. I don’t know if everyone will ditch theirs when Porsche and Mercedes finally start building their high-end EVs, but for now Tesla is the only player out there.
Well, Tesla and Fisker. I followed the above slate-grey one around town for two days, inadvertently going to the same places, walking by the same spots.
But it’s the Sebrings that stood out the most, burned brightest into my memory. A guy in his ‘90s droptop, V6 singing as he tried (and failed) to make a yellow light near the city’s embassy area. A soft-top LeBaron parked near the old baths in the city’s trendy-young-families neighborhood. Another ‘90s Sebring passing a Model S near an arterial train station.
Maybe it’s a lesson that American cars can be wonderful and attractive to event he most traditionally particular buyers, if they at least offer something no other car countries do. Offroaders. Electrics. Affordable and comfortable convertibles.
Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of these Sebrings, mostly out of shame. But trust me, they’re there.