I have to admit, modern Chrysler kind of fascinates me. It’s one car. It’s like the automotive equivalent of Vichy France or Brunei or Nicaea – a rump state. A strange and sad reminder of a once-proud empire, still clinging to the old heraldry and trappings of a time long since gone, lumbering on as a sort of ghost, a memory rendered in metal and rubber, getting by as best it can but desperately avoiding quiet moments of reflection when the full brunt of reality can no longer be ignored. It didn’t have to be like this.
The hows and whys that Chrysler ended up in this position are complex and could probably fill a book I’d put off reading, but that’s not why I’m talking about this right now. I’m talking about it because today we wrote about how Chrysler is now officially a one-car brand and that reminded me just how big and bold and visible Chrysler was with concept cars in the 1990s to early 2000s. It feels like for a while every car magazine I saw had some manner of exciting and delightfully overdone Chrysler concept car on the cover.
That was an exciting time! And I think on this day of being reminded of Chrysler’s contraction, it’s worth taking a moment to remember all the exciting and even romantic sorts of cars Chrysler was imagining for their future that never quite came to be. Well, some of it came to be, in some ways. Let’s just get into it.
Chrysler Chronos
I think what I like best about this period of Chrysler concept cars is that they all, generally at least, felt like they were operating from the same fundamental set of rules. And those rules seemed to be ones laid down by legendary designer Virgil Exner, head of Chrysler’s design throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was like someone in Chrysler’s design team managed to get hold of some of Exner’s ashes and had the entire design department snort a fat rail of Exner to get inspired.
And boy, did they get inspired; look at this 1998 concept, the Chronos. In some ways, this was one of the most direct Exner-golden-era-influenced cars.
The proportions and curves and whole design language really feel like the legendary Chrysler D’Elegance updated with a ’90s design vocabulary and stretched into a four-door sedan. I mean, look at the original:
Remember, the D’Elegance was also the car from which Volkswagen and Ghia cribbed the design for the Karmann-Ghia:
It was an exciting concept car! I desperately wanted big American sedans to look like that! That’s a future I could get into. I’d even consider dressing a little better if this is what cars looked like.
Chrysler Phaeton
In a similar vein, there was the Chrysler Phaeton in 1997, which sought to replicate the drama and presence of Chrysler’s Imperial Parade Phaetons, special open-topped cars specifically designed to ferry Terribly Important People around in parades and other contexts for the great unwashed to gaze upon them with wonder and reverence. You know, people like ambassadors and Poet Laureates and performers of the caliber of, say, Gallagher II.
The Phaeton had a retractable hardtop made by American Sunroof Company (ASC) and even featured a powered retractable rear-seat windshield and additional gauges for rear-seat passengers:
Even with the top up, this was still a pillarless hardtop design, and despite its considerable bulk and length, it was a strikingly elegant car. Though just a concept, this thing had a real drivetrain, two Chrysler LH V6 engines mated together to form one V12.
I think, more importantly, you see the pattern here, and it’s all about drama. Chrysler understood that our cars should be a little reminder that even if your day-to-day routine feels mundane, there’s no reason why you can’t at least pretend everything is more stylish and elegant and thrilling, right?
Chrysler Atlantic
I really love the Chrysler Atlantic, because it’s such an unhinged idea. Chrysler, in 1995, decided to make a modernized revival of the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantique, a legendary car they had absolutely nothing to do with. Oh, and there’s also a lot of Talbot-Lago T150 SS in this design, too, another car Chrysler had no hand in. Who does that? Sure, carmakers resurrect their old heritage cars all the time and attempt to revive them, but who tries to bring back a car they didn’t make?
Chrysler had no ties to Bugatti, yet they made one of the most exciting classic Bugatti revivals of the 1990s, or perhaps ever? Would Bugatti have been cool with this if they went to market? Did Chrysler (or maybe designer Bob Hubbach) even bother with a phone call to Bugatti to give a heads-up? I doubt it. They just did it, because it’s fantastic and dramatic, and I think they wanted more of that in the world.
They also made it run with a pair of Neon inline-four engines stapled together to form a very strange straight-eight engine that, allegedly, didn’t sound that great. Still, who cares? I love this absurd thing.
Chrysler CCV
You know what’s really nuts? The Atlantic wasn’t the only time Chrysler decided to just remake an old legendary car. In 1997, Chrysler decided they’d just go ahead and make a modern version of another iconic French car, but at the other end of the spectrum this time: the Citroën 2CV. They did the re-imagine-another-company’s-car thing again.
I’ve written about the resulting car before, the Chrysler CCV, an extremely clever and bold re-imagining of the 2CV. Chrysler’s concept was made from soda-bottle plastics and had a little V-twin Briggs and Stratton engine and was about as close in concept and soul to the original 2CV as one could get in the late 1990s. It never really went anywhere despite some daring plans, but it’s just another great example of how daring 1990s Chrysler could be.
Chrysler Citadel
This may be the closest one to what modern Chrysler has become, because, well, it’s a minivan, like 100% of the current Chrysler lineup is. But the Citadel, shown in 1999, isn’t exactly like current Chrysler, because the Citadel makes me kind of excited to be alive instead of feeling like maybe nothing really matters, like modern Chrysler does.
The Citadel was a take on the minivan that sort of reminds me of how the Brubaker Box imagined vans to be: long and low, still useful but also slightly menacing and purposeful-looking. The silhouette of the Citadel is sleek and taut, and that Kamm-like cutoff rear end is a fantastic touch.
The Citadel had a gas-electric hybrid drivetrain driving the rear wheels, tuned for performance. I think it still feels modern today, and if Chrysler announced that, yes, they were going to remain a minivan-only company, but this was the minivan they were talking about, I think I’d be absolutely thrilled.
There were more concepts from this era worth talking about, of course, and I encourage you to shove links in the comments and discuss, at length and loudly.
What happened to you, Chrysler? All of this excitement and imagination and optimism, daring you used to have, and now look. A shell of what you once were. I’m not giving up hope, though. I think some of what once made Chrysler exciting has to be still there somewhere, soaked into some patch of carpet or forgotten in a closet behind a break room.
Someone at Stellantis just needs to find it and set it free.
Foose really got Chrysler thinking and making some really good looking cars. The stratus and 300m were everywhere along with their vans. The 300 is still loved in many circles. The Australians really love it and still have them as stretch limos. They probably need to be set free from stellantis to be something again. Mercedes and Chrysler took the worst of each other and kept going probably the worst of Mitsubishi in there too.
If they found a way to make the Chrysler CCV pass modern emissions while keeping the air cooled engine I’d definitely buy one, if not several!
Not a Chrysler, but the Dodge Copperhead should’ve come out also!
Feel the same way about the “Baby Viper”, that was the 2007 Dodge Demon concept.
The reimagine another company’s car deal was totally Chrysler Corp.’s M.O. in that era…. The Viper was a reimagined Cobra, the Prowler a reimagined ’34 Ford roadster, and the PT Cruiser a reimagined ’34 Ford Victoria.
Chrysler clearly went back to their own 1930’s Airflow for PT Cruiser design influence.
The 1934 airflow looked much better. The waterfall grill—if we must have grills for some stupid reason, the 39 rib 1934 airflow grill would be great. Ahead of its time so it failed, but so beautiful. And the headlights on the airflow make the PT look like melted takeout containers.
Mercedes-Benz happened to Chrysler. They were competing for the same market segment, so it made sense for the Daimler part of Daimer-Chrysler to hobble it. By the time the Germans went home there was nothing new in the pipeline for Chrysler apart from the 200, which was one of the cars of all time.
They broke the covenant with Satan that all the lug nuts on the left hand side of the car would be left-handed, and from the 70s on, Chrysler has only survived by recruiting other automakers into the holding company of the damned. Eventually they will swallow all of the automotive world except Ford, and it will be over.
Today, more Cry-sler than Chrysler. How about just building good cars: there’s a concept.
The Citadel feels like you could update the lighting to modern styling and eliminate the rear glass and it would be something you’d see at the next CES or Tokyo Motor Show.
It’s not ridiculous, it’s tragic. Chrysler is such a good company and deserves better.
“was” such a good company. Fixed that for ya!
As long as there’s hope.
The Chrysler Atlantic was *chef’s kiss* – I’m sure they could have figured out the exhaust note on that straight-eight.
It’s ridiculous that Chrysler is still around and gets bailouts when their cars are crap
Their cars are crap, but their concepts are more interesting than most! Or at least surprisingly interesting for being Chrysler…
Hard disagree. The cars are not crap.
Is the Lebarron the last uniquely Chrysler car that wasn’t a badge engineering or upscale model of other cars that Dodge/Plymouth had at the time? Even it was based on a Dodge I believe but those didn’t come in a convertible, right?
Lebaron was clearly a K-car.
By that standard, the PT Cruiser and Pacifica crossover (for that matter, the current Pacifica started life as a Chrysler) would also apply, or even the second generation 200 (which, the shrunken Dart followed it).
The same enshitification of most things in America post 9/11, Enron, ’08 recession, venture capital, tech bros, etc. is what happened to Chrysler.
A friend and I were just talking about, and also what kind of fuckery we can expect after the next day we remember numerically.
🙁
I blame Sergio. That guy came in smoked liked a chimney and told every American their ideas are crap. He gutted the soul out Chrysler.
Let’s be real, Chrysler’s problems started WAY before Sergio. He may not have helped, but he certainly wasn’t the root cause.
At least before Sergio, Chrysler had some real product development. Sure, lots of them were shit, but they were something. The ’08/’09 recession certainly slowed things down for them, but man, when Fiat come into the picture, it basically ground to a halt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Chrysler_timeline
Sergio!
Well, that’s what happens when Daimler got to run off with Chrysler for virtually nothing thanks to this “free” market, despite Chrysler making record profits nearly every year since the Omni & K-Cars came out, working on making improvements to products, and even was reinvesting into Plymouth.
The 1998 Plymouth Pronto Spyder(if Plymouth is allowed, bought the model before the concept car was shown),2004 ME Four-Twelve. Late 90s-early 2000s Rocked! I was actively involved in prototyping interiors for concept cars during that time.*sigh* Nothing since has tickled my fancy like that.
I would do terrible, naughty things to have an ME Four-Twelve. I’d sell every Smart and would change my name to Stellantis Streeter. lol
Stella would be better and still get the association across.
Too much yelling.
The merger of equals with Mercedes wounded them, then Cerberus came along and sucked them dry. The 2008 financial collapse finished them off.
This is my take as well. I should look in to what motivated them to even join with Mercedes, but regardless of motivation, they were equals but some were more equal than others. And yeah, they basically have just been pushed and kicked on to the next owner since. And sadly, much as I love Mopars, they might not ever recover.
My understanding is that when Bob Lutz was passed over in favor of Robert Eaton, Eaton pretty much immediately started looking to merge with another company because he was more interested in share value than running a company.
It was never a “merger of equals” it was a hostile takeover in all but name. It’s the main reason why I have a special hatred for ANYTHING Mercedes Benz because they can NEVER be forgiven for what they did to Chrysler.
– Take EV Charger
– Swap the front and back with Chrysler design language
– Change the sound of the Fratzonic Chamber thingy to something not stuck in 2nd gear
– Add Chrysler version of the Hornet (optional)
– ???
– 300 Revival (profits not included)
The 2005 Chrysler 300’s grill style came from the Chronos, as well as “the chrome interior accents and tortoiseshell finishing on the steering wheel and shifter knob” according to Wikipedia.
It would be soooo easy to add some badge engineered cars to Chrysler’s lineup with not a lot of money.
(looks at Stellantis’s current lineup)
Oh, they’re so cooked.
The Chrysler Corporation was once a great company with several brands. Some of the things that the Chrysler Corporation did were amazing. But I believe the Chrysler Corporation ceased to exist when the Daimler-Chrysler corporation was founded.
The rear of the Citadel looks amazing, and reminds me of the late 1980s Honda Accord Aerodeck shooting brake
What I was thinking about the styling of the Citadel was that it must have been looked at a least a couple of times by the designers of the Honda 1 (or Honda 2.71828 or w/e).
I’m now happily thinking of what the evolution of that Chrysler grille would look like on modern cars. It certainly wouldn’t be the cheery-surprised style that on that Chronos.
I’m guessing designers these days would try to make it as angry, menacing, and rage inducing as possible.
Funny to think of, though.
Chrysler has always kind of been a few cars kind of brand. They are kind of in a bind right now as they fell way behind and relied fully on the 300 and a minivan to keep things going. They might have to take a cue from Cadillac if they want to make some positive inroads. Basically make the cars their own, less badge engineering and throw in a Halo version of each tier. The only car I actually want to buy right now is actually the Manual Blackwing V8. Because they exist, I imagine a few car guys go for a test ride and then settle for the TT V6 version.
I remember sitting in my high school library, reading one of the car magazines I drooled over on a regular basis (Road and Track maybe?) and seeing the Chrysler Chronos for the first time. It may very well be my favorite concept vehicle of all time. The Dodge Copperhead was also pretty cool.
Things went badly after the 1st gen Pacifica “Crossover” the Aspen and the other messes of the early 2000s.
If Chrysler doubled down on the Pacifica, could it have ever been a competitor to a Acura MDX or Lexus RX?
Seems a bit of a missed opportunity for a purportedly luxury marque.
I did not like the difficulty in getting in and getting to the third row of the crossover Pacifica. I cannot answer your question but it was not even a good looking car.
Oh, goodness, no, the crossover was a terrible vehicle. Built on the bones of a budget minivan with rear seats designed for children.
And Chrysler was supposed to have been the aspirational brand. The Lexus to Toyota, the Acura to Honda, the Caddy to Chevy.
It’s been a deadman walking for a very long time.