Has anyone noticed that, when talking about the Big Detroit Three of North America, we usually only mention General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis instead of Chrysler? Sure, those are the parent companies, but the same happens when we try to speak of the mainstay heroes.
When discussing the dos and don'ts of the US automotive industry, the focus is usually on Chevrolet rather than Buick or Cadillac, Ford rather than Lincoln, and now also on Dodge rather than Chrysler. It is as if the latter has become a footnote in the novel Stellantis's lifestyle. And that's too bad, frankly. Sure, maybe that's just life, along with the strategy of stubborn corner office head honchos that are more preoccupied with just about anything else – including the long-forgotten Lancia brand – rather than restoring Chrysler to its former glory.
Frankly, if you want our two cents on the matter, we are not necessarily angry about the attention surrounding other brands that greatly interest Mopar enthusiasts. Ram Trucks, for example, is diligently preparing to deliver a severe EV blow to the full-size pickup truck establishment composed of the Rivian R1T, Ford F-150 Lightning, and the ailing GMC Hummer EV in a bid to come out on top ahead of the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV or the Tesla Cybertruck with the long-range Ram 1500 REV.
Jeep, meanwhile, continues to rock the trails and the entire world with its excellent off-road-oriented SUVs and will even fight for a seat at the round CUV table in its signature way. And Dodge has taken the mantle of the hero brand because no one was willing to talk about the Chrysler elephant in the room. And even though its 2023 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, along with the 2023 Challenger and Charger (plus their seven 'Last Call' special editions), are seen as final hurrahs for the ICE-powered age, that does not mean the nine levels of Banshee EV prowess coming with the production version of the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept will be any lesser – they're just going to be silent, for the most part.
Anyway, back to Chrysler, the premium brand that once competed with Packard, Chord, Lincoln, or Cadillac – among many others- is merely a shadow of its former self. The entire roster comprises just two nameplates, the 2023 Chrysler 300 full-size sedan with the MSRP starting at a little over $34k and the family-oriented Chrysler Pacifica or Pacifica Hybrid minivans, starting at $37,720 and $50,795, respectively.
So, they have the pricing to back up the premium claims but not the appropriate roster to offer almost anything to eager customers. And that is quite a shame, especially since the brand promised to change that a while ago, and we haven't seen anything palpable since.
Photo: Joao Kleber Amaral for autoevolution
Instead, the big Chrysler 300 sedan is among the many cars that won't make it to the 2024 model year, such as the Audi R8 and TT, Dodge Challenger and Charger (in their ICE-powered form), Ford Fiesta, Kia Stinger, or Nissan Maxima, to mention a few. So, where does that leave Chrysler? Right alongside the Abarth or Lancia brands, frankly, and that's no point in being proud of. Well, that's valid in the real world. Meanwhile, across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, things look slightly better if you ask the pixel master who cooked up the series production version of the Chrysler Airflow concept and us.
These bespoke renderings arrive courtesy of our virtual artist friend, Joao Kleber Amaral, who CGI-worked hard to bring the zero-emissions future of Chrysler to digital life. It is the natural first step if Stellantis remains committed to one of its flagship brands reaching "full electrification by 2028." And it is also a necessary threshold for the automaker as legacy carmakers still need to find a solution for the pesky success of American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. After all, the latter had played with just about everything – including lowering the prices of their EV models when everyone else around them was raising them to stratospheric levels (Ford F-150 Lightning, wink, wink).
As such, it is pretty obvious that the CGI expert's vision regarding the unofficial interpretation of the factory-spec Chrysler Airflow looks precisely like a Tesla Model 3, Volkswagen ID. 7, and Hyundai Ioniq 6 competitor. Of course, everyone knows that Tesla's four-door compact executive EV is the one to beat – as everyone else around it needs to prove itself before turning into a proper rival. And it's going to be an uphill battle, for sure, as Tesla is even willing to upset its shareholders with a crazy pricing strategy to make sure that it has a fighting chance to win the EV wars in the long run.
Hopefully, by then, Chrysler will have this EV ready for the zero-emissions game, complete with excellent technical specifications and an aggressive pricing strategy – they're all needed to beat the Tesla Model 3. Which, by the way, currently retails from $39,990 in the United States if you take home the RWD version with 272 miles (438 km) of range and 5.8-second zero to 60 mph (96 kph) times.
They should at least consider beating that before even thinking about duking it out with the Model 3 Performance or the upcoming Model 3 Long Range! Meanwhile, we hope the unofficial Chrysler EV seen here in a trio of posh colors will be enough to entice customers to consider a zero-emissions vehicle as their next purchase, even if right now – according to a recent study – just four out of ten Americans think EVs fit nicely right on the driveway or inside the garage!
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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