Photo: jlord8 / Instagram
Ignoring the Airflow elephant in the room, Stellantis allowed Chrysler to restart its belated EV ambitions with the stunning Halcyon concept. Interestingly, it's both mesmerizing and easy to discard.
Let's start with the bad. If you look at it from any angle and ignore the ritzy conceptual stuff or the edgier, flatter design, it's easy to dub this a Tesla Model 3 and S plus Lucid Air rip-off. Now, let's continue with the good – it was designed for unlimited EV range because Chrysler believes the future will see us make good use of inductive wireless charging while on the road.
It has autonomous systems that go beyond Tesla's FSD, lots of cool gadgets, a better cockpit than the new Model 3, and cool new 800V Lyten lithium-sulfur EV batteries, which are devoid of nickel, cobalt, or manganese. Additionally, the doors open in a spectacular way as they have both suicide-style and butterfly elements.
Unfortunately, it's just a concept that will probably never see the light of day. So, we are back to square one – Chrysler is merely a shadow of its former self and now only produces the not-so-great Pacifica minivan, which also belongs to a dying segment. Meanwhile, the world is changing around Chrysler, and the brand is losing time resetting its EV values to a new paradigm.
As such, a model directly based on the Halcyon might face a lot more backlash if it comes out as a four-door fastback sedan. Tesla has already explored the concept twice with the Model 3 and Model S, plus there's also the luxurious Lucid Air to account for. Well, if Stellantis wants the Halcyon on the road, there is a way to avoid all that.
In fact, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has already presented a solution - Jim, the virtual artist known as jlord8 on social media, loves messing around with all things CGI from GM and Ford. Still, he couldn't ignore the new Chrysler EV that is all over his social media feeds. The pixel master was busy playing with a revival of the Lincoln Town Car and with lots of old-school 1980s and 1990s ideas when that happened.
Naturally, he proceeded to try a body style change – he's quite adept at making sedans into station wagons and pickup trucks into SUVs and stuff like that. Ultimately, he wasn't too impressed with the Chrysler Halcyon Wagon result: "Hmm. I think I finally found a car that isn't better as a wagon." Alas, as it turns out, his fans were quick to disagree.
Given the positive reception from enthusiasts, we cannot help but wonder – shouldn't legacy automakers try to find ways to innovate in the EV space instead of making more sedan and crossover EVs trying to copy or catch up to the Tesla (Model S, 3, X, Y) and Lucid (Air plus Gravity) representatives?
It has autonomous systems that go beyond Tesla's FSD, lots of cool gadgets, a better cockpit than the new Model 3, and cool new 800V Lyten lithium-sulfur EV batteries, which are devoid of nickel, cobalt, or manganese. Additionally, the doors open in a spectacular way as they have both suicide-style and butterfly elements.
Unfortunately, it's just a concept that will probably never see the light of day. So, we are back to square one – Chrysler is merely a shadow of its former self and now only produces the not-so-great Pacifica minivan, which also belongs to a dying segment. Meanwhile, the world is changing around Chrysler, and the brand is losing time resetting its EV values to a new paradigm.
As such, a model directly based on the Halcyon might face a lot more backlash if it comes out as a four-door fastback sedan. Tesla has already explored the concept twice with the Model 3 and Model S, plus there's also the luxurious Lucid Air to account for. Well, if Stellantis wants the Halcyon on the road, there is a way to avoid all that.
In fact, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has already presented a solution - Jim, the virtual artist known as jlord8 on social media, loves messing around with all things CGI from GM and Ford. Still, he couldn't ignore the new Chrysler EV that is all over his social media feeds. The pixel master was busy playing with a revival of the Lincoln Town Car and with lots of old-school 1980s and 1990s ideas when that happened.
Naturally, he proceeded to try a body style change – he's quite adept at making sedans into station wagons and pickup trucks into SUVs and stuff like that. Ultimately, he wasn't too impressed with the Chrysler Halcyon Wagon result: "Hmm. I think I finally found a car that isn't better as a wagon." Alas, as it turns out, his fans were quick to disagree.
Given the positive reception from enthusiasts, we cannot help but wonder – shouldn't legacy automakers try to find ways to innovate in the EV space instead of making more sedan and crossover EVs trying to copy or catch up to the Tesla (Model S, 3, X, Y) and Lucid (Air plus Gravity) representatives?
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