Chrysler to launch 3 new vehicles by 2026 in bid to save struggling brand.

Miami Herald

2 days ago

When Chrysler threw a party for itself to celebrate its 100th birthday this month, it rolled out an assortment of classic models, from the 1930s-era Airflow sedan to recent concepts like the 2004 ME Four-Twelve and 2022 Halcyon. But there was something missing from the field: new product. The closest the automaker could come was a "special edition" Pacifica minivan.
Chrysler is a brand in trouble. Since the last 300 sedan rolled off the assembly line in December 2023 it has had just one product line in U.S. showrooms: the Pacifica minivan. Plans to bring out a production version of the well-received Airflow concept of a few years back have been scuttled.
With sales totaling just 119,389 last year, former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was reportedly questioning whether it might be time to pull the plug on the brand. That's something his successor, Antonio Filosa, will now have to consider.
But Chrysler officials insist they're entering their second century from a position of strength, with the brand finally getting ready to start filling up showrooms with new products starting next year. And that Halcyon show car, they told Autoblog, gives us a good sense of what's coming.
Ironically, the widely acclaimed Airflow show car may have been too successful for its own good, according to Christine Fuell, Chrysler's CEO. First shown at the 2022 Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, it harkened back to the cutting-edge aerodynamics of the original, production Chrysler Airflow which was built between 1934 and 1937.
The all-electric show car was widely expected to go into production about now, but the "very favorable response" it got from the public was something that actually worried Chrysler executives who questioned whether the design would seem dated by the time it got into production.
"Maybe we're not being innovative and creative enough," Feuell said during an interview at the Chrysler 100 birthday bash. "We felt we needed to take more risks," Feuell said. The Chrysler management team decided to send Stellantis global design chief Ralph Gilles and his team back to the drawing board.
For his part, Gilles felt it was fortuitous timing. Airflow was designed to be all-electric. But as the product development team started over, parent Stellantis was just finishing up development on a series of new "architectures." The STLA Large platform was designed to be "multi-energy," meaning it could use a variety of different powertrain technologies, from conventional internal combustion to battery-electric, and an assortment of "hybridized" options in between.
It was "perfect for the market," said Gilles.
Now, they just needed to push the design envelope ever further. They did it with Halcyon, a concept that made its debut in February 2024.
Like Airflow, the four-door Chrysler Halcyon Concept put a premium on range-extending aerodynamics. But it was designed to push the comfort level with features like its ""air blade" front end literally knifes through the air, reducing turbulence as air flows over the show car's steeply raked windshield. Narrow side mirrors further reduce drag.
At highway speeds, Halcyon rides just four inches off the road surface, another aero-enhancing feature. Air curtains reduce turbulence around the front wheels.
The show car has been clearly polarizing, though it seems to be growing on reviewers, and the public, according to both Feuell and Gilles. Clearly, the concept pushes things a little too far for most applications to go into production – with features like its rear "suicide" doors, camera mirrors and a yoke replacing the conventional steering wheel. But the basic design theme is the model for an upcoming wave of new Chrysler products. That will start with a complete makeover of the Pacifica coming in 2026.
The new minivan is "inspired by Halcyon," said Feuell, noting that Chrysler obviously had to hew to the unique customer needs that define a modern family-mover. But the new Airflow will utilize key design cues from the concept vehicle to deliver greater energy efficiency than the outgoing model. While the CEO wouldn't discuss specific details, she confirmed that the next-gen Pacifica Hybrid package will get an upgrade to its plug-in drive that will yield more than the current PHEV's 32 miles per charge.
That will be helped by a planned switch from today's 400-volt electrical system to an 800-volt architecture that should also quicken charging times, several insiders suggested.
At least two other new Chrysler products are in the works, said Fuell. "We need to be in at least three segments for the Chrysler brand to continue to grow and thrive." That's on top of other potential variants on those three product lines.
What Feuell described as "our first new model in more than 10 years" will be a D-segment crossover also based off the STLA Large – pronounced "Stella-Large" – platform. Think of products like the Hyundai Santa Fe or BMW X5, among many others, though the Chrysler CEO stressed that the design will "be a vast departure from the sea of sameness" that has become the norm with today's EVs and crossovers.
"It has to be gorgeous and compelling," added Gilles, "a vehicle that ages well."
As for the third Chrysler product, final development is still underway, but the Stellantis brand is clearly aiming for a "segment-buster" that won't fall into any easy niche. This one very well could come closer to a production version of the Halcyon Concept.
There's "a lot of white space (Chrysler) can serve" that fellow Stellantis brands Jeep, Dodge and Ram "can't" said Gilles, because of their narrowly defined missions. "We're looking for the gaps that aren't being served and which may not fall into current segments."
When the Airflow concept first appeared, Chrysler laid out a course that was expected to transform it into an all-electric brand by the end of the decade. As we're seeing across the industry, management is backing away from that commitment, and STLA Large and other new Stellantis platforms give it more flexibility to meet shifting market demands.
A year ago, Filosa – then head of the Jeep brand – told me that Stellantis was working up six distinct powertrain technologies: ICE, mild, conventional and plug-in hybrids, range-extenders and pure battery-electric. Future products, he said, would be offered with as many as three of those options. That, said Feuell, is the approach going forward, now that Filosa is running the whole show.
The upcoming, Halcyon-based SUV, for one, initially will launch with some sort of hybrid drive package, Feuell revealed, followed by a gas-only model. Later on, Chrysler will add an all-electric package.
In the months after Stellantis was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France's Groupe PSA, Tavares insisted the Euro-American automakers had the resources to support all 14 of its global brands. As its sales and earnings tumbled last year, he began having second thoughts.
"We cannot afford to have brands that do not make money," Tavares said during a second-quarter 2024 earnings call. "If they don't make money, we'll shut them down."
Tavares unexpectedly handed in his resignation last December, following a dispute with the Stellantis board over his proposed turnaround plan. Now, with Filosa stepping into his shoes, there's been speculation the new CEO might have to serve as brand executioner. Among the marques most frequently cited are Fiat, Lancia and Chrysler.
For her part, Feuell puts on a brave face. "There's never be one conversation among our executive teams about Chrysler going away," she said last week, insisting, Filosa "has been an enthusiastic supporter of Chrysler."
Whether the brand retains the new CEO's support will be put to the test in short order as Chrysler finally starts rolling out its much-needed new products.
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