The first 100 years of Chrysler’s existence clearly identify different factors that characterize the brand. Certainly, the American manufacturer is among the Stellantis brands with the most issues at its disposal. Today, its model range is indeed relegated to a single model, thus resulting in a brand that essentially makes minivans its most consistent characterization. Today, its product lineup is uniquely entrusted to the Chrysler Pacifica.
Many are therefore wondering, on the occasion of reaching this round number, what hopes are feeding the brand’s future to emerge from this long phase of stagnation. Questions that were also posed by Stellantis‘ head of design, Ralph Gilles, who discussed the possibilities surrounding the Chrysler brand in a conversation with Automotive News.
At the center of Chrysler’s relaunch is the start of “a new chapter”
Chrysler’s relaunch plan, according to what Ralph Gilles himself admitted to Automotive News, therefore involves starting “a new chapter.” This new starting point involves renewing today’s image, useful for attracting a new slice of clientele, thus aiming for a real change of pace. The watchword in this sense is “experiment” since there exists today “a part of the market that we are neglecting and that we could cover with Chrysler,” Gilles added. For these reasons, the brand finds itself within a context of strong experimentation. This is to fill some gaps with the arrival of new models to launch on the market.
The need therefore seems to be for a clear change of direction, without however focusing exclusively on electric as previously hypothesized and declared. At the center of the new range of Chrysler-branded products will be models based on the shared STLA Medium and STLA Large platforms, by virtue of a multi-energy approach widely discussed in recent times.
Moving in this direction, Chrysler now has a new design studio useful for studying its new models, starting with a possible sedan inspired by the concepts expressed by the Halcyon concept that, as previously mentioned, could influence a reissue of the Chrysler 300. Based on what we learn, it appears that Chrysler has finally retraced its steps, departing from what was admitted at the time by former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, according to whom the brand would have had only little time to save itself.
