A shadow of its former glory, Chrysler is down to just two ancient products – the 300 sedan and the Pacifica minivan. Parent company Stellantis has vowed to invest in all its 14 brands for a period of 10 years, and the North American marque will benefit from the same treatment. In a bid to show some signs of life, the Auburn Hills-based company introduced this week the Airflow concept in Las Vegas for the 2022 CES.
The electric crossover’s debut comes along with two additional major announcements made by Chrysler. The company’s first production vehicle to do away with a combustion engine is scheduled to arrive in 2025. That frankly seems quite late since the battle in the electric car segment is heating up already, but as the saying goes, better late than never. Three years later, the lineup will exclusively consist of EVs as 2028 is the cutoff date for the ol’ ICE.
Chrysler doesn’t go into any details about which car will go down in history as the firm’s first zero-emission model. The Airflow looks close to production even though it’s officially billed as a concept. This tells us the crossover might very well become the first EV to carry the corporate winged logo, but nothing is official at this point. After all, 2025 is still a long way and a lot could change in these three years.
According to Chris Feuell, Chrysler Brand Chief Executive Officer, “the Chrysler Airflow Concept represents the future direction of the Chrysler brand, providing a peek at the dynamic design, advanced technologies, and seamless connectivity that will characterize the full electric portfolio we plan to reach by 2028.”
An electric crossover to go up against the likes of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID.4, and Tesla Model Y would make sense, but as we said before, Chrysler is surely taking its sweet time. The 96-year-old automaker will be playing the catch-up game for a long time in the EV race, but with Stellantis determined to give the brand a future through significant improvements, there is still hope for the troubled carmaker.
Source: Chrysler
