by Wallace Wyss –
Stellantis surprised me. They recently came up with a prototype that seems more Tesla than Stellantis in the cleanliness of the shape with few distracting trim items. Surprisingly it isn’t an SUV or even a minivan but a modern four seater coupe.
Stellantis wants to change its image and figures as long as they are going electric, they will preview what’s to come in 2025. If not the whole design, it will influence what they are coming up with. It’s a protest against the boxy SUVs that dominate the market.
The name of the car was chosen, they say, because it “evokes a sense of nostalgia for better days past”.
The Chrysler brand name is not something they threw away. Though it is today used only on the Pacifica minivan. Stellantis says Chrysler sold more 133,000 vehicles in the United States last year, representing a 19% bump from 2022.
The unique doors of the Chrysler Halcyon EV concept car were shown inside the design dome at Stellantis North America headquarters in Auburn Hills on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. They said the fact that the vehicle is built as a car and not as a crossover, was their attempt to “really recapture the joy of driving in a stunning design”.
Here’s My Take
SIDE Dramatic wheel treatment in that only color is the outline of some of the structural grid, very daring. But flip-up doors, rearward hinged back doors, seem to be too limiting – do the front seat side windows have full roll-down windows? If not, on a 100 deg. day, that could make you hate them, (I had two 300SL gullwings). Roofline is pleasant but not trying anything new. Can’t be any lower cut in the back if you still plan on seating adult passengers back there.
Big laid-down-sideways U-shaped stripes on the sides look cornball with the dark paint. TV camera in place of rear view mirror still obstructs wind. I want cameras but can they fit them under slim bubbles in the roof?
FRONT Rather bland but the simplicity is Tesla-like. I see remnants of old dream cars from the past, even Mercedes rotary engine ones.
REAR Ultra clean look, reminiscent of Rivian and Lucid, two established competitors in EV-Land. The upswept built in spoiler is straight out of Kia’s design cue book
INTERIOR As plain Jane as you can imagine. The yoke steering wheel better be an option as some consumers reject it. They describe the 15.2 in. display screen as “stowable” which means it can be hidden away. Rear seats are “retractable.” Not so keen about shallow luggage space but after all even fastback Firebirds and Camaros had little more.
IN SUM I’d give it a B-Plus or 85 score out of 100, especially because it’s built on an already designed platform for which they are planning a drive system that can go 500 miles on a charge. It uses lithium-sulfur batteries.
Wireless Charging
They also talk about this car having wireless public roadway EV charging. That system has already been shown in Detroit, designed to allow EVs either moving or parked along the roadway to charge their batteries without plugging in. But it seems to require an electric road. The design previewed was designed by Electreon, which was awarded a $1.9 million contract by the Michigan Department of Transportation in early 2022 to develop a wireless charging roadway. I’ll love it even if you only have to use it part of the time to get to work. Tell me how many minutes you have to be on this magic road to get half charged, and I’ll decide if I love it.
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss serves as co-host on KUCR FM’s Autotalk show broadcast each week from Riverside,CA.
Photos compliments of Stellantis.
Love it! When can I order one? If you want luggage space buy a SUV or a minivn, This will look nice parked next to my best of breed Ram truck.
I agree fully about the hokey black paint spilling back from the fender vent. Also, I think the ‘agricultural implement wheels’ are totally out of place.
Other than that, I love it!