Trailing well behind the majority of automakers in the race to market with EVs, Stellantis this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas pulled the curtain on the future of the Chrysler brand with the Airflow Concept car.
With a production version coming to market as soon as 2025, the Airflow Concept is a vision of design and technology, packaging and hardware that will be the first of a full line of electric vehicles for Chrysler which promises be a 100% electric brand by 2028.
From a design standpoint it appears production ready and follows the pack, looking a lot like something that a number of other automakers are already offering today. A mid-size crossover, the Airflow Concept is tall but has a low ride height and lots of LED lighting functional and decorative from bumper to bumper.
Design ovations like a two-tone roof line go well with its planted stance which employs a long wheelbase and wide track to make room for its large under-floor battery pack in the center. Showing with 22-inch wheels it’s certainly handsome and attractive.
The cabin is a showcase of electronic light and graphics that make its debut in Las Vegas apropos. Dressed in calming futuristic white tones, the dash is packed with digital glitz, the press materials going on and on about AI and connectivity. Suffice it to say it will have everything your iPhone has and a lot more of it.
It’s palette of light and neutral tones along with the look of dark glass and crystallized textures does speak to concept car pie-in-the-sky design of futuristic luxury. It is however not that far flung from that which we are seeing from other brands today. As is it would likely fit right in with the market when it arrives down the road.
Mechanically, the Chrysler Airflow will be essentially the same as the majority of new EV crossovers on the market today with a large flat battery pack at the center of the chassis under the passenger compartment with fully independent suspension front and rear.
In the case of the Airflow Concept there is a 201 horsepower electric motor at both the front and rear axles giving it seamless all-wheel-drive. Chrysler says this is only the beginning, as the new chassis platform offers room for much larger motor drive units down the road for larger and more high-performance vehicles.
The standard battery pack would offer somewhere in the neighborhood of a 350 to 400-mile range on a full charge which is about what’s expected in this new class. Obviously this is a starting point with more options and improvements coming in the future.
With ambitious goals of transforming the Chrysler brand to a 100% EV marque by 2028, the Airflow Concept is proof that there is a direction. The question becomes how fast can the brand actually get there and what other models will join it.
