Currently, the only vehicle Chrysler sells is the Pacifica. It’s a pretty good minivan if you ignore the reliability issues, especially since you can get it as a plug-in hybrid, but that’s it. The 300 is dead, and the Voyager doesn’t count. No one knows what Chrysler is supposed to be anymore, and it felt like the brand was circling the drain even before rumors emerged that Stellantis might try to sell some of its brands. Don’t believe your eyes, though. Chrysler is totally coming back with new cars you just can’t see yet, it tells CNBC.
If Chrysler really is going to mount a comeback, it’s going to take more than a redesigned Pacifica to do it. The upcoming Pacifica EV will probably be pretty cool, but it sold fewer than 125,000 cars this year, down more than 80 percent compared to the 600,000 or so that it sold back in 2005. But while you can’t necessarily put much faith in company statements, someone’s already tried to buy Chrysler and been shot down, so it does sound like Stellantis is serious about keeping the minivan-maker around.
Chrysler heir Frank Rhodes Jr. tried to put together a group of investors to buy both Chrysler and Dodge from Stellantis, but he was told not to waste his time. As Chrysler CEO Christine Feuell explained to CNBC:
I think he was planting a seed or making a suggestion that if the intention was to not invest in Chrysler or Dodge going forward, that perhaps another path could be an investor group purchasing the brands from Stellantis and making sure that they live on for the future. But I can assure you that both brands have a really bright future in the Stellantis portfolio.
So what does that look like in the next several years? We probably won’t get the electric Pacifica until 2027 at the earliest, and then what? Apparently, Chrysler’s plans involve both an SUV (shocking!) and a coupe or sedan based on the Halcyon concept. The SUV will probably be whatever, but a production version of the Halcyon? Now that’s something I could get behind. That car looked good.
Feuell didn’t say how long we’d have to wait for the production version of the Halcyon, but she did say the SUV would be offered as both a hybrid and an EV and that Chrysler is working to make sure the production Halcyon is “affordable for customers,” as well. “Chrysler brand is here to stay,” Feuell told CNBC. “It is being well invested in. The brand is not on the table for elimination, and it has a very bright future.”
H/T: Motor1
