But Dodge pioneered the Minivan, not Chrysler. Car-a-van. So that is her target, the soccer mom division. Quite disappointing.Detroit News Interview with Chrysler CEO
Interesting interview about Chrysler´s future.
An interesting quote from the article:
"Chrysler also will look to "redefine" the current segments in which it plays, she said. The brand sees a market for electrified large sedans and will have an offering to replace the 300. Chrysler also will look to uphold its heritage in pioneering the minivan almost 40 years ago — that innovation is inspiration for Chrysler's next chapter."
50s provide better handling. There is no benefit in going below 50. 55 for 205 or narrower. We have known this since the '80s. It was 50 series tires that allowed production cars like the Shelby Charger to hit 1G in cornering with minor modifications. They need to get away from the rubber band 45 and 35 tires.Glass roofs are a bad idea. What is needed is better thermal insulation for BEVs to reduce parasitic battery loads for cooling and heating. Rubber band tires are also a bad idea considering the poor quality of many of America's roads. A tire engineer once told me there is no benefit to be gained by going to a lower aspect ratio than 65. As to some hybrid form, why hasn't the industry looked at serial hybrids with a small, and I mean small, get home genset, with power sufficient to operate the vehicle at 100km/62mph on a flat road. My 2003 Neon only needed 12 hp. to travel at that speed. Since a genset operates at single speed, it can be more efficient than the usual ICE.
Just lose the show car interior. Flat steering wheel on top for what purpose? It's an SUV, it doesn't need to be flat on the bottom either. Integrate the screen into the dash, don't have an oversized tablet floating in the air. White knob on a white surface with a gap to catch dirt. Air gap where the lumbar support belongs. Giant one piece roof. Fantasy land show car stuff. Lose the show car low profile tires on the outside. And put a Chrysler grill on the thing.Just loose the round knob on the console please. That is out of place.
They need something bigger. The 1.3T would be fine. It has to be able to accelerate the vehicle, a little generator is too small.They did look at serial hybrids.There were reasons discussed on allpar for not doing it.
If that is her vision for Chrysler, then bring on the Dodge plans. They had better have a full lineup.I'm pleased with Christine and Stellantis' vision for Chrysler. Sad I have to wait until 2025 but at least we know the future plans are ambitious.
Yeah I read her interview. Chrysler is the upscale Plymouth, the soccer mom division.The first minivan to roll off the line was the Plymouth Voyager which lives on as the Chrysler Voyager.
"Although Stellantis already offers electric crossovers in Europe, they are mostly compact vehicles that aren't popular with American buyers and have platforms designed for internal combustion engine vehicles that are converted to electric."Detroit News Interview with Chrysler CEO
Interesting interview about Chrysler´s future.
An interesting quote from the article:
"Chrysler also will look to "redefine" the current segments in which it plays, she said. The brand sees a market for electrified large sedans and will have an offering to replace the 300. Chrysler also will look to uphold its heritage in pioneering the minivan almost 40 years ago — that innovation is inspiration for Chrysler's next chapter."
Yes, Lexus needs to be targeted from below, and lose the edges. You can't do that with an all BEV lineup. Lexus lives on the compact SUV and midsize car. The interview was anti compact and anti hybrid, which is exactly where they need to be. She is Tesla + BEV Minivans, minus the pickup.You're obviously being so reductive on purpose, but that really isn't what I took from the interview. The minivan is going to stay firmly within the Chrysler brand yes, but I also like the commitment to the sedan market and broadening Chrysler's reach to other segments of crossover-ish vehicles. Truly I see Chrysler being the athleisure brand- premium, dominated by a feminine focus, and versatile enough to attract moms, DINKs, and upwardly mobile single people that meet with friends often as well. Their products should look and feel athletic without actually being sporty. I think there's a market there. Lexus' FWD offerings are a class above but not altogether different in concept outside of their obsession with sharp angles.
Yes, you are right I should have said FWD based. UX isn't a real SUV, it is an ugly hatchback, how not to do a subcompact CUV.That's not entirely true. The RX sells almost double of what the NX does and the UX doesn't add much in volume either, less than the GX in fact.
That's 0 BEVs offered in the US now, 1 PHEV, a minivan. That's what's wrong, no product in the US.The sentence you quote was clearly something added by the writer and not a statement of the Chrysler CEO.
It is the writer´s way of framing Stellantis as a company that does not currently have competitive BEV´s and lags behind.
If you listen to the questions Tavares has had to answer over and over, one of those is about the lack of BEV´s at Stellantis.
Stellantis is categorically mentioned as being far behind Ford and GM in electrification in the US media.
Carlos´s always answers with the fact that Stellantis offers a lot of BEV´s right now.
Ford actually sells 1 (Mustang Mach-E) and has presented an electric Transit Van and the F-150 Lightning.
GM sells 2 versions of the Bolt EV and has presented for 2022/2023 the GMC Hummer Pick-up and SUV, the Silverado and Sierra EV´s and the Cadillac Lyriq.
So Ford and GM together by 2023 will offer at least 10 BEV´s.
Right now Stellantis offers:
Fiat 500
Fiat Ducato/Peugeot Boxer/Citroen Jumper/Opel Movano/
Peugeot e-208
Peugeot e-2008
Peugeot Expert/Citroen Jumpy/Opel Vivaro/Fiat Scudo
Citroën Ami/Opel Rocks-e
Citroën ë-C4
Citroën Berlingo/Peugeot Partner/Opel Combo
Opel Corsa-e
Opel Mokka-e
DS 3 Crossback E-tense
That is 10 BEV´s in customers hands in 2021. (The Ami/Rocks-e is not a real car however)
We know about at least the following BEV models coming to market in the 2022/2023 period:
Maserati MC20
Maserati Grecale
Maserati GranTurismo
Maserati GranCabrio
Alfa Romeo B-UV
Jeep B-UV
RAM Promaster
Tavares mentioned a total of 8 new BEV coming in the next 18-24 months so i´m missing at least a couple.
That brings us to a total of at least 16 BEV´s for Stellantis on the market in 2023 vs at least 10 BEV´s for GM and Ford combined.
We know we will not see Ford and GM competition for the Fiat 500 or Peugeot e-208 but we will be able to compare the electric Promaster with the E-Transit and the Maserati Grecale with the Cadillac Lyriq as they will be comparable vehicles. We will have an idea how far behind Stellantis will be before the vehicles on the new STLA platforms will come to market from 2023 onwards.
For the european market i am especially interested in how the vehicles on the upcoming STLA Medium will stack up to the vehicles Ford will develop for Europe based on the MEB platform they will be buying from Volkswagen. Ford has chosen not to develop an electric platform for specific European vehicles but instead Volkswagen will be supplying it´s MEB platform to Ford. The interesting thing is the MEB platform was rushed to market by VW in 2019 to lessen the fines from the EU. The platform so far has proven to be dissapointing in comparison to for instance the new Hyundai/Kia Platform. VW has shown in it´s latest plans that it plans to switch to a new platform (SSP) from 2024 onwards. It´s nice to know for VW that at least Ford will be enjoying the MEB Platform going forward.
Next to these BEV´s, Stellantis will have at least the following PHEV´s on the market in 2022:
Opel Astra
Opel Astra Tourer
Opel Grandland
Peugeot 308
Peugeot 308 SW
Peugeot 3008
Peugeot 508
Peugeot 508 SW
Citroën C5 X
Citroën C5 Aircross
DS 4
DS 7 Crossback
DS 9
Jeep Renegade 4XE
Jeep Compass 4XE
Jeep Wrangler 4XE
Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XE
Chrysler Pacifica
Alfa Romeo Tonale
Dodge "Hornet"
That is 20 PHEV´s on the market for Stellantis next year (Hornet will be end of 2022 so could take to early 2023 to be in customer´s hands).
GM will have 0 PHEV´s on the market because they will go straight to BEV´s.
Ford, usually quick to present future vehicles, has for 2022 only the Ford Escape PHEV and 2 Lincoln´s (Aviator and Corsair) PHEV´s on offer in the US. In Europe they add the Ford Explorer PHEV and the Ford Transit Custom PHEV.
So in 2022 Ford and GM combined will have 5 PHEV´s on the market (3 in the US and 3 in Europe).
Stellantis in 2022 is lagging far behind them with 20 PHEV´s on the market (5 or 6 in the US and 18 in Europe)
It reminds me of how easy it would make it to pop in a Fiat bar for other markets.I personally love the current Chrysler wings. It's sleek and modern. I hope they keep it and evolve it over time.
I did find it strange on the rear it reads "AIRFLOW" instead of having the Chrysler logo. But it actually looks good that way.
