Chrysler's press conference today at the Detroit Auto Show had the potential to be a depressing affair. After all, the company is on the ropes and is holding off bankruptcy only through the good graces of American taxpayers and the U.S. Treasury, which recently cut the Auburn Hills automaker a $4 billion check. What could they possibly have to announce? I thought as I wormed my way through the gathering throng of journalists assembled around Chrysler's show stand. Initially, my fears were founded: Chrysler vice-chairman Jim Press and engineering head Frank Klegon gamely trotted out a trio of electric vehicles that we saw last September (Town & Country, Lotus-based Dodge sports car, and Jeep Wrangler) which didn't look any closer to production than they did four months ago. Today they added a Jeep Patriot EV as well. Yawn, yawn.
But then, suddenly, a car rolled onto the stage that provoked an enthusiastic round of applause from the media corp. The Chrysler 200C EV concept is everything that we had hoped the current generation of the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger would be: unique, sexy, sophisticated, and distinctly American. It is a stunner. "I just tried to do a cool car," explained the 200C's exterior designer, 31-year-old Nick Malachowski. "I wanted to do a car that I'd want to own and drive myself. I just wanted to design a beautiful car, something that would appeal to a different demographic, the one I'm in."
The interior is equally attractive, if clearly not quite as production-ready as the exterior. "We pushed the interior maybe two generations out," says Ryan Patrick Joyce, the interior designer for the 200C. "I'm most excited by the connectivity aspects of it." The 200C boasts a new generation of in-car connectivity and info-tainment that Chrysler hopes to implement in all its cars soon.
Whether this car will ever hit the streets is, of course, an open question; it's dependent on the future viability of Chrysler Corporation itself. But if Chrysler survives, the 200C is proof that the company's design studios are back at the top of their game.
Joe DeMatio
Automobile Magazine