Weeks ago, a mainstream auto magazine claimed that, as part of the re-examination of Chrysler, the Airflow had been killed—both the name and the concept.
Ralph Gilles countered on Instagram, and rather than summarizing-while-injecting-our-views, we are reproducing his full reply:
It appears that the Airflow name is unlikely to be used in production, and the specific concept car itself is not going into production; but it’s a step on the way to the eventual actual car or crossover. That’s not surprising—most concepts work that way.
The Chrysler Airflow, Jeep Recon, Jeep Wagoneer S, Ram 1500 REV (Concept version) and Charger Daytona Banshee are all concept vehicles, Not production vehicles. Think about it, when the Ram 1500 REV first came out as a concept, it was a wild looking truck that had alot of muscle car look to it with suicide doors and alot of other things. The production version looks nothing like the concept version. The concept versions are just to show a generalized direction of what the brand is taking with the new vehicles. I’ll even take us back a little further to 1999 when the Charger concept first came out. It looked nothing like the 2006 Charger when the actual vehicle returned to production. These vehicles are litmus test strips to test and see how we will react and respond to changes in the market and see what we like and what we don’t like and then they’ll go back and do whatever it is that they’re going to do.
Another thing to consider is the changing climate of the automotive industry when it comes to electrification. We all know that it’s coming but it’s not going to be as soon as some people would have hoped. The Ram 1500 REV isn’t immediately going to replace the Ram 1500 gasoline powered pickup. While the ICE version is switching over to the Hurricane powerplants, which will replace all Hemi V8s like it or not, the full BEV is going to be a trim level of the Ram 1500 on the new STLA frame platform. I think alot of what is coming in the near future as far as electrification will by hybrids. Stellantis already has the Hornet R/T with the 1.3L Hybrid turbo and then the 2.0L Hybrid setup in the 4Xe. Hybridizing the 3.0L Hurricane would definitely a logical step towards electrification, especially since vehicles with the hybrid setup can be run on full electric power for a period of time.
Basically, what we’re looking at with all of this stuff is a culmination of what all the brand is working on. They’re letting us know that they’re working on future vehicles that have tech, power and heritage so that we can continue enjoying the brand. Will they look like the concepts? Probably not. Will they have some of the features that the concept cars have? Yes.