First Image of the Chrysler Airflow: Can This SUV Save the Brand?
Front-wheel-drive powertrain shown is probably just the start.
It’s getting hard to think of a modern car with as convoluted a history as the upcoming Chrysler Airflow, and it isn’t even out yet. The saga has taken its latest twist thanks to a video published by Stellantis briefly illustrating its latest powertrain strategy that shows five vehicles including the upcoming Airflow.
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How We’re Sure It’s the Airflow
We’re confident that’s the Airflow on the left side of the video for a few reasons, the first being Stellantis showed us the real thing during a recent closed-door preview event in Michigan.
You don’t have to take our word for it, though, because if you look hard enough you can see the new Chrysler logo in the middle of the light bar on the nose, the same one that appears on the updated Pacifica minivan. Finally, as Chrysler only has three new SUVs in the works and two of them are based on small Fiat crossovers we’ve already seen, we can be sure this one is the Airflow.
Chrysler Airflow cutaway view showing the drivetrain.
What To Expect From the Airflow
The video includes cutaway views of each vehicle’s powertrains and the Airflow in this rendering sports a front-wheel-drive configuration without any hybrid or EV equipment, nor an all-wheel-drive system. That doesn’t necessarily mean those won’t be options, though. The Airflow is to be built on the new STLA One platform which is capable of supporting all those technologies.
In the video, the Airflow appears to employ a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which is no surprise. The company has also said there will be an EV model, and we think there’s likely to be a hybrid or plug-in hybrid as well. All-wheel drive is a no-brainer in this category.
As to which exact engines, Stellantis has several to choose from. On the current roster for front-drive vehicles are multiple turbocharged four-cylinder engines and an old but trusty V-6. Some of these are already used in hybrid variants.
Front view of the Chrysler Airflow.
Why the Airflow Story is Confusing
The original Chrysler Airflow was released in the 1930s and, despite the advanced aerodynamics that give it its name, was a total flop. Chrysler dusted off the moniker in 2022 with the Airflow Concept, which was nothing like the original or the car you see here. The concept was a pure EV and featured smooth, rounded bodywork.
2022 Chrysler Airflow Concept.
The concept wasn’t enthusiastically received, so Chrysler then told us it would be redesigned and also get a new name. The former certainly happened, and we found clues suggesting it could be renamed Vivid, but Chrysler has apparently backtracked on the name change.
The new Airflow, the one actually going into production, will have multiple powertrains. Its design, meanwhile, looks like a cross between Volvo in the back and Cadillac in the front. The overall shape is boxy with hard, straight lines and nothing like the concept.
It’s also smaller and expected to be cheaper than what we thought the concept might be. The production car is sized to compete with compact SUVs like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V. Chrysler says it’ll start under $40,000, significantly less than the projected $50,000 price tag for the larger concept.
Chrysler Airflow (left) with other upcoming Stellantis vehicles.
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Were you one of those kids who taught themselves to identify cars at night by their headlights and taillights? I was. I was also one of those kids with a huge box of Hot Wheels and impressive collection of home-made Lego hot rods. I asked my parents for a Power Wheels Porsche 911 for Christmas for years, though the best I got was a pedal-powered tractor. I drove the wheels off it. I used to tell my friends I’d own a “slug bug” one day. When I was 15, my dad told me he would get me a car on the condition that I had to maintain it. He came back with a rough-around-the-edges 1967 Volkswagen Beetle he’d picked up for something like $600. I drove the wheels off that thing, too, even though it was only slightly faster than the tractor. When I got tired of chasing electrical gremlins (none of which were related to my bitchin’ self-installed stereo, thank you very much), I thought I’d move on to something more sensible. I bought a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT and got my first speeding ticket in that car during the test drive. Not my first-ever ticket, mind you. That came behind the wheel of a Geo Metro hatchback I delivered pizza in during high school. I never planned to have this job. I was actually an aerospace engineering major in college, but calculus and I had a bad breakup. Considering how much better my English grades were than my calculus grades, I decided to stick to my strengths and write instead. When I made the switch, people kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I told them I’d like to write for a car magazine someday, not expecting it to actually happen. I figured I’d be in newspapers, maybe a magazine if I was lucky. Then this happened, which was slightly awkward because I grew up reading Car & Driver, but convenient since I don’t live in Michigan. Now I just try to make it through the day without adding any more names to the list of people who want to kill me and take my job.
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