Chrysler's Long-Anticipated Airflow Electric SUV Has Been Abandoned As We Know It

Since it debuted at the 2022 New York International Auto Show, everyone thought Chrysler's then-new Airflow concept car was going to be the brand's first EV for the 2025 model year — after all, the Airflow name dates back to one of Chrysler's most successful cars from the 1930s. The concept itself was sleek and stylish, but not in the outlandish way that many other concepts are.

Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, is somewhat lacking in the EV department, aside from the Ram 1500 EV, and it looked like a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, those hopes for a 2025 Airflow have been dashed, according to a report by MotorTrend, which spoke to Stellantis designers and executives. The Airflow will not be the future of EV cars for the storied brand. But that does not mean that Chrysler has abandoned EVs altogether, it's just that the Airflow is more than likely not what the car-buying public will see when Chrysler does eventually launch the anticipated EV.

Chrysler brand CEO Chris Feuell was behind the decision to start moving in a different direction from the Airflow. She wanted something entirely new to debut as the brand's first electric offering, and the Airflow wasn't in the cards. According to MotorTrend, longtime Stellantis designer Ralph Gilles was on board with the decision. He says that Chrysler has already shown off a new not-yet-public EV concept to dealers and a select group of people, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Chrysler is still hellbent on putting an EV SUV on the market by 2025. 

While it's good that Chrysler as a brand is putting its best foot forward in developing an EV that will wow people from a design standpoint, it's a bit of a disappointment that the Airflow is looking like it's dead in the water. Chrysler doesn't have a lot going for it now after the Chrysler 200 was killed off years ago, and the Chrysler 300 recently did a rolling burnout into history. Hopefully the new EV will look as good as the Airflow concept did.