The Chrysler Halcyon Concept Is Here To Preview The Chrysler Of The Future

If you’re from the UK, you probably don’t think about Chrysler too often. It hasn’t sold cars here since 2015, and its products, while sometimes likeable in a wafty American way, were never much competition for European brands.

Mind you, you probably don’t think about it much if you’re American either. Since the pensionable 300 saloon was finally shuffled out of production in December last year, Chrysler has been selling precisely one vehicle, exclusively in North America: the now eight-year-old Pacifica minivan.

We call this state of affairs ‘Lancia syndrome’. Like its Italian Stellantis stablemate, however, plans are afoot for a relaunch, and this, the Halcyon concept, is supposed to preview what that might look like.

The Halcyon is fully electric, a fact that should surprise precisely nobody. The brand says it plans to introduce its first production BEV model in 2025, with plans for a completely electric lineup by 2028.

Chrysler says the Halcyon uses 800V lithium-sulphur batteries, which use far fewer rare earth metals than most current EV batteries, resulting in a 60 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions in the production process. It also features ‘Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer’ which, in simple terms, is the ability to recharge wirelessly when driving along specially-equipped roads, resulting in a theoretically infinite range on said roads. Shame they don’t exist yet.

The brand is also shouting about the fact that the interior materials are 95 per cent sustainable, including Chrysler logos made out of old crushed CDs. It rather tenuously uses this fact to make a point about its Detroit origins and that city’s significant musical history.

Naturally for a modern concept car, there’s a lot of talk about autonomy -  the Halcyon is said to be capable of level four autonomous driving, which is one step away from needing no human oversight at all.

Of course, because it’s 2024, AI integration is a thing too. Apparently, occupants can ask the onboard assistant ‘anything’ (is this how we finally learn the meaning of life?). The AI will also prepare the car for the driver based on factors like weather conditions and their calendar; allow for entry and start-up using facial recognition; and dynamically alter the cabin ambience by adjusting things like lighting, sounds and graphics on the display.

Flight-of-fancy tech overload aside, we think it’s a pretty good-looking thing in a minimalist, concept-ish way. That bonkers door arrangement is a neat party trick, too.

Don’t, however, expect to see a Chrysler that looks like this on the road any time soon or one with some of the more advanced features seen on the Halcyon. It’s supposed to preview the direction Chrysler is heading rather than any one model, and anything they release in the short term will be much more grounded in the present day.

The last time we heard anything from Chrysler, it was with 2022’s Airflow concept, an electric crossover in what looked like near-production form. It was widely assumed that that would be Chrysler’s first production EV, expected in 2025, but apparently, that plan has changed and we’re not sure what its next road car will look like. Whatever it is, don’t expect it to be sold in Europe - Chrysler will likely remain a North America-only brand for the foreseeable.