- Good news for Chrysler: Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares today said the brand will be "relaunched" with "gorgeous" new models.
- Tavares was speaking at an event in Amsterdam on Tuesday morning.
- He also said no additional Stellantis brands are coming to the U.S. market. On that list are Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, and other marques not currently sold here.
With just two models in its lineup, one of which is the ancient 300 sedan, the Chrysler brand has been teetering on the brink of extinction for some time. But no longer. At an event outside of Amsterdam today to discuss the future product strategy for the 14-brand Stellantis empire, CEO Carlos Tavares said that "Chrysler is one of the emotional pillars of the former FCA. It's important for us to give this brand a future and opportunity to rebound," and that "Chrysler will be relaunched." He added that the coming Chrysler models "look really gorgeous," which is something that CEOs always say about future products.
We expect one of the first new models to be an electric compact crossover called the Airflow (pictured above) that will compete with the Tesla Model Y, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Volvo XC40 Recharge. While presenting the company's strategic plan, which Stellantis is calling Dare Forward 2030, Tavares added that the Chrysler brand would be fully electric by 2028, whereas the overall target in the U.S. across all of its brands is to get to 50 percent of total sales of passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks by 2030.
The plans for the other faltering U.S. brand, Fiat, which sells only the 500X crossover at the moment, don't sound as concrete. "We still have to think about how we make the Fiat brand rebound in the U.S.," Tavares said. "We have a couple of ideas, and we didn't yet make all of the decisions."
In speaking more broadly about the U.S. brand strategy, Tavares said, "We have the strategic vision to invest in all the American brands," but added that "I have no intention to bring more brands to the U.S. right now. I think we have enough."
Dave VanderWerp has spent more than 20 years in the automotive industry, in varied roles from engineering to product consulting, and now leading Car and Driver's vehicle-testing efforts. Dave got his very lucky start at C/D by happening to submit an unsolicited resume at just the right time to land a part-time road warrior job when he was a student at the University of Michigan, where he immediately became enthralled with the world of automotive journalism.
