Chrysler Halcyon EV concept: Previewing a four-door future?

The era of the Chrysler Airflow EV concept is over; long live the Chrysler Halcyon EV concept. This one’s prettier and more autonomous, so they’ll probably never actually build it, but at least it gives us hope that somebody in Stellantis design is still hung up on low-slung automobiles — and that’s why we’re still hung up on Chrysler.

If you squint and tilt your head a bit, you might see traces of last year’s Peugeot Inception concept lurking in there. We wouldn’t be surprised if that’s at least partially true, but Chrysler’s Halcyon takes the Peugeot’s wild character even further. The Peugeot’s suicide doors may be cool, but the Halcyon combines them with some Gullwing-style appendages. Hey, sedans have four doors; this thing technically has six.

Like the Cadillac InnerSpace and Lincoln L100, the Chrysler Halcyon is more fantastical than merely futuristic. This concept is less automobile than autono-pod, with emphasis on the “autono.” Blessedly, it lacks the Peugeot’s weird video game controller of a steering wheel, but that doesn’t mean you’ll find anything you might want to engage with in this cabin. It’s meant to be ridden in, not driven; in fact, Chrysler’s intro video even featured a woman with her feet up on the dashboard, so presumably it’s both impervious to front-end collisions and made from anti-microbial materials.

Arguing the physical properties of vaporware is fruitless no matter what, so we’ll focus on the broader message: Chrysler wants to make more tech showcases (are you lonely, Pacifica PHEV?) and it has not completely abandoned the notion of sedans. We’re on board with both, but ideally in separate wrappers. We certainly wouldn’t mind seeing the 300 revived as something that might go toe-to-toe with the Genesis Electrified G80. One can dream, right?