Chrysler Crossfire
Wheelbase: 102.6 inches
Length: 156.4 inches
Width: 72.4 inches
Height: 51.3 inches
Powertrain: 2.7-liter, 275-h.p., supercharged V-6 with 5-speed manual transmission.
Drive: Rear wheel
Noteworthy: Two-seater; one-piece carbon body webbed to aluminum frame; 0 to 60 m.p.h. time of 5.8 seconds and top speed of 148 m.p.h.
Jeep Willys
Wheelbase: 95 inches
Length: 142.4 inches
Width: 70.5 inches
Height: 63.2 inches
Powertrain: 1.6-liter, 160-h.p., supercharged 4 cylinder with 4-speed automatic.
Drive: All wheel
Noteworthy: 4-passenger Wrangler-size SUV; one-piece carbon fiber body webbed to an aluminum frame.
Dodge Super 8 Hemi
Wheelbase: 117.4 inches
Length: 186 inches
Width: 73.9 inches
Height: 56.2 inches
Powertrain: 5.7-liter, 353-h.p., Hemi V-8 with 4-speed automatic with clutchless manual Autostick.
Drive: Rear wheel
Noteworthy: Performance four-door sedan; unitized body without side B pillars; 22-inch tires; zero- to 60-m.p.h. time of 5.7 seconds and top speed of 154 m.p.h.
Dodge Power Box
Wheelbase: 125 inches
Length: 194.2 inches
Width: 77 inches
Height: 73.6 inches
Powertrain: 2.7-liter, 250-h.p. supercharged V-6 with 4-speed automatic transmission and 70 h.p. electric motor.
Drive: All wheel
Noteworthy: 7-seater SUV; recyclable plastic body on lightweight aluminum frame; zero to 60 m.p.h. in 7 seconds, 120 m.p.h. top speed; 25 m.p.g. city/highway mileage combined.
When unveiled on the auto-show circuit in 1989, the concept Dodge Viper prompted viewers to send blank checks to Chrysler to be first in line to buy one.
When unveiled on the auto-show circuit in 1999, the concept Chrysler PT Cruiser caused so many viewers to pester Chrysler to build it that the automaker had to map plans for a second production site before assembling Cruiser No. 1.
So which will be the next concept in the Chrysler stable to prompt similar reaction from the public and prove to be the next Viper or Cruiser?
Will it be the Chrysler Crossfire, Jeep Willys, Dodge Super8 Hemi or Dodge Power Box, the latest batch of concepts from the Chrysler stable being unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show.
From this debut the machines will next be shipped to Chicago in February and New York in April so the public can cast their votes as to which, if any, they want to go into production.
For several years, Chrysler has used the auto-show circuit to serve two purposes–to hint to (upstage?) its competition what direction its product program is taking and to gauge public reaction as to which concepts are as appealing to potential buyers as they are to the stylists and designers who created them.
As evidenced by Viper, Cruiser and the Chrysler (nee Plymouth) Prowler, public excitement determines whether the concepts are crated or created.
For 2001 come the Chrysler Crossfire, a high-performance two-seat coupe; the Dodge Super8 Hemi, a high-performance sedan; the Dodge Power Box, an all-wheel-drive hybrid sport-ute that runs on gas and/or battery power; and the Jeep Willys, an all-wheel-drive four-passenger sport-utility that hints at an addition or replacement in the Wrangler lineup.
Here’s a quick rundown on each. You can take a look when all come to the Chicago Auto Show Feb. 9 through 18 in McCormick Place South.
– Chrysler Crossfire: When you go to the newsstand to pick up your latest buff book, bring a towel to wipe off the drool left on the covers featuring the Crossfire.
Trevor Creed, Chrysler senior vice president of design, calls the two-seat coupe an “image vehicle that combines American power with international flair. It would be an instant classic.”
The low center of gravity and wide track combine to give Crossfire a stable stance on the road. The rear-wheel-drive coupe is powered by a 2.7-liter, 275-horsepower, supercharged V-6 coupled to a 5-speed manual. To optimize its performance ride and handling character, it rests on 19-inch radials up front, 21-inch radials in back.
The carbon-fiber body boasts the Chrysler winged badge above its egg-crate grille up front and on its slender hatchback lid in back.
– Jeep Willys: Here’s a small sport-ute featuring molded-in-color plastic, a manufacturing process Chrysler has been toying with for years to use lower-cost recyclable plastic body panels and eliminate the paint shop in the assembly plant in favor of adding color to the plastic molds.
Creed calls Willys a “modern interpretation of the Jeep brand.” Though it bears the trademark seven-slot Jeep grille and wheel arches, it comes with a removable translucent glass roof.
The Wrangler-sized Willys (same wheelbase, but 10 inches shorter) comes with a 1.6-liter, supercharged 4-cylinder boasting 160 h.p. that’s teamed with a 4-speed automatic. The all-wheel-drive SUV comes with a transfer case with 4WD low for off-roading. It rides on 22-inch radials. The addition of 22-inch radials is meant to give Willys a “go-anywhere attitude.”
Don’t be surprised if something similar to the Willys pops up as the next-generation Wrangler.
If the Willys name sounds familiar, it goes back to the days when Kaiser roamed the streets before American Motors bought Kaiser and then Chrysler bought American Motors and … talk to grandpa about it, he’ll remember.
– Dodge Super8 Hemi: Creed calls this an all-American sedan that borrows cues from trucks and sport-utes and incorporates them in a vehicle with a tall stance for increased visibility, comfort, space and ease of entry and exit.
Obviously the rear-wheel-drive Super8 is designed for performance with a 5.7-liter, 353-h.p. V-8 that develops almost 400 foot-pounds of torque. In keeping with the Dodge performance theme, Super8 comes with Autostick, the clutchless manual found in a variety of Dodge products, as well as a specially tuned performance suspension designed for optimum handling.
And Super8 boasts a zero- to 60-m.p.h. time of less than 6 seconds .
Super8 resurrects two items typically not found in cars today–side vent windows and bench seats.
Those bench seats have been given a modern twist. The front bench seat is mounted on a rail along the sills just under the side doors rather than on anchors bolted to the floor. So when the seat is moved , the bench appears to float.
In keeping with what its rivals at General Motors and Ford are doing in the way of e-commerce in passenger cars, Super8 also comes with an Infotronic system to provide “infotainment, edutainment and entertainment” through voice-activated controls. So you can tell the computer to send an e-mail to your home or office while driving.
Rear-seat occupants can be info/edu/enter-tained using LCD display screens mounted into the back rests of the front seats. Rear-seat occupants also can use the car’s Internet system to play trivia games with one another or with players in similarly equipped vehicles, or call up pictures being taken by the security camera at home.
The Super8 hints at the next generation Dodge LH sedan.
– Dodge Power Box: The name originally was the Adventurer to hint at a full-size eight-passenger sport-utility vehicle in the Dodge lineup bigger than the midsize Durango to compete against the Ford Expedition and Chevrolet Suburban, an on-again, off-again project that at last report is off again.
Power Box is powered by a 2.7-liter, 250-h.p., supercharged V-6 that burns compressed natural gas teamed with an electric battery-powered motor to provide the performance of a V-8 (zero to 60 m.p.h. in 7 seconds) with the fuel economy of a V-6 (25 m.p.g. city/highway combined)–and zero emissions.
Chrysler says Power Box hybrid powertrain has a range of more than 350 miles, or about triple the range of most natural-gas vehicles used mostly for fleet purposes.
Power Box was created many months ago, long before the run-up in the price of natural gas that might dictate a return to a lead-free gas/battery-powered alternative if the project gets on-again status.
Power Box is an update of the Dodge Power Wagon concept from the 1999 auto-show circuit. A “kneel down” suspension was added that lowers the vehicle by three inches after being placed in park for ease of exit; as was a “combogate,” a combination liftgate/tailgate that can be lifted like a hatch for ease of loading cargo or dropped down like a tailgate to extend the cargo hold; as were side rear doors that swing out and slide back for ease of entry/exit; as well as run-flat tires.
