The American cousin of the electric Alfa Romeo Giulia
Within Stellantis, the American Chrysler is also heading towards a future full of electric models. Meet the Chrysler Halcyon Concept, a precursor to an electric model that is not an SUV, but is the cousin of the electric successor to the Alfa Romeo Giulia.
Under the leadership of Stellantis, Dodge is working on electric models and Chrysler also does not see the electrification ship leaving the quay for the horizon. Currently, Chrysler only has one electrified model in its range in the form of the Pacifica Plug-in Hybrid, but in 2025 Chrysler will launch its first fully electric car. Just three years later, Chrysler’s portfolio must only include EVs. With this Chrysler Halcyon Concept, the Americans give a glimpse of what you can expect from the brand in the EV field.
Why do we attribute a family connection to the Halcyon Concept with the upcoming electric successor to the Alfa Romeo Giulia? Just like that electric Italian, the Halcyon Concept uses the STLA Large platform, the largest variant of Stellantis’ modular platform family – if we forget the STLA Frame variant intended for pick-ups. The Chrysler Halcyon Concept is a strikingly sleek model, complete with a short nose, windows that go far into the front hatch and a sharply sloping roofline. The Halcyon Concept is certainly not the first relatively concrete recent electric study model from Chrysler. For example, it launched the Portal Concept in 2017 and presented the Airflow Concept in 2022.
Intense door work that of course does not reach the production stage.
Can the Halcyon Concept go into production like this? No. As a true study model, the car is stuffed with conceptual nonsense that will never reach the production stage. For example, the Chrysler has no B-pillars, the rear doors open towards the rear and the Halcyon Concept – just like various models of the Chinese HiPhi – has small upwardly hinged side windows that, together with the surrounding frame and part of the roof, appear as if they were hinged doors up.
Also striking: while many car manufacturers have partly abandoned the enormous focus they had on autonomous driving a few years ago, Chrysler praises the autonomous skills of the Halycon highly. For example, the car should be able to move around autonomously at level 4 thanks to Stellantis STLA AutoDrive hardware and software. So without hands on the wheel. In fully autonomous mode, the steering wheel disappears into the dashboard. The glassware can be darkened all around electrochromatically in autonomous mode for that little bit more peace and security. The windshield can transform into a starry sky in what Chrysler calls Stargazing Mode, all thanks to augmented reality. No vision of the future without a passage about environmentally friendly materials and so Chrysler proudly reports that 95 percent of the interior is made of such stuff. The Chrysler logos are therefore made from recycled CDs. More striking tricks: the rear seats can be completely folded away into the luggage compartment, the 15.6-inch central display can be rotated and folded away, thanks to artificial intelligence, the car apparently knows before you get chilly that the temperature needs to be increased and the car recognizes this. n occupants based on biometric data and then adjust things such as the lighting in the interior accordingly. High-tech involvement that, according to Chrysler, we are eager to see in the future.
More technological highlights? The Halycon Conceopt has 800v lithium sulphide batteries and can be charged using induction while driving. According to the Americans, this means that the Halycon Concept has an infinite range. That is a nice experience, but you need a very special stretch of road for that.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl