This is a vehicle that has been seriously beaten with a big ugly-stick! I mean, what the hell is it? It looks like something out of Eastern Europe designed during the Cold War.

Ford and Chrysler should merge.

I love it! I guess it all depends on taste. I like large luxury cars to be solid looking, rather than sleek. Like Bentley and Rolls. Just “old school” thinking I guess. Not that the new flagships from Lexus & MB are bad, but if I had a choice, I would go for the “boxier” design.

So Chrysler isn’t saying a darned thing, really.

Oh well, I guess this is just an opportunity for everyone to vent about how ugly they think the concept is.

Personally, that front end is sweet and the wheels will be better for production. The only questionable part is the back end.

in concept: great idea. in the flesh: gross.

i think Chrysler *could* sell an Imperial, just not this one. If the approval process includes a total redesign, go for it. If it means building this concept, the answer is NO.

Give it a grill similiar to the 300C and there is not reallly a problem about selling this car. Just price it toward top end E-class and it should do well.

The only improvement should be made to the interior

This car should and will win awards.
“Ugliest Concept of the Year 2006″
“Most Hideous Car of All Time.
All joking aside, Chrysler needs to come out with some original designs and stop copying off others.
Chrysler 300C = Bentley Continental/Arnage
Chrysler Imperial = Rolls Royce Phantom
This Concept looks like they took the rolls gave it different headlights/tailights & interior.

They should not build it. The only customers will be limousine companies and current Town Car owners.

Chrysler, just build it!

Good design is always controversial.People either love it or hate it, but it does make a statement…and isn’t that what it is all about?

Today’s cars are becoming so bland and generic looking that even with their superior engineering they still induce snoring.

I myself like the Imperial idea on the whole and do like the concept. Yes, it could use some tweaking here and there, but on the whole it is exactly what a luxury car of the Imperial name is supposed to be.

P.S. about those coach doors…keep them! To those that say they are a Rolls Royce Ripoff, you might as well say that Rolls Royce ripped them off from the 60’s era Lincoln. Coach doors have been around for a long time, so get over it…..

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Plus if you look in the past the styling is very similiar to old Chryslers.

Phantom + Aztek + Hemi Ram = Imperial

two thumbs down

I don’t particularly care for it myself, but Chrysler should probably build it anyway – the tooling wont cost that much since its on an existing platform and would give the Limo companies something better to stretch than Hummers and Navigators…

The Imperial Concept is a plot to kill Chrysler!

Frank Klingon, head of product development…

I kinda like the idea of this car, and I also like the design. There are, however, two things that bother me about this car, and I think they’re two good reasons not to produce it.

A) Why would DiamlerChrysler want to build a Chrysler that competes with Mercedes-Benz? I guess I have no idea how large the market of wealthy individuals who insist on buying an American nameplate is. Maybe it’s huge, I dunno.

B) The fact that it’s so heavily based off of the 300 is a concern for me. The Imperial is essentially to the 300 what the Maybach is to the S-Class. That might sound good, but the Maybach hasn’t exactly been a runaway success.

On the other hand, seeing as it is so heavily based off of existing DiamlerChrysler technology, if it’s not going to cost them much to build it, they might as well go for it and see what happens.

/no

I love this design! Go Chrysler Go!

Even if limo companies and towncar owners buy them then DC will probably make some $$ off of it.
Personally I like the design, but will withold serious criticism until I see it in the flesh. pictures almost never do any justice.

Forget the design, Chrysler’s primary concern should be whether or not the Imperial is a car that will help the company return to profitability.

If they can’t properly answer that question they should not go ahead with production.

they should build it. its better looking than the craps coming out from chrysler now

I saw it in person at the Chicago auto show last February, and it isn’t any better looking in person than it is in pictures. There are lots of styling cues from the glorious past, but none of them fit together on this car. The proportions are all wrong, in my opinion.

I think it’d be a mistake to build this car, given the high cost of gasoline these days (the recent dip in prices is only temporary, believe me), and given that Daimler/Chrysler is considering selling off Chrysler. Also—if Chrysler is going to do another Imperial, it had better be really something to justify a name like Imperial. And in my opinion, this car ain’t it. Anyone remember the last, K-car based Imperial? How sad that was.

I wan’t one….

If I were rich.. I would have an Imperial for commuting and family trips

…a Challenger for personal use

and a Ram for hauling stuff….

Chrysler needs the Imperial to remind people that Chrysler is supposed to be a luxury mark
(at least semi-luxury or entry level luxury)

much like the Viper reminded people what Dodge used to be about

idiots…

^?

acura_el2000: huh?

there have been dozens of easily conjured but difficult to build chrysler concepts. This is one of a recent series of easily translated to production ideas. When challenger sales start to falter, this would be a nice addition to the line. A lot of people would buy a 300c but want a nicer interior and maybe a little more space and even higher visibility… for them, this would be the rolls for everyone, which is an appealing concept. More likely is that they’ll tone down a lot of the radical dimensions and make this to the 300c as the LHS was to the New Yorker. Which is fine by me. I imagine the production grille will be one of the first things to be simplified… and if the 300c is anything to go by, if you love everything but the grille or the front end, someone will accomodate you. This might more easily be translated to a phantom front end than is the current 300c slapjobs we’ve seen, just for example.

If vw can build a phaeton, chrysler ought to build an imperial. Why not? at least chrysler is merely expanding upon a successful line rather than attempting to render an aluminum car in steel and style it like a passat!

At the very worst, some of the nicer styling elements might influence the next 300. I like the prowler-esque lower body scuplting that is shared with the firepower and chronos. that’d be a nice familial trait to work into the chrysler brand

read new yorker=concorde

xmnr
this isnt about chrysler building an imperial
its about chrysler building something as ugly as this imperial
yes vw made the phaeton, but ah, was it ugly? no
chrylser can go and build an imperial, but it ought to look like anything but this. this is just tacky, overdone, and obscene looking. Frankly, i think id rather be seen in a Kia Amanti… and thats not saying much.. believe me.

and it ought to undercut the competition by thousands. By touting the Aspen as an Escalade competitor, and then having C&D predict it would cost $45k+, only to have it start at $32k, chrysler made a good move. Maybe you cant get a Hemi for $32k, but you can for under $40k, and you get a whole lotta chromed up durango, in a much less flashy package than an Escalade or Navigator. Its for the person who is secure with themselves, and dont really need to be seen everywhere they go, rather than needing those behemoth bling machines that only make our world less classy.

This design doesn’t really do anything for me, I find it to be a mesh of retro styilng cues and current Rolls Royce design hints, and overall there’s something just totally off about the way it looks, from all angles. Chrysler scored big w/ the 300 and they’re letting it get to their head, big and bold retro designs don’t ALWAYS look good, this is a case in piont of that.

A4 I disagree, someone who is buying an Aspen is not one to be ’secure with themselves’ , look at it, its about as chromed up as any Escalade or Navigator you’ll ever see, what it IS geared towards however are people who want to be as flashy as those driving Navigators and Escalades but don’t have the money to pay for that kind of SUV, or don’t feel like spending $50,000-$60,000 on a car, which makes sense, but this sure as hell isn’t an attractive alternative, it’s a pathetic example of badge engineering and makes an already awkward SUV look even worse

i think the aspen looks better than the durango…at least on the front end…

i was at the chrysler jeep dealer yesterday looking at the wranglers and they had a new Aspen on the lot.. let me tell you it looks way more subdued than an Escalade ever will. Yes theres more chrome than a durango, but thats the point. It flys very under the radar considering its basically a rebadged durango with a couple chrome strips. I guarantee the Aspen is much less of a bling-machine and an ego booster than the Escalade/Navigator are. Yes those are rebadged expeditions and tahoes, but they differ them so much that you notice much less resemblence than the Aspen to the Durango.

what have christians got to do with this?
Chrysler needs to establish a design language thats distinctive like Cadillac have done. This might not be it but its a start.

I like it.

I’ll trade in my 6000 SUX for one.

A4, it’s still one of the most pathetic, pointless example of badge engineering I’ve seen since the whole Trailblazer/GMT-360 “extravaganza”