Funny….*all of a sudden* Chrysler has these electric/hydrogen powertrains ready to go?

Hell, *I* can draw a car powered by imaginary stuff. I don’t need a major manufacturer to do it for me.

Can’t wait to see the Jeep Compass ZEO Concept!!!

Didn’t they JUST say that Dodge was going to be trucks only

When’s the slant 6 coming back?

Boy that Chinese kid can draw a fancy car. He says it will run on pedal power like most vehicles in his country.

I believe they had worked on fuel cells before they had a minivan that used borax or something to get hydrogen from. They are obviously taking a page from GM and hoping that these concepts will bring them accolades as did the Volt. Too bad it is yesterday’s news.

Back in the late 1990s Chyrsler was trying to roll out what would have been the first Hybrid-electric race car, which they called “The Patriot” (or some such). It was to race in the LeMans series in either GT1 or GT2. The car never got out of testing.

It isn’t that difficult for a car company to “all of a sudden” field or start working on Hybrids. The major car makers who supposedly develop this stuff are not the ones who make the parts. The Auto makers may have designed and/or commissioned the parts but are no longer the sole providers of those parts, if they ever were.

It’ll be another ten or more years but the automobile industry is getting to a point where you can buy your motors, batteries, and generator, and all you have to do is develop the platform to put this stuff on. It’s kind of like the R/C industry. Just buy your parts and apply to the appropriate platform.

Anyway, this looks like a hot hatch sport coupe. Probably a Volt competitor. If Chrysler, follows through with gusto, they could field a product in fairly short order. The same kind of push that got the VIPER from the drawing board to the road in 3 years, could get this car to the road before 2012. We all know that Chrysler is going to need more than Hemis to float the boat in fairly short order. This could be a big help.

I think I’m interested. Now if FORD would do the same kind of Hot Hybrid (and bring it to market!), then Detroit might have something to crow about.

Yea, I’m not surprised that Chrysler is planning electric cars either. In fact, the 2-Mode system in GM cars was jointly developed by GM, Chrysler, and BMW. Anyway, this car looks kinda cool to me.

er…………………………cheap VW Sirocco rip off anyone???????????

i like it

nice rear end. Now if only dodge could get the talent from its doodling department and have their brains chemically altered to make engineering components…

I like the front end but another sport wagon???? You think Dodge would have learned it’s lesson from the Magnum. No more wagons please Dodge!

Brilliant.. Chrysler makes a big deal about killing a large, uncapacious wagon, then makes a big deal about designing the only thing less useful.. a large, uncapacious TWO-DOOR wagon.

Nice drawing. I like. Maybe they should hold on to the concept for a couple decades and do it later like with the Ford GT40. You know, if Dodge survives that long.

This would likely be bigger than a Scirocco. Chrysler is not known for making small cars. Even the Caliber is NOT a truly small car.

It isn’t so much a “cheap rip-off”, but rather Dodge’s design at work. But be your own judge.

http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/top-2006-Volkswagen-IROC-Concept.htm

I’m not really seeing that much of a similarity beyond what most cars of a type tend to share.

Also I really don’t see any great harm in a sport wagon. Granted the Magnum is not doing well, but it isn’t a failure either. A car that can haul more than ass is always good. Chrysler has really been about delivering alternatives to the typical. A New Sport Wagon, a smaller one that doesn’t looks so much like “a car on truck hormones”, would do quite well. Though, I see the Magnum as a sensible step away from oversized, underutilized, SUVs.

But whatever, Cerberus is going to kill the car anyway. But If Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and others can make wagons work, I think a muscle Wagon or sport wagon is quite doable. Just don’t expect it to displace many SUVs until customers come to their senses… Which isn’t going to be for a while, sadly.

I know that if I were in the market for an alternative powertrain vehicle, I would much rather be seen driving this than a Prius or FCX Clarity. You can look cool and green at the same time while saving money on energy costs. If the actual concept car’s styling stays true to the sketch, it will have the same cool factor as the Chevy Volt concept.

Looks cool, but Dodge ****ed up irreversibly by not producing the 2-seater Razor. They were bragging about 250 hp for under $20k. They would have smoked the Solstice/Sky and Miata segment in one swoop, and had a cheap eco-friendly sports car to boot.

Now they’re scrambling to repeat the effort with weird wagons and warthog-ripoffs. Too late ****ers.

Deanster,

You can thank Daimler for not producing the Razor. A company can’t do very much when their parent company refuses to invest any money in them, but rather use them to bring down the cost of parts for another subsidiary company. Bleeding a company dry gets you what Chrysler has become today, a far cry from the company it was in the 90’s.

prowler hatchback

Hotwheels car.

Never see the light of day.

I don’t understand Chrysler design studios. I’m not exactly sure, but cars specifically from Chrysler seem to have no presence to me. To me, they have a very flat design, and this epitomizes that look I’m talking about. Very simple, low lying and not ambitious lines, I just don’t see any ambition in it’s design. The car doesn’t have any major lines or curves to it, doesn’t have any presence, and reminds me of 90’s design (flat, boring shell with a few defining cues, but nothing altogether bold).

Mar solo,

Here’s a Hot Wheels car.

http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/2007/top-2007-Lotus-Hot-Wheels-Concept.htm

Jayjc08,

I don’t see it. It’s more sensible design that points toward the realistic possibility that this car will be built and not some dream car with no chance in Hades of being built even as a concept.

Besides, I’m kinda’ burned out on the insane, gaudy, weird styling of Chrysler’s recent past. I’m sick of the 300, if they’d change that front end on the Charger, then I would be okay with it, Absolutely sick of the chunky styling of the Caliber and others.

While I’m not hip on Dodge’s design skewing to more modest shapes, epitomized by the G2 Viper, I can understand the need to reel things in before they go completely off the deep end. Besides, If the Zeo is supposed to be a hybrid, a degree of efficiency over style is demanded given the technology available today and for the next decade at least. Yes it’s going to look dull against a charger, Avenger, or Caliber, but it looks plenty cool to me.

Blakkar- I understand what you mean, especially about Chrysler design.

What I’m pointing out is the symmetrical front. The headlights, Dodge grill and intakes are all in line, they don’t have much form to them. It makes the car look flat and boring to me, so does Chryslers other designs. They just follow boring forms, without anything really identifiable (es) as Chrysler, or anything that really defines the car individually.

So you find it uninteresting. I rather like it mainly because it doesn’t scream “look at me!” Simplicity is one of the hardest things to pull off in design. Frankly, I think it works.

As I said before, I’m glad this car is devoid of much of the weirdness that has plagued recent designs.

If you want you can look at it as a car in which the whole car was considered and not just the front end. I which case interest is spread over the whole car and not considered on the front, meaning the whole car is meant to be interesting.

looking good

I like it. I’m looking forward to more details.