Chrysler’s future is looking pretty bleak these days
as the company’s lineup only consists of the 300 and Pacifica minivan. Executives have already stated
the 300 is living on borrowed time as the model no longer fits with their desire
to position Chrysler as a “people movers” brand. The model is expected to be
phased out in 2020 and that would leave Chrysler with just one vehicle.
Thankfully, it doesn’t look like the Pacifica will
have to carry the Chrysler brand alone as Automotive News is reporting the Portal Concept will be going into production in
2020. Little is known about the production model, but it is expected to be an
electric vehicle just like the concept that debuted at the Consumer Electrics Show
in 2017.
This could potentially be a wise move as Chrysler
and Waymo have an extensive partnership, but the Alphabet-owned recently tapped
Jaguar Land Rover to provided 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles. The
decision to put the Portal into production would give Waymo an even more
eco-friendly option than the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan.
While little is known about the rumored production
model, the concept was billed as a “six-passenger multi-purpose vehicle” which
was “designed by millennials for millennials.” Chrysler didn’t release detailed
specifications, but said the front-wheel drive concept had an approximately 100
kWh lithium-ion battery pack which would enable the model to travel more than 402 km on a single charge. The concept was also designed to work
with DC fast chargers and this enabled the van to be given 241 km of range in less than 20 minutes.
Besides the eco-friendly powertrain, the Portal
concept was equipped with a Level Three semi-autonomous driving system which
used LIDAR, radar and sonar sensors to enable the vehicle to drive itself in
certain situations. The company even said concept was designed to be upgraded
to higher levels of autonomy as technology progressed.
