Automotive

Chrysler's early entry for "most anonymous concept car of the year"

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We can find exactly one button in this concept – everything else is touchscreen
Chrysler
The special feature of these wheels is that they don't look like they'd work at all
Chrysler
It's as if Chrysler started designing a car, but forgot to finish
Chrysler
We can find exactly one button in this concept – everything else is touchscreen
Chrysler
A single side door opens for both front and back seats
Chrysler
The button knob!
Chrysler
Like an image placeholder for a car
Chrysler
Squared-off steering wheel with touchscreen controls on it
Chrysler
A clean and tidy interior – this is where the time has been spent
Chrysler
View gallery - 8 images

Why do auto companies make concept cars? Well, it's usually to try out some new design lines, spitball about how future technologies might fit into the driving experience down the track, and throw some weird ideas out there to grab a headline or two. All of which makes Chrysler's Airflow Vision concept, which it's brought to CES 2020, a real head-scratcher. What on Earth does this thing achieve?

The exterior design bears so little resemblance to a production car it might just as well be a placeholder image. Most of it looks like an unfinished 3D print, and the wheels ... well, maybe in the future, every road will be billiard-table smooth and unblemished by speed bumps.

The special feature of these wheels is that they don't look like they'd work at all
Chrysler

Time has been spent on the interior, but realistically it could be exchanged for that of nearly any other concept car from the last year or so and nobody would notice. The steering wheel is squared off, which appears to be car designer shorthand for "this thing will self-drive, you won't be needing this much," and the whole cabin is thoroughly designed for people who've grown up with touchscreens, because everything's a smooth, unyielding screen and nothing's a button, save for a single knobby thing in the center console with "start/stop" written on it.

Even the steering wheel controls have nothing that might be construed as mechanical on them, because mechanical feels like last year. We can't see where the door and window controls are, but we'd bet they're smooth and glassy too. And there's no separation between the front and rear windows, because the side windows are single panes on giant double-width gull-wing doors.

A clean and tidy interior – this is where the time has been spent
Chrysler

In suede and leather, the seats and trim all look very nice with their soft LED lighting. It's just hard to see what the point of the Airflow Vision is. Are we missing something? More photos in the gallery.

Source: Chrysler

View gallery - 8 images
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3 comments
Mash Man
Major fail... no cup holders. Looks good for robots, but not humans.
LiamC
Meh, Just another CG rendering trying to be passed off as an actual technological development. I would be impressed when I see a real-life version that drives itself or gets driven onto a stage in front of real people. This is nothing more than a CG Artist's fantasy.
f8lee
Obviously everyone has missed the point - those are not wheels and tires - no, they are vented props in the "landing" position...when it's time to get going they flip to the horizontal and it just hovers and flies off, see? Just soooo obvious!