The

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

Airflite was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

created by the American car manufacturer

. It was first introduced at the 2003

Geneva Auto Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

. The Airflite's looks were a combination of a sporty design, stylish looks, and some of the design cues from another one of Chrysler's cars, the

Crossfire A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. ...

. __NOTOC__

Design

The Chrysler Airflite was based on a shortened version of Chrysler's LX platform, which was used on the

Chrysler 300 The Chrysler 300 is a full-size car manufactured and marketed by Stellantis North America and its predecessor companies. It was available as a four-door sedan and station wagon in its first generation (model years 2005–2010), and solely as ...

. The Airflite was powered by a 90° V6 engine. The rest of the Airflite's engine power and torque is still unknown to the public. The major styling approach of the Airflite that typically seen on a sporty two-door

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and typically with two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the Fr ...

model; however, it had the practicality and function of a four-door sedan. The Airflite blended the design of the

Chrysler Crossfire The Chrysler Crossfire is a sports car marketed by Chrysler and manufactured by Karmann of Germany for the 2004 through 2008 model years. Developed during the period when Chrysler and Mercedes Benz had merged, known as Daimler Chrysler, the ...

and Pacifica in its exterior design. Most of the looks of the Airflite (mainly the front and rear) were based on the Crossfire. The seven-spoke road wheel design was based on the Crossfire, as was the satin trimmed windshield. The interior of the Airflite was very spacious and upscale. A dominant center spine connected the interior from the dashboard all the way to the back. The floor was stepped up behind the rear seats to create a raised cargo area. Major styling cues from the Airflite eventually made it into the 2007

Chrysler Sebring The Chrysler Sebring ( ) is a mid-size automobile manufactured and marketed by Chrysler from 1995 to 2010 in convertible (three generations), sedan (two generations), and coupe (two generations) body styles. In each generation, Chrysler itself de ...

sedan.

Original Airflyte

Airflite is a variation of Airflyte, which described the functional styling and

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

construction of a car made by

Nash Motors Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until 1937. From 1937 through 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of Nash-Kelvinator. As sales of smaller firms declined after 1950 in ...

(a company that merged with Hudson Motors to form

American Motors American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the mergers and acquisitions, merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 19 ...

(AMC), which was acquired by Chrysler in 1987). The Nash "Airflyte" was introduced in 1949, featuring a roomy interior and an advanced design. Unusual for the time, its

aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

shape was developed in a

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

to reduce the car's drag coefficient, which resulted in the new Nash Airflyte having a smooth, wide, and low body.

References

Automotive Intelligence: Chrysler Airflite

Retrieved on: July 20, 2007. {{Chrysler Airflite

Design

Original Airflyte

See also

References