The Chrysler ME Four-Twelve is an American high-performance

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 ...

that was engineered, developed and produced by

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 ...

in 2004. The ME Four-Twelve name is a combination of the Mid-Engine with Four

turbocharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into th ...

s on a Twelve cylinder engine.

Background

There were two ME Four-Twelve vehicles produced. The first was an auto show version using performance expertise from DaimlerChrysler, but with limited operational capabilities. It was designed behind-the-scenes during 2003 by a small team. The auto show vehicle, unveiled at the 2004

North American International Auto Show The Detroit Auto Show, formerly known as the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan. Hosted at Huntington Place (formerly Cobo Center) since 1965, it is among the largest auto shows in ...

(NAIAS) in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

took less than one year for design and development. The exterior design was done by American Brian Nielander. Chrysler announced at the 2004 NAIAS that the ME Four-Twelve was a full running prototype. At the time, key personnel within the

Street & Racing Technology Street and Racing Technology (SRT) is an American badge of high- performance vehicles manufactured by Stellantis North America, mainly ones of the Dodge brand. Origins of the badge date back to 1989 when a team known as "Team Viper" was organi ...

group at Chrysler directed by Dan Knott (also responsible for the

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by Street & Racing Technology, SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer Chrysler from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2011 to 20 ...

, SRT production adaptations such as the

Dodge Neon SRT-4 The Dodge Neon SRT-4 (also known and later labeled as Dodge SRT-4) is a sport compact car manufactured by Dodge from 2003 to 2005. A turbocharged variant of the Neon, the car was developed by DaimlerChrysler's in house PVO (Performance Vehicle Op ...

and

Dodge Ram SRT-10 The Dodge Ram SRT-10 is a Sports car, sport pickup truck produced by Dodge, based on the standard Ram pickup, Ram 1500, with only 10,046 units built. It was introduced as a concept at the January 2002 North American International Auto Show, whil ...

, Dodge Motorsports, and

Mopar Mopar (a portmanteau of "motor" and "parts") is an American car parts, service, and customer care division of the former Chrysler Corporation, now owned by Netherlands-based automobile manufacturer Stellantis. It serves as a primary OEM access ...

performance parts) were alerted that another project was being considered; to design and build a fully engineered and functional prototype demonstration vehicle capable of achieving the published performance claims and being available for media track evaluation by the summer of 2004.

Design

The chassis tub of the ME Four-Twelve was carbon-fiber and aluminum honeycomb. It used a 4130 steel rear subframe and aluminum castings. The body was lightweight

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

. The low profile of the vehicle contributed to its aerodynamics, while multiple air-intakes enhanced cooling. The car used 265/35ZR19 tires in the front and 335/30ZR20 tires in the rear (on 19- and 20-inch cast-aluminum wheels, respectively). The brakes were six-piston-calipers with 16-inch discs at the front and back. The modified 6.0 L aluminum Mercedes-Benz M120

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-Cylinder (engine), cylinder Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V engine, V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more c ...

featured a newly developed cylinder head, special intake and exhaust manifolds, as well as forged internals such as pistons and crankshaft to accommodate the forced induction system (i.e., four turbochargers), which brought the output of the engine to . This would have made it the most powerful, as well as the fastest, road-going production vehicle at the time. The seven-speed transmission was a

dual-clutch A dual-clutch transmission (DCT) (sometimes referred to as a twin-clutch transmission) is a type of multi-speed vehicle transmission system, that uses two separate clutches for odd and even gear sets. The design is often similar to two separa ...

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (AT) or automatic gearbox is a multi-speed transmission (mechanics), transmission used in motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving conditions. The 1904 ...

,Chrysler ME Four-Twelve - Car and Driver
/ref> with the capability of shifting gears in 200 milliseconds. Claimed acceleration from 0-60 mph was 2.9 seconds, and 0-100 mph in 6.2 seconds. It could cover a quarter mile in 10.6 seconds, with a trap speed of . Estimated top speed was claimed to be . The ME 412's interior featured leather seats, a carbon fiber dashboard, and a chrome-covered center console with a leather tilt steering wheel, and gunmetal gauges. Other features included dual-zone climate control, a premium audio system, keyless access, and a push-button start system. The roof was made of glass.

References

{{Chrysler ME Four-twelve Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles Sports cars