The

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

Airflite was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

created by the American car manufacturer

. It was first introduced at the 2003

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

. The Airflite's looks are 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 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 luxury car manufactured and marketed by Stellantis North America (and its predecessor companies) as a four-door sedan and station wagon in its first generation (model years 2005–2010) and solely as a four-do ...

. The Airflite is 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 two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

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

Chrysler Crossfire The Chrysler Crossfire is a rear-wheel drive, two-seat sports car that was sold by Chrysler and built by Karmann of Germany for the 2004 to 2008 model years. Developed during the union of Daimler and Chrysler, the two-seater is based on 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 is based on the Crossfire, as is the satin trimmed windshield. The interior of the Airflite is very spacious and upscale. A dominant center spine connects the interior from the dashboard all the way to the back. The floor is 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 line of mid-size automobiles that was sold from 1995 through 2010 by Chrysler. Three generations of convertibles, two generations of sedans, and two generations of coupes were produced. Although the coupe shared th ...

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 to 1937. From 1937 to 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. Nash production continued from 1954 to 195 ...

(a company that merged with

Hudson Motors The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through ...

to form

American Motors American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 1954. At the time, it was the ...

(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, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

shape was developed in a

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

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