Chrysler has seen a lot of success in the past few years when it comes to their large sedans. After abandoning the front-wheel drive platform that underpinned the LHS and the Concord 4 doors,
Chrysler got in touch with their heritage and introduced the 300C. This angular, rear-wheel drive sedan had a muscled look that was the antithesis of the swooping, curved body style of the cars it was replacing, and the name harkened back to the heyday of the
Chrysler letter cars. The LX platform went on to spawn a wagon for
Dodge as well as another 4 door sedan, the
Dodge Charger. Although the wagon is no longer with us, the Charger and the 300C continue to be well received by the public.
It is always hard to follow success, as expectations for a possible 300C replacement have been driven quite high due to the popularity of the original. As part of the exploration of the possibilities available to them,
Chrysler has created the 2007
Chrysler Nassau Concept. The Nassau uses the same LX platform as the 300C, but moves in a different styling direction. The front end of the Nassau is all toothy grille, but wide and more oblong than the current
Chrysler flagship. Headlights are triangular, not square, and they extend into the front fenders where the turn signal can be found.
Instead of being flat, the roofline curves down towards the rear deck, in an imitation of the recent ‘4 door coupe’ designs that have been proliferating out of Germany. In place of the battleship style door slabs of the 300C, the Nassau instead has a line running across the front of the car in a wide U shape, touching the front fender and then extending back along the side of the car until it comes to an end at the rear fender. This line connects with the rear taillights, which are trimmed in silver and lined with LED’s. The taillights frame a deeply carved trunk door that extends up to the roof, creating not quite a hatch but not quite a wagon lift gate either.
The 2007
Chrysler Nassau Concept shares its power train with the SRT8 versions of the Charger and the 300C. A 6.1 liter Hemi V8 engine is mated to a 5 speed automatic, sending a blistering 425 horsepower to the rear wheels.
Chrysler claims that the Nassau can reach 60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds, which would certainly be in line with the numbers posted by other SRT8 vehicles. The interior of the Nassau is typical of most concept show cars, with media controllers for front and rear passengers as well as push button transmission controls mounted on dash panel and paddle shifters fitted to the steering wheel.
The 2007
Chrysler Nassau Concept is significantly smaller than the 300C, and while this is not a bad thing when evaluating the vehicle on its own merits, if one were to consider the Nassau as an eventual replacement for the 300, then it’s diminutive size becomes a larger concern. The North American public has historically had a difficult time accepting premium hatchbacks, as observed by the failure of the
BMW 318ti and the Mercedes CLK230 hatches. It also seems unlikely that
Chrysler will downsize their halo sedan to such a degree, as it would leave them with nothing to compete in the full-size sedan market. A more likely scenario has the Nassau eventually replacing the
Chrysler Sebring, which is their current mid-size, front-wheel drive vehicle. The Nassau will probably also be fitted with a more realistic range of power trains, with the base model sporting a V6. An SRT8 version is not out of the question, however.
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May 18, 2008, 6:01 am
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