LAKEVILLE, CONN. – Chrysler will be the honored car brand at this year’s Lime Rock racetrack and the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival, set for Aug. 31 to Sept. 4 in northeast Connecticut.
The marque, which has suffered from a paucity of models, will produce its last 300, the 2023 Chrysler 300C, for 2023. The model shown at the festival will be the 485-horsepower, 6.4L, HEMI-powered 2023 Chrysler 300C.
The event will include as honored guest Ralph Gilles, the chief design officer of Chrysler parent Stellantis, as grand marshall. Additional Chrysler vehicles at the event will be a 1941 Chrysler Newport, a 1953 Chrysler D’Elegance, a 1955 Chrysler 300, a 1957 Chrysler Diablo, a 1963 Chrysler Turbine car and a 2005 Chrysler Firepower concept car.
In recent years, the brand has had no new models, basically the Pacifica minivan and the rear wheel drive 300. The brand suffered through lack of attention, though the Pacifica is still the nation’s best selling minivan. Pacifica was a name borrowed from an unsuccessful Chrysler crossover wagon sold from 2003 to 2007, and heavily promoted by Celine Dion. The 300 had a big push in 2011, with the Imported from Detroit ad.
This year, Chrysler has had a decent sales run with only two models. For the first quarter, the Chrysler brand was up 10 percent in total sales, with the Pacifica up 10 percent and the 300 up 9 percent versus the same quarter in 2022.
In spite of its household name status, it has been generations since it had hit models. Perhaps the best known was the mid-70s Chrysler Cordoba, which sold at its peak about 150,000 cars a year. The Chrysler version of the minivan, the Town & Country, which was selling about 180,759 units in 2005. The dropping of the Town & Country name, which had equity since World War II, hurt sales as well.
In an April 2023 release, the company said that the Pacifica Hybrid accounted for 12 percent (3,473 units) of the nameplate’s total sales for the first quarter. They also touted a new Vanlightenment marketing campaign featuring both the gas powered Pacifica and the plug-in Pacifica Hybrid, demonstrating “how the Chrysler Pacifica serves as a support system for families and brings harmony within their chaotic lives.”
Chrysler brands Plymouth and Dodge cars are still hot in the collectible market.
The company last year made a lame effort at expanding the branding, offering “athleisure” hoodies and such. Not only are the items poor looking, but they had little connection to the brand. They almost looked like counterfeit merchandise done by an internet content scrape. The only thing that let you know it was real was that the brand appeared on PR Newswire.
Here’s what they said. Really.
The unique collection was created in collaboration between the Stellantis licensing and merchandising team and Winnie Cheung, chief designer – advance studio, Stellantis.
“The Chrysler brand has always been about ingenious style and functionality with a focus on providing solutions to make things easier for our customers’ busy lifestyles,” said Chris Feuell, Chrysler brand chief executive officer – Stellantis. “This special collaboration truly embodies what the brand represents with the ultimate goal of creating high quality and modern products that enable consumers to be comfortable while on the go, with practical sophistication.”
PR Newswire
Here is their 2022 promo for the Airflow. Unfortunately, it has very little to make it look like a Chrysler.
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