Chrysler was once a thriving full-lineup automobile brand selling millions of units across the United States. It wasn't that long ago, I remember the 1990s well. In 2026, however, Chrysler is down to just one lone model, the Pacifica minivan. If this company doesn't turn its sh*t around quick, I fear it won't survive the decade. Dodge CEO Matt McAlear took over as CEO of Chrysler last week, and he's got his work cut out for him to get Chrysler back on the straight and narrow. I hope he's got a good plan, and I don't envy his position, but it definitely has me thinking about what I'd be doing if I were in his shoes.
This company is already walking dead, and needs a huge jolt of excitement to win customers back to the winged brand. Of the big three's luxury brands, which include Cadillac and Lincoln, Chrysler is in the worst shape by far. There's nothing there! Fortunately for Chrysler, there is a way back to good, and I think that takes a four-pronged approach. If I were McAlear, I'd be focusing on nostalgia-framed model reboots, subsuming the Maserati lineup to inject some excitement, cribbing a few things from other Stellantis brands to fill out the lineup, and finally getting a handle on the EV market.
I'll dig in a little deeper to each of these four strategies, and how I would blend them to make a great lineup of Chrysler vehicles. I'm sure Chrysler won't listen to any of us, but feel free to follow up with your own ideas in the comments section and we can have a lively conversation about it. So here we go, I'm CEO of Chrysler, and this is how I'm going to fix the company.
The Compact Crossover: This may be a hard to swallow pill, but there's no stronger form of nostalgia right now than for early 2000s nostalgia, and in the 2000s we were stuck on 1950s nostalgia. On the strength of Americans yearning for a simpler time, Chrysler needs to reboot the PT Cruiser. I would give this thing 20-inch wheels and inflate the proportions of the car accordingly, price it in the 30s, and I've got myself a throwback-inspired mid-sized crossover that will sell by the bucketload. I'd use the existing Fiat 600 platform to build it off of to save money.
The Sedan: The car that best exemplifies the Chrysler brand of the last twenty years is definitely the LX-platform 300C. There's nothing more quintessentially American than a large rear-wheel-drive sedan with a big V8 under the hood. While the model died in 2023, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring it back, but make it a world-beating luxury model with an actual sporting version. As CEO I really only have to copy the Cadillac CT5 here, and I'm in business. Give the Alfa Romeo Giulia (a decade-old car itself) a proper revamp and make it half a step larger so it can accommodate a Hemi V8, and I'm pretty much there.
The Sports Car: In the vein of the Mitsubishi-based Chrysler Conquest and the Mercedes-based Chrysler Crossfire, the company needs something in its lineup to get people pumped up about seeing Chryslers again. I'm thinking a four-seater, front-engine, rear-drive roadster with an available manual is the ticket here. With the right combination of design and engineering, I think we could get a style-forward and lighter Maserati GranCabrio-based machine to market for a smidge under a hundred grand. That may sound expensive, but a Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 was around $50,000 new, which is about $87,900 in today's money factoring inflation. And rich people are the only ones who can afford new cars right now anyway, so why not cater to their desires? Just don't call it the Chrysler TC by Maserati.
Speaking of Maserati, since both the Maserati and Chrysler brands are in a tailspin here in the U.S., I have a unique proposition for Stellantis. What if Maserati pulled out of the U.S. market altogether and Chrysler grabbed most of the Italian brand's lineup as captive imports? This would free Maserati to think about its future in China and Europe, and give Chrysler some product in its showrooms to get people excited about.
The Large Crossover: Chrysler should absolutely be chasing the Porsche Cayenne market here, and can absolutely do that with a well-done rebrand of the Maserati Grecale (more of a Macan competitor in size, yes, but it'll work). With a handful of different versions of the model already available, you can get a ton of luxury and a ton of speed out of the parts that already exist without much engineering effort or money spend. I like this a lot. It's also the same platform as the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, so you can get the price down some to match the market you need in America.
The Supercar: I don't know why Maserati's MC20 isn't selling better than it is. This is one of the most exciting-looking supercars on the market, and it's fast as all heck. Give it a few small design tweaks and you've got an American-branded supercar that the people have been yearning for since the ME Four-Twelve concept dropped in 2004. Sure, this has half as many turbos and half as many cylinders as that concept, but it's still a worthy successor. Call it the ME Two-Six if you really want to, I don't care.
With three new Chrysler-branded models built on existing Stellantis platforms, and two cars ripped directly from the Maserati lineup, we're already looking at much better prospects for the Chrysler brand, but it's not quite a full lineup of luxury vehicles yet. Let's look to the other Stellantis brands to grab a couple more and make things really interesting. The company more or less needs to follow in Cadillac's extremely profitable and successful footsteps to right itself. Until the company can find its corporate footing, it can grab another couple from its European stablemates.
The Mid-Size Crossover: Chrysler will need at least three different sizes of crossover in the late 2020s to be competitive. We already have a compact and a large crossover, so let's do a mid-sized model. I really like how the new Citroën C5 Aircross looks. It's a little more rugged and upright than the other two in the lineup, but I think Chrysler can make that aesthetic work with the right tweaks. This is a good pick.
The City Car: At some point an American car company is going to have to figure out that the population of this country is increasingly moving toward an urban live-work lifestyle. Many of our cities may not be built for walking, but they certainly aren't made for driving giant cars around, either. Chrysler could be innovative and exciting by bringing the concept of European-style Quadricycle to American cities. Yes, I'm proposing a luxury-focused version of the tiny electric Citroën Ami and Fiat Topolino that we love so very much. They're dang cute and so easy to drive around. No, it isn't practical for use everywhere in this country, but New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and some neighborhoods in LA would be the perfect breeding ground for these tiny monsters.
The Large SUV: For all the other places in the U.S. that are clinging to their towing capacities and seating for eight, Chrysler needs to introduce its own luxurious two and three-row SUV, in the vein of the Cadillac Escalade. Grab the current Jeep Grand Wagoneer, badge it a Chrysler Aspen, and go to town!
Back in 2021 Stellantis was all-in on electrification and had promised to deliver a bunch of new EVs by now. The company even changed its slogan to "Clean Technology for a New Generation of Families" and when the Airflow concept (above) was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in early 2022, it looked like a better future for the company was in the cards.
My first act as CEO would be to bring back the Pacifica PHEV. That's maybe the best minivan to ever have been built! Come on! And with that move, my actions are complete. Chrysler has an incredible lineup of vehicles to fit the needs of Americans, and every single one of them is, or can be, electrified. With very little effort, Chrysler could become the future of electrification exemplification for automakers in the U.S.
Let's go model by model in my new lineup and discuss electrification as it pertains to my new-and-improved Chrysler.
City Car: Chrysler Neon. Based on the Citroën Ami, this is an all-electric model for city dwellers.
Compact Crossover: Chrysler PT Cruiser. Based on the Fiat 600, this is available as a mild hybrid with a 1.2-liter turbo three-cylinder, or as a much more powerful EV. There's even an electric Abarth model, allowing for some Mopar add-ons to the Chrysler.
Mid-Sized Crossover: Chrysler Aircross. The Citroën C5 Aircross is offered in mild-hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and EV variants, with up to 228 horsepower and 97 kWh of battery.
Large Crossover: Chrysler New Yorker. The Maserati Grecale GT and Modena models come standard with a mild hybrid motor attached to a 2.0T engine making up to a combined 325 horsepower. The Grecale Folgore model is an EV with 550 ponies on tap. That should be sufficient.
Large Sedan: Chrysler 300C and 300E. This is the closest thing to engineering a brand new vehicle as I got with this list. It could easily be engineered to accept one of Stellantis' various PHEVs. And while we're at it, toss in that Folgore EV stuff as well for a 300E model.
The Sports Car: Chrysler Crossfire. With an available 750-horsepower tri-motor EV layout, the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore is already right there to give Chrysler an incredible electric drop-top that isn't really available anywhere else.
The Large SUV: Chrysler Aspen. The refreshed Grand Wagoneer is now available with a range-extender powertrain that uses the Pentastar engine, so that's easy.
The Supercar: Chrysler ME Two-Six. Maserati cancelled the MC20 Folgore EV in 2025 after spending five years developing the damn thing. Grab that work out of the trash and you've got a world-beating Chrysler EV lineup.
Add in Chrysler's current Pacifica PHEV and you've got a nine-car lineup that people can really get excited about, and all nine of them are available with optional electrification. Seven of the nine are available as a BEV with minimal engineering effort required. These are mostly cars that Stellantis already sells. It's so easy, just do it.