The job wasn’t as Herculean as it might have been in the past. Since Daimler bought Chrysler, there is a bit more discipline in Chrysler show- car design, he says, “with the anticipation that we may be given the green light for production and so it is. His production version, to most eyes, still retains the excitement of the original— this despite meeting all European and American regulations. Because there is a two-seat roadster chassis underneath, it was not difficult to get the proportions right on the production car. And much of the distinct detailing on the concept carries over to the production car, including the ribbed hood and the fender vents.
The nose is the most significantly modified portion. There’s a “Chrysler-look” front grille, smaller than on the concept. The vertically stacked headlamps of the concept are morphed into a horizontal arrangement because “competitors suggested that vertical headlamps were a design cue they were willing to pursue’ and, in one of the few obvious concessions to regulations, the front bumper is much higher and incorporates air intakes in the fascia. The raised central spine that defined the concept remains, although it’s subtler. For instance, the apparently split windshield (which was actually a single center-mounted wiper) was axed in favor of conventional wipers for visibility and because there was no time to design the all-new wiper system the original look would require.
