It is a symbol that stands for the spirit of adventure, grounded in the belief that
for ideas to take flight, they must have wings.
We have that vision at Chrysler where in order to build a vehicle, everybody has to be involved.
The main thing we had to accomplish was beat the original design.
There's no question that's a challenge.
Just being a part of a team that has its objectives set so high.
And trying to give it that individuality and that personality, that passion.
This is the birthplace of great ideas.
The Daimler Chrysler Technology Center.
It is an environment that provides the finest technical tools, where all the essential disciplines
are brought together under one roof.
It is an environment that inspires the imagination, where people are free to find new, innovative
ways of doing business.
Where great ideas are not only encouraged, they are brought to life.
In every vehicle Chrysler builds, there's a promise.
Put there by people who love building cars.
A promise of innovative thinking and advanced technology.
We've changed the way we've developed the vehicle completely.
We use this computerized process to do everything from conceptual design all the way through
plant floor delivery where everybody's working on the same data at the same time.
You have a dynamic environment where people are changing parts on a daily basis.
We know at Chrysler what the impact of that change is.
The key at Chrysler, it's not the computers that made a difference.
It's the way that people used them.
What we're able to do is build the car before we build the car.
The result of this innovative new approach, today's Chrysler sedans, expressive, athletic,
and refined.
All built on the belief that while all cars appeal to our practical side, the great ones
appeal to a more passionate side.
The 1999 Chrysler Concorde, a contemporary interpretation of the sedan, a totally new
expression of cab forward luxury.
Cab forward really is a term that's used to describe the architecture of the car.
We've taken the wheels and we've moved them out to the corners.
If you look at the car, it's got a very sculptural hood.
It's got some nice formations in the hood.
What we try to do is carry those formations into the headlamps themselves.
The whole car has a nice gentle taper that moves rearward.
Then it finishes off in a nice crisp crease line in the rear end of the car.
I think the importance of a good design is that it's a sum of everything.
It's everything working together to complete the overall object.
When you look at the vehicle, it's got a nice flowing silhouette.
It gives that appearance of a sport coupe as opposed to a sedan.
The 1999 Chrysler Concorde, inspired styling, remarkable agility and exhilarating performance,
offering an advanced 225 horsepower engine that delivers aggressive power with outstanding
fuel economy.
Using computers, we've been able to design over 1,200 engine variations.
The result is by the time the customer turns the key on the first car, we have over 2.2
million miles of durability testing on these engines.
The 2.7 liter Concorde has the best full size sedan fuel economy in the industry.
The 3.2 liter in the Concorde LXI is closer to the performance level of a small V8 engine,
but with the fuel economy of a V6 engine.
Both of the engines are designed to be very exciting to drive.
Well I guess as an engineer, you never say things are as good as they can get.
We have a good stiff body between the front and rear suspension.
We have our wheels to the corner, which is where they really want to be.
You don't want a car that moves with the road.
You want a car that's very stable.
You want a quiet car, one that allows you to feel like you're controlling it, not that
it's controlling you.
It becomes an extension almost of yourself.
It's really a fun vehicle to drive.
Beyond control, there is comfort.
Both are pleasures demanded by discriminating drivers.
Both are standard features in the Chrysler Concorde.
When you open the doors of the Concorde, you're immediately impressed with the roominess of
the cabin, the openness of the instrument panel, and the amount of legroom in the rear
seats.
As you get in there and you sit in the car and you take a look at the instrument panel,
one of the things you'll notice is this absence of lines.
The instrument panel flows very smoothly, very little cut lines, and we've done that intentionally.
Within the Concorde interior, we were able to offer a significant number of features,
both power locks and windows, eight-way power seats on the driver's side as well as the
passenger side, as well as automatic temperature control and overhead systems with many electronic
features.
The 1999 Chrysler Concorde, expressive styling, surprising agility, ranked best premium midsize
and initial quality by JD Power and Associates.
It's a refined interpretation of the contemporary sedan.
The 1999 Chrysler 300M, the most powerful sports sedan in its class.
It marks the return of Chrysler's legendary letter series sedan, a legend that was launched
44 years ago.
The 300 idea is the idea of a powerful, responsive, nimble automotive machine.
We are a company built on engineering mastery.
The 300 gives us an all-out engineering car.
It has put real fire and spirit into the whole job we do.
34 years later, the soul lives on, the 1999 Chrysler 300M, with the most horsepower, the
most torque, and the widest stance in its class.
The technology has changed, but the spirit is the same.
Heritage design is looking back into your past and trying to come up with the kinds
of things that were good design.
The front end has got some great headlights that are very high-performance headlights.
I think there's a great impression that's created by that.
The back end has what we call pent-up energy.
It's like it's pulled back in a sling shot and ready to go.
I think when somebody sees the 300M, the first thing I'd like them to think is that this
is a very agile car, a compellingly athletic kind of a car.
It's not just a vehicle to get you from point A to point B. It's a vehicle for you to enjoy
the trip in.
They're the type of people who like the feel of a fine machine, the throb of a powerful
engine that will take them anywhere they want to go.
The first thing we wanted to do was to make the new 3.5 engine to have the same spirit
and soul that the original Chrysler engines had.
I have a 62 300H I bought out in California.
It's the 413 engine, dual four-barrel carburetor.
My wife and I drove it back across the country.
We just had a great time.
You know, as long as I've worked on this 300 engine, I still get a tingle every time we
open the hood.
And you will too.
When we test the 300M, we see it getting zero to 60 times at about 7.8.
This 3.5 liter aluminum V6 engine got us 253 horsepower when we ran it on the dyno.
It's an engine that's been built so that you can run it as hard as you want to run it,
and it's still going to ask you for more.
The 300 idea has always been about a performance car.
It's something that even the best of a driver can push to the limits and still feel very
comfortable in.
I think what the 300M does exceptionally well is it gives you what I call road feel.
It responds to the driver's controls incredibly well.
You feel connected to the car, and it makes for a very enjoyable driving experience.
The potential of a true sports car is something you experience.
You feel whether you use it all or only a little.
And that's the thrill and the payoff.
In addition to being a great handling car, the 300M comes with the kinds of standard
features you expect in this classic car, such as ABS and traction control.
The 300M has AutoStick, and the great thing about AutoStick is when you want to drive
a car with an automatic transmission, you got it.
When you want to drive a car with a manual transmission and a flick of a lever, you have
all the fun features of a manual transmission.
When someone drives a 300M, they're going to smile when they step on the gas, and they're
going to smile the first time they take a turn in the car.
Now for a moment, imagine yourself as driver of this automobile, and notice how this magnificent,
unusual interior contributes to the overall theme of a functional, high-performance car.
When you get into the 300M, what you'll find is a very contemporary blend of the old and
the new, something that harks back to the best of the past.
That sort of hand-built, finely crafted sense is what we were trying to capture.
And the seats themselves have a lot of luxury features in them.
There's eight-way power, there's heated seats, there's memory seating functions.
The gauges light up in sort of a light blue color.
It's a very new technology, but a very upscale and sophisticated look.
The interior really wants to fulfill the expectations raised by the exterior.
We've done a fantastic job on the outside of the vehicle.
We like to think also on the inside.
Chrysler 300M, the most powerful sports sedan in its class, and now Motor Trend 1999 Car
of the Year.
It's unique, and it's exciting, and it's a basic automotive experience.
To really appreciate it, you have to drive it.
It has arrived.
The all-new 1999 Chrysler LHS, a distinctive statement of luxury without compromise, and
a daring new concept for a full-size sedan.
I think the LHS differs from the traditional luxury car because it's not trying to be overly
ornate.
We're trying to do something different and something new.
And above all, we're trying for craftsmanship.
The LHS is a very refined automobile.
What makes the LHS design so unique is it accommodates people very, very nicely, but
feels like a car that's much smaller.
This is a car that is performance-oriented.
The large wheels and tires say that this is more than just any luxury car.
It wants to be a driver's car.
The LHS has all the cues that you'd expect in a Chrysler.
It has the tightness of form, the stance on the road.
The LHS is a car that offers luxury for a person who isn't willing to give up a fun-to-drive
vehicle.
The first thing that people will notice when they drive the LHS is how nimble the car is.
The speed-sensitive steering system makes it easier to turn at low speeds and yet doesn't
compromise the steering field at higher speeds.
If you're the driver, you can experience the agility and nimbleness of the LHS.
If you're the passenger, you can experience the comfort and safety and security that the
LHS has, even while the driver's having an absolute ball driving the car.
The Chrysler LHS.
On one hand, it is exceptionally quiet.
On the other, it screams luxury.
If you'd like to think that it was one person's creation and that it was handcrafted for you,
we've got all the features that you would expect.
Heated seats, memory seats, and then we've got the easy glide feature, which when you
take the key out, the seat slides back.
It makes it just so much easier to get in and out of the vehicle.
What's really important is to make the driver happy.
The new Chrysler LHS, carefully designed for the total driving experience, timeless design,
luxurious appointments, and power inside and out.
Today's Chrysler sedans.
Chrysler Concorde, an innovative contemporary sedan with expressive styling.
Chrysler 300M, powerful, athletic, the legend is reborn.
Chrysler LHS, a daring new full-sized concept, refined, sophisticated.
The Chrysler sedans, developed in an environment that encourages creativity and ensures excellence
by people who are passionate about their craft.
Chrysler, engineered to be great cars.
This is Morgan Beatty on the subject of an idea that began with an engine.
A 331 cubic inch Chrysler Firepower V8 with more horsepower than any other production
engine.
Initially, it powered a stately 1951 Chrysler passenger car with astonishingly good performance.
Crazy.
Some people recognized it and put special versions under the hoods of many speedsters.
They turned up at Le Mans and Bonneville and Watkins Glen.
One set a new closed track record at Chrysler's own proving grounds where the high banked
curves make steering unnecessary up to 140 miles per hour.
Chrysler engineers as a matter of hobby did a lot of thinking up and souping up and the
race addicts were happy.
And a managing team of more than LI como.
Hi, I'm Steve Antoon.
Do you realize there are over 250 new models of cars to choose from?
Well, out of all those, only one can be named Motor Trend's 99 Car of the Year.
And that car is the all-new, high-performance and luxurious Chrysler 300M.
Why did we choose the 300M to be Car of the Year?
Come on along and we'll show you.
Motor Trend tests more new cars per year than any magazine on earth.
So let's see what Senior Road Test Editor, Mack Demeer, says about track testing the
new 300M.
You may think that this is just a luxury sedan, but we're here at Willow Springs Raceway to
show the potential of this car.
It's really a good grip in the corners.
It's got a potent V6 that thinks it's a V8.
I'm impressed at how the brakes are tolerating maximum effort stops.
Chrysler's AutoStick allows the driver to become more involved with the driving experience
to be in the proper gear to accelerate out of a curvy mountain hairpin.
Our Solemn Test quantifies handling in radical transitions.
And the Chrysler 300M with 65.9 miles an hour run got through the cones faster than the
BMW 528.
Cars today are often criticized by kind of all looking alike.
Well, Chrysler's stylists went to extremes to make sure the 300M doesn't look like every
other car on the road.
It's great outside styling, but you know the inside is what I really like.
It's a very roomy, very luxurious car, but it's got some great gauges, sort of styled
out of the 1930s.
A little touch is it has an analog clock, which I like also, and just a lot of room.
This is a big five passenger vehicle.
You wouldn't expect a car that handles this well to offer so much big car space.
It's like driving a large American luxury car that handles like a small European coupe.
The electro-luminescent gauges carry the retro theme with old fashioned looking numbers and
letters, while wood grain dash trim has a feeling of warmth to the interior.
Nowhere is the 300M's roominess more apparent than in the rear seat area.
It's got plenty of leg and head room for even the tallest passengers.
Plus, unlike many of its competitors, it'll accommodate three adults in comfort.
There's no missing this car when it's coming down the road.
Chrysler styles an excellent job blending a retro design theme with a modern aggressive
look.
Front or rear, the 300M makes a strong visual statement that won't be mistaken for anything
else on the highway.
Congratulations to everyone at Chrysler for creating the great American sports sedan,
a car that combines high performance, grand luxury, and brings it all to market for an
amazing value.
The 99 Chrysler 300M, Motor Trends Car of the Year.
Thanks for watching.
caring.