Chrysler Portal electric minivan heading to production, report says
It could arrive in 2020, as the 300 sedan reportedly bids its final farewell.
Chrysler debuted the wild Portal concept at CES 2017, and... then it sort of fell by the wayside. But it could come roaring back as an honest-to-goodness production model, if one report is to be believed.
The Chrysler Portal electric minivan will make its way to production in 2020, says Automotive News. The report is part of AN's far-reaching Future Product Pipeline series, which relies on insider reports and other sources to predict future products across the automotive industry. AN also predicts that 2020 will be the year that the venerable Chrysler 300 sedan will also disappear into the ether for good.
Chrysler did not immediately return a request for comment. That said, automakers routinely decline to discuss future products, instead preferring to release information on their own terms, whether that means teaser images or waiting until the actual debut.
The Portal will reportedly head to production carrying the same name as the concept, and like its concept sibling, AN says it will rely on a battery-electric powertrain. If you're looking for specific figures, you'll have to keep on waiting -- none of that will likely arrive until Chrysler actually confirms its existence.
When it first debuted at CES 2017, the Chrysler Portal made waves. Sporting an aggressive minivan shape that was a far cry from the production version of the Pacifica minivan, the Portal hoped to capture the attention of Millennials with its focus on next-gen tech. It packed vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communications, promised SAE Level 3 autonomy and had some killer screens on the inside. It even relied on face recognition to determine who was driving the car, tailoring the vehicle's settings to suit that specific person.
