Here’s a remarkably forward-looking concept from 1999 with a hybrid drivetrain and hybrid packaging: the Chrysler Citadel.
The Chrysler Corporation called the 1999 Citadel concept a “hybrid hybrid.” That is, it was two hybrids in one: The exterior package was designed to combine the features of a 4×4 SUV and a passenger sedan—a crossover, we would call it today. Meanwhile, the drivetrain was a gasoline/electric hybrid, featuring a gasoline engine to drive the rear wheels and an electric motor to drive the front, combing for a total of 323 hp.
An all-aluminum 3.5-liter V6 with 253 hp (the production EGG V6, evidently) was mounted up front in a north-south configuration, driving a Dana 44 rear axle through a four-speed automatic transmission. A Siemens 70-hp electric motor turned the front wheels, powered by a battery pack of unspecified type and capacity with a regenerative charging system. “It’s a performance hybrid,” explained Chrysler engineering vice-president Bernard Robertson. “The Citadel gives you V8 performance with V6 fuel economy.”
Over-the-top luxury was the theme of the Citadel’s cabin, which featured top-quality leather, a full-length console, and chronograph-styled instruments. For oprimum ingress and egress, there were no B pillars in the unit-construction body shell and the rear doors operated like a minivan’s, sliding electrically on tracks. At the rear, a clamshell tailgate retracted into the floor for access to 20 cubic feet of cargo space. In its debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January of 1999, the vehicle’s look, outside and inside, generated a fair amount of buzz.
Except for its low, wagon-like roofline, the Citadel is packaged much like a contemporary crossover SUV. And the forward-looking hybrid gas/electric setup is not unlike that of say, the Corvette E-Ray. However, we don’t know what state of development Chrysler was able to reach with its system. When James May of Top Gear drove the Citadel back in ’99, he reported that he couldn’t tell if the electric front-drive portion was working, which suggests it wasn’t hooked up at the time. The Citadel is still around today in the Chysler historical collection, and it appears from time to time in Stellantis displays at car shows around the Detroit area.
If I only looked at the pictures and hadn’t read the article , I’d have assumed it was a current Volvo design about to drop.
Good looking long roof. Perceptive engineering. Too bad it was never produced.
Wow, the Citadel is certainly an impressive vehicle. Arriving in 2011, sporting a Mercedes chassis with an available reliable Chryslet Hemi, eqippment included radar cruise, heated/ cooled top drawer leather, auto lights, wipers, headlamps and high beams. No wonder it defies gravity surviving mostly unchanged going on 13 years now. That ’99 concept would have had a chance. If the as built model wasn’t so exceptional.
A very beautiful car. It would look right at home in today’s auto market with an up-to-date hybrid powertrain. Chrysler was really firing on all cylinders in the late 1990s!