Could a New 300 Save Chrysler from Collapse?

When it debuted in 2005, the Chrysler 300 took North America by storm, quickly cementing itself as a pop culture icon. The flashy sedan was immediately popular with rappers like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent, who often donned their 300s with huge chrome wheels and aftermarket grilles. Even former president Barack Obama famously owned a Chrysler 300, which was once listed on eBay with a staggering $1,000,000 asking price.

The Chrysler 300 found popularity in the video game realm, as well. The stunning 300C appeared in multiple iterations of the cult classic street-racing game Midnight Club, and the SRT8 version appeared in Need For Speed: Carbon and Forza Motorsport 4. The 300 was even parodied within the Grand Theft Auto franchise, appearing as the “PMP 600” in GTA IV and hidden in the GTA VI trailer as the “PMP 700”, more closely resembling the 300’s second generation.

As the Chrysler 300’s reputation grew throughout various channels of pop culture, so did its sales figures. Over 1.1 million 300s were sold by Chrysler during its twenty-year lifespan in America alone. Unfortunately, the second-generation 300 was never replaced and instead was left to fade into irrelevance, being produced from late 2010 until 2023. Chrysler blamed the rising popularity of crossovers for the 300’s drop in popularity rather than the fact that they were selling a 13-year-old car that wasn’t all that different from its even older first generation.

Using generative text-to-image artificial intelligence, we imagine what a revived Chrysler 300 could look like, incorporating current Chrysler design cues and imagining what powertrains and platforms it could feasibly optimize. These images are for speculation purposes only and in no way depict any actual Stellantis products. 

Chrysler has the perfect parts bin to revive the 300

The Chrysler 300’s past sales figures show a steady trend of massive success within the few years after the release of each generation, followed by a steady decline as the product was left to age and become less competitive against more updated rivals, such as the Cadillac CT5. Considering the CT5 is currently Cadillac’s global best-selling vehicle, there’s a clear case for Chrysler to put some effort into a new 300 model.

Using the currently available STLA Large platform under the Stellantis brand umbrella, which currently underpins the Dodge Charger and will supposedly underpin the upcoming Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio replacements, a new 300 could finally benefit from an updated chassis, rather than the modified Mercedes-Benz W211 E-Class chassis it used before. Chrysler also has access to fantastic powertrain options that would perfectly suit the 300’s blend of plush comfort and muscular performance. Using different variants of the Hurricane straight-six family, a recent addition to Stellantis’s arsenal of engines, the 300 could benefit from modernized powertrains, smoother power delivery, and increased power figures over previous generations.

In its most basic form, the 300 could benefit from the currently available eTorque powertrain that can be found in the base RAM 1500, which pairs the robust, 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine with a hybrid battery system to pump out a combined 305 horsepower and 269 lb-ft of torque. Not only would this be an efficient solution, but it would also maintain the 300’s ethos of powerful smoothness.

Replacing the 363-horsepower, 5.7-liter HEMI V8 found in previous 300s would be the turbocharged, 3.0-liter Hurricane straight-six that produces 420 horsepower and 469 lb-ft of torque, paired with all-wheel drive and the reputable ZF-sourced 8-speed automatic transmission. Replacing a naturally-aspirated V8 with a turbocharged straight-six in an American institution such as the Chrysler 300 may sound like sacrilege to some, but consider the Buick GNX, the GMC Typhoon, and Cadillac’s CT4-V Blackwing, which have set mouth-watering precedence for what can happen when you add a significant boost to a six-pot motor.

A fully-electric variant of the proposed revived Chrysler 300 would not only be a welcome addition to the lineup, but it would likely also suit the 300’s character better than the Charger’s. Enthusiasts moan and groan about the Charger’s switch to a fully electric powertrain because, let’s face it, nobody who’s interested in a muscle car in the first place wants it to be battery-powered. Chevrolet has the right idea with the Blazer SS EV in that it’s a marketable EV first and a “muscle” car second.

The 2025 Charger R/T’s 496-horsepower battery system would be an ideal fit for an all-electric Chrysler 300, providing plenty of power combined with the comforting silence and smoothness of electric power. Sending its thrust to all four wheels, the electric 300 variant would hopefully benefit from the Charger R/T’s ample 317-mile battery range, making the 300 an ideal candidate for daily commutes and casual road trips alike.

A high-performance model could share its powertrain with the upcoming Dodge Charger Sixpack

The Hurricane straight-six comes in more than one flavor of power. In high-output form, the heavily boosted engine produces an astonishing 540 horsepower and 521 lb-ft of responsive torque. The engine is rumored to make an appearance in the upcoming combustion-powered version of Dodge’s new Charger, which is currently only available as a fully electric coupe. This would be the perfect candidate for a high-performance variant of a Chrysler 300, as well, thereby replacing the 300 SRT (and 300C, as it was named in its final production year), which packed a naturally aspirated 6.4-liter HEMI V8.

Going above and beyond, and considering that known V8-hating, ex-CEO Carlos Tavares is no longer at the helm of Stellantis, it would be lovely to see a supercharged V8-powered version of an all-new Chrysler 300 go toe-to-toe with the beloved Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. Not only would doing so bring back plenty of much-needed excitement to the Chrysler model lineup, but it would also demonstrate to the world that Chrysler is once again serious about taking on its most direct competitors, namely Cadillac and Lincoln.

Final thoughts

It’s become a common theme amongst Stellantis brands to leave models without necessary refreshes until they inevitably become outdated and irrelevant. Then, instead of eventually developing replacements for these models once they stop selling almost entirely, many of them are discontinued indefinitely, citing their lack of sales success in later years. Now that Chrysler has access to updated architecture thanks to the recent creation of the STLA Large platform and has access to modern powertrains via the mighty Hurricane engine range, this could be the perfect opportunity for the brand to recapitalize on the iconic 300.