Yeah, but sit in a Dodge Charger EV or a Chrysler Pacifica and compare the design language and materials to competitors, then do the same with a 2005 Chrysler 300 or Town and Country. There was just such an overwhelming aura of cost cutting and laziness that permeated everything back then, and that was on top of the fact that (at least in my opinion) that was the absolute worst era of car interiors. Say what you will about modern cars, I say most of it myself, but the interiors of cars from the past decade or so tend to feel so much more premium and well thought out than at pretty much any point since the ‘60s. But as bad as interiors from manufacturers like GM and Ford (and even some of the other manufacturers that are usually associated with nicer interiors) tended to be in that era Chrysler really stood out as somehow even worse.

And I say all this as someone who actually really liked (and still likes) the aesthetic that Chrysler was going for in that era. This concept car is a great example of the vibe that the designers were clearly trying to achieve before the accounting department got involved, but other concepts like the Dodge Super 8 Hemi and Dodge Kahuna really do a great job at conveying the image that Chrysler was striving towards back then, and I still love that aesthetic. That sort of modern retrofuturist throwback to a more elegant time. But then instead of that cool version from the concept cars we got the Temu version that looked and felt like it was made out of plastic storage bins from Walmart, the execution of that idea just tended to be so lazy and incompetent (at least when it comes to the interiors) that I can’t help but hate it.

I get it, it was the 2000s, the popular aesthetic was what the whippersnappers like to call Frutiger Aero. Plastic with metallic paint was more “hip” and “modern” than chrome, Gen X was the young adult demographic everyone was targeting and they hated chrome and wood and traditional luxury cues that they grew up with. But they just couldn’t pull it off for whatever reason, the vibe I got from all their 2000s-era interiors was “hey we know you like chrome and retro aesthetics but Home Depot had a sale on silver Krylon so enjoy”. I feel like I’m the only person who really loves how the Crossfire looks and wouldn’t mind having one some day (as long as I didn’t have to rely on it as a daily driver) but man that interior with the mediocre aesthetics and the laughably tacky silver spray paint just kills the vibe.