REPORT: Chrysler christens Brandon Faurote as new chief designer
Chrysler Firepower Concept - Click above for a high-res image gallery
When Sergio Marchionne revamped Fiat, he installed new designers at each company division and charged them with creating products that would define each brand and move metal. Marchionne has apparently done the same with Chrysler, putting Brandon Faurote in charge of Chrysler, Joseph Dehner in at Dodge, and Mark Allen in at Jeep.
Faurote has been with the Pentastar since he was 22, and has worked on offerings like the 1999 Jeep Cherokee and the 2001 Chrysler and Dodge minivans. Since 2003, his title has been Chief Designer - Advanced Product Design, and he's given us concept cars like the 2005 Chrysler Firepower (pictured). He's also given us the Chrysler Imperial, so we pray his eye for the brand leads more toward artillery than royalty.Joseph Dehner leads the Dodge charge and has the Crossfire and 2001 Chrysler Sebring in his quiver... but also the exterior design of the 2007 Sebring. Mark Allen has the the 2006 Jeep Wrangler and 2009 Dodge Ram 150 to take credit for, as well as super cool Jeep concepts like the Jeep JT and Jeep J8 Sarge. Here's to hoping Fiat encourages – and pays for – them to give us their best. Hat tip to 13enS!
Gallery: Chrysler Firepower Concept
[Source: The Motor Report]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
RadicalxEdward 9:33AM (7/01/2009)
thats the first time i've seen that concept, and while it's no aston martin, i gotta say, for a chrysler, it looks really good.
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J Who 10:38AM (7/01/2009)
My sentiments exactly!
FThorn 11:24AM (7/01/2009)
I think he looks like Timothy Geitner (sp?)
Level 11:36AM (7/01/2009)
Guys where have you been??? lol thats the concept based on the Viper with a suit and tie lol....Imagine if Chrysler would have produced this upscale Viper ? lol
BoneHeadOtto 9:43AM (7/01/2009)
"he's given us concept cars like the 2005 Chrysler Firepower "
umm yeah he didnt give us anything. He teased us with a beautiful car then they turned around and made the seabring. This is one of teh biggest issues with Chrysler, they cant take a good concept and put it into production. The only car they successfully did this with was the 300, but even then it took years. They were presenting similar retro concepts every year, for years before that car was finally made.
At this point being a concept designer for Chrysler is like being a makeup artist for a mortician.
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SouthShoreSRT 10:04AM (7/01/2009)
"This is one of teh biggest issues with Chrysler, they cant take a good concept and put it into production."
With all due respect, you can't seriously mean that, can you? I think out of the big three, they were the best at bringing unusual concepts to production. Consider:
Viper
Prowler
PT Cruiser (not a performance vehicle, but people loved it and it sold like crazy)
Challenger
Neon SRT-4
Crossfire
ME-412 would have been, if its performance hadn't been such an embarrassment to the Mercedes SLR
Tomahawk (this doesn't really count, since the production run was under 10)
I really wish the economy and gas prices hadn't killed the Firepower - they were actually going to build it. It was supposed to be a Hemi V8 on a Viper chassis. I would have bought one - I saved all the magazine articles, I even have a Firepower Hotwheels on my desk.
BoneHeadOtto 11:03AM (7/01/2009)
i really do mean that. I saw nice concept after nice concept coming out of chrysler in the late 80s early 90s with few ever becoming a reality. I agree that the viper, prowler and PT cruiser were examples of what they did right. But the PT cruiser is the only non-specialty car of that bunch. They kept making beautiful sedan concepts, and concepts that seemed right for the time but never brought them to production.
I would have loved to see the
Dodge Demon, Hornet, Slingshot, Zeo, copperhead
of the Chrysler Nassau, firepower,
robert bell 12:02PM (7/01/2009)
bang on. chrysler has wasted millions on concepts and allowed their production vehicles to flounder from a design standpoint. Let's see how close the next generation Sebring is to the 200C of last year.
Rick 9:41AM (7/01/2009)
So past designs are a jeep and a minivan? Whhooohooo, Chrysler as struck gold!!
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homunculus 10:18AM (7/01/2009)
dude looks like butthead from beavis and butthead
Max Palmer 10:24AM (7/01/2009)
Sure, a jeep and a mini van aren't the most exciting vehicles in the world, but what kind of designs do you think make car companies money? Well-designed, bread-and-butter vehicles. That's what these companies need right now. Halo cars are exciting, but they don't make money.
Landy 9:41AM (7/01/2009)
Hmm...
The back looks like an Aston Martin copy done by somebody who only had a ruler available.
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banana2011 11:30AM (7/01/2009)
even the side look like an aston
Yaroukh 9:45AM (7/01/2009)
The front end is one big WTF. It looks like it has been assembled by Chinese from Chrysler spare parts.
The back looks OK, resembles kinda Mugo, but it does not look like a blatant copy of it. Nice and clean design. But again the front is cruel joke.
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Steve Lopez 12:11PM (7/01/2009)
So, what happened to the guy the designed the 300 series?
He were go again.
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Throwback 9:48AM (7/01/2009)
What happened to Ralph Gilles?
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Andre 10:48AM (7/01/2009)
He's still there higher up in ranks now, The article forgot to mention that the now 3 bosses of designs of the 3 brands will report to Senior Vice President of Product Design Ralph Gilles.
Egon 9:49AM (7/01/2009)
Now I understand why he's not smiling in that picture. Turn that frown upside down, Bucky! You'll have a job...for a little while, anyway.
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P.V. 9:50AM (7/01/2009)
Well, it does look like an Aston Martin, but it seems to fit Chrysler's design themes really well and manages to look great at the same time (Chrysler hasn't exactly had stellar car designs lately IMO).
I really do hope more cars look like that, but more than that, I hope that Chrysler brings the 200C!
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Dave T. 9:51AM (7/01/2009)
yeah, this is not the guy I'd want heading up one of the biggest challenges the company faces. You can't mess up Dodge and Jeep too easily. Chrysler needs fundamental changes though and I don't think the Firepower nor the Imperial are real-world accessible design themes to translate to actual models.
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