With drums beating loudly, Chrysler presents the NASSAU concept car By ALAN GELL Daily Oklahoman (01-26-07) The drums echoed through the building. It wasn’t just the 10 drummers up on the big stage at the Chrysler exhibit. It included the 500 or so journalists who were banging away on the smaller drums distributed a few minutes prior to the presentation. It was the Detroit Auto Show and Chrysler was trying to get our attention to say, “We roll to the beat of a different drummer.” It certainly did get my attention – both the drums and the car.

The NASSAU is a concept that may or may not come to fruition. I hope it does. I like it. The NASSAU is a luxury sedan, is small looking like a coupe, but is a four door, four passenger vehicle. The exterior silhouette looks somewhat traditional European, but the interior is almost like an SUV. From the outside, it certainly has the appearance of a well-toned athlete. Along the front grill of the NASSAU, you see a new presentation of the egg-crate style associated with the Chrysler brand. The headlamps on each side of the grill are very narrow and sweep out and upward, almost wrapping around the front edge of the car. The PR material says is a subliminal message to make the viewer think of uplifted wings.

When you use the word “luxury” to describe a sedan, most folks think of the traditional luxury cars that have been on the market for a number of years. No so with the NASSAU. This new world of luxury is targed to a much younger and aspiring group of buyers. Space efficiency is evident. The individual leather bucket seats give each person their own “personal” space. The controls, buttons, knobs, and switches all look like they have been copied from office electronic equipment. This is not an accident. Ben Chang, Nassau’s interior principal designed, commented, “We strived to achieve a seamless interface between your car and the rest of your electronic world.”

The roof features two large panels, allowing an abundance of light. The inside feels open and airy. That feeling of wings and taking flight is evident everywhere. From the front headlamps to the top panels to the housing of the instrument panel – it’s always there.

I like the NASSAU and hope that it really does take wings and fly off the concept table and onto the production line. The drums will surely begin beating then to announce the news.