Chrysler Portal Concept Car Revealed At CES 2017 As Vehicle Designed For Millennials

Tuesday at CES 2017 Chrysler officially revealed its latest concept car, the Portal. The electric car has a shoebox shape and features sliding side doors, an almost all-glass roof and has eight docking stations. The Chrysler Portal, which is “designed by millennials for millennials,” can travel up to 250 miles on a single charge.

One of the more notable design elements when you first see the car are its doors and that is intentional. For Matt Dunford, exterior designer of the Chrysler Portal, the doors are everything and the first thing a passenger experience with a car. Surrounding the door is a light, or portal, that changes color and is designed to be customizable and be a communication tool.

“The defining focal point is the entrance,” Dunford said during Fia Chrysler’s CES 2017 press conference. “Everything about the car is connected by the shape of these doors.”

Once you get past the doors, which are 5ft wide after sliding opening, the interior is completely connected to Wifi and features an amazing amount of natural light thanks to the nearly transparent roof. Each seat, Chrysler says, is designed to have its own viewpoints and natural light filtering through. Each seat also features a dock for a device and is “device agnostic”, meaning you should be able to plug in your iPhone, latest Android device or even a smart baby monitor.

According to Chrysler the Portal can charge for only 20 minutes and be ready for a 150-mile drive.

The Chrysler Portal concept car is not about horsepower or the time it takes to go from 0-60 mph, said Chrysler engineer Ashley Edgar, it’s about “delivering everyone we know millennials want; affordability, modular technologies, socially connected, environmentally responsible… Smart is the new sexy..”

“The Chrysler Portal concept is backed by significant research on the millennial generation. Millennials have clearly defined that they want a vehicle that will grow with them as they experience life changes,” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Car Brands at FCA, in a statement.

Another innovative feature of the Portal is a storage compartment that is located on the outside of the car near the hatchback. That storage area, which proximity controlled by the driver, is for things “you don’t want inside the car, like a pair of wet swim trunks,” Dunford said.

Other features on the Chrysler Portal concept car are, facail and voice recognition, V2X communicatoin that enables the car to "talk" to other cars and infrastructure, personal zone audio and community sharing dispaly for passengers.

During Fiat Chrysler’s CES press conference for the Portal concept car, the company did not go into any details about price points, availability or a specific timetable for a release date.