C6X cancellation: Airflow is dead, long live the Halcyon?

Recently, Mopar Insiders reported on a leaked supplier notice that project C6X had been terminated. This led some to speculate that Chrysler had dropped its large crossover, scheduled now for a 2026 launch, but it’s possible there is another explanation.

Erik Latranyi, posting at Allpar.com, believes that the cancelled project was the Airflow, whose demise had already been announced. He wrote that while the car was put on hold, it was never officially cancelled; the supplier notice, by this view, referred to the Airflow, not the production-intent version of the later Chrysler Halcyon or the actual production car that is under way (which few people expect to really look like the Halcyon—given its M4S/Eclipse vibes and impractical-looking, concept-car-ish design).

Erik, a long-time Allpar member, wrote, “I asked former colleagues who work as suppliers. Halcyon was well received. They had already put Airflow on hold at that time, but the project was never officially killed off. This was simply the official notice to suppliers who were not doing anything for Airflow, but waiting for word if the engineering was going forward or not. This is not unusual for the auto industry.”

A discussion of Chrysler’s move from the Airflow concept was posted at Allpar back in 2023. One former dealership staffer noted that the Airflow was more of an evolutionary design from the company’s midsized cars from the late 1980s through the final 200, while the Halcyon is a bold statement.

Concept cars are not always translated directly to production cars, so it’s quite possible that only some elements of the Halcyon will be used on a more-conventional crossover.

Given that the original Airflow was a sales disaster—though it changed the design of every car in the world, permanently, within just a few years—naming a new “comeback car” the Airflow would have been somewhat like calling a new car the Aspen.

For more perspective on the Airflow and Chrysler’s origin story, see the book Century of Chrysler. This video also compares Chrysler and Plymouth through the years:

David Zatz

David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.

David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.