This hybrid-hybrid Chrysler concept from 2000 was the ultimate estate

Come on now, estate cars just don’t get the love and respect they deserve – when it comes to adding practicality to a traditional hatchback we’d just as soon add a bit of heft on the backside as hoik up the suspension and turn a previously charming car into a dreaded SUV. 

This is the Chrysler Citadel, first shown at the Washington DC motor show in 2000. No, us neither. Perhaps the reason the car didn’t go into production was because no one noticed it had been revealed. The armoured limousine stand at the Washington show must be quite popular, mind. 

Chrysler is the manufacturer equivalent of Elizabeth Taylor – entering into a series of initially passionate marriages that ultimately turn out to be a terrible idea. In 1998 the firm merged with Daimler, creating a series of US/German mash-ups that managed to blend the worst of both sides to trash the reputations of both Chrysler and Mercedes. It was a dark time. It was sold off in 2007, went bankrupt in 2009 and was bought by Fiat in 2014. US quality and Italian reliability? Now that’s a union made in heaven. 

Your eyes don’t deceive you – Chrysler described the Citadel at its reveal as a “hybrid-hybrid”, confirming the vague suspicion that the entire project was cooked up just so that a senior executive could make that joke at the press conference reveal. The body was designed as a sort of crossover fusion of the saloon and sport utility vehicle forms, which is when America invented the estate. It also sported a hybrid electric powertrain for eco bonus points. 

A 3.5-litre V6 engine up front would ordinarily be more than sufficient to do the business, but this was an American car, of course. The V6 petrol pumped out 253bhp to the rear wheels while an electric motor shipped in from Siemens provided an extra 70bhp of assistance to the front wheels for four-wheel drive security. Not quite a hair shirt-toting Prius, then. The virtue of the Citadel, said Chrysler, was that it provided V8 performance with V6 economy. 

Trying to make a big deal of a car with V6 economy seems a little off the wall, but it was a different time in a different country, of course. There were some rather nifty touches on the Citadel – sliding rear doors with an integrated B-pillar, for instance, and a split bootlid that retracted into the floor. Both designed to provide maximum accessibility to the creamy leather interior. The interior – especially the dashboard – was said to be influenced by high-end watches, which should get you well on the way to filling out a line on your Car Designer Concept Car bingo card. 

Did American drivers ever want V8 performance with V6 economy? Chrysler might have had more success with the Citadel if it had promised V8 performance with V12 economy. Or if it had been a gigantic pickup truck with monstrous 40-inch tyres and a shotgun rack on the passenger side of the dashboard. An elegant estate with the lines and proportions of the Citadel would surely have done much better in the more discerning European market, but the company was too busy trying to offload tat like the PT Cruiser and Sebring convertible while Mercedes probably didn’t want too much competition. Oh well. 

No such luck if you wanted to bag yourself a nice Chrysler Citadel estate, but if you were particularly taken with the name then Chrysler offered it as a trim level on the 2011 Dodge Durango. Sadly, though we’re not sure for who, the Durango was never an option in the UK. Still, have a good look through the classifieds and there are some solid deals to be had on some mint looking PT Cruisers if you're desperate to go American.