This fall Chrysler will start selling its first sport utility vehicle, called the 2007 Chrysler Aspen. This SUV will seat eight comfortably. Riding on a wave of design successes, Chrysler is expanding into the lucrative luxury-SUV segment to compete head to head with the Lincoln Navigator and the (newly revamped) Cadillac Escalade. The Chrysler Aspen seats eigh comfortably.

Chrysler’s first SUV will be based off the Dodge Durango platform, following the long-established strategy of investing as little as possible to get into a completely new market (if you can get away with it). To its credit, the Aspen will have several Chrysler-specific styling cues and a decidedly more upscale look and feel than its Dodge counterpart. Outside, the wide horizontal grille, unique headlights, winged badge, sculpted hood (a la Chrysler Crossfire), and liberal use of chrome should be enough to make Aspen intenders feel stylish. Naturally, available 20-inch chromed wheels and specially jeweled taillamps are designed to distinguish this large midsize (small full-size?) SUV.

Inside, as one might expect of a competitor to Lincoln and Cadillac, the Aspen will offer soft-touch leather, upscale white-face gauges, and many woodgrain trim pieces. Of course, as is the Chrysler custom, the center stack will hold an analog clock. In addition, options like full-screen nav, DVD entertainment, and heated second-row seats will be available. Standard safety features include ESP, three-row side-curtain airbags, backup and tire-pressure sensors, and roll mitigation. The Aspen is outfitted in leather, brushed aluminum and light burl wood inside. Options include heated first- and second-row seats, a power rear lift-gate, remote starter, rear-seat DVD entertainment system and a navigation system.

A built-in power inverter powerful enough for laptops, as well as coolers and stain-resistant fabrics are noteworthy thoughtful features. The Aspen will also offer a high level of standard safety equipment, including Electronic Roll Mitigation (to help detect and prevent rollovers), side-curtain airbags for all three rows of seating, parking assist and tire-pressure monitoring. The Aspen’s bumpers have been designed to line-up with passenger cars’ bumpers so that if a collision with a car occurs, the larger and taller Aspen won’t plow over the car’s bumper and careen into the passenger compartment, causing fatalities.