Automotive WI: Chrysler Airflow is a hit

What affect on the industry does a successful Airflow have and how might it become successful?

It seems to me that although the design wasn't terribly popular the industry saw the potential in the mechanicals and moved forward with less radical designs while using what worked structurally.

With a popular Airflow, could we see a more innovative American auto industry overall? Or would it essentially turn out the same as OTL?
 
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What really hurt the Airflow was two things

Styling not in line with the buying public's expectations

Initial terrible QC on the unibody

Another misfire was a lot of advertising effort was spent on how safe the cars were. It didn't work, people didn't care much on that.

In many ways, it was like the Edsel, terrible choice for styling and bugs to work out on new models, plus tried to sell the safety angle again.

Ford introduced a lot of technology under the carbody that would define FoMoCo Full size cars right up to the Crown Victoria.

Chrysler put all the eggs of Chrysler and Desoto models into that new platform, leaving Dodge and Plymouth to make up sales with their more conventional styled body on frame cars

Now if Chrysler was not quite so radical in looks, and started with what they ended up with for 1937 model year
640px-1937ChryslerAirflow.jpg

They might have been able to overcome the initial bad Q/C

The other problem was Unibodies were harder to change styling without very expensive retooling, unlike the common Body on Frame construction. People expected new cars to be slightly restyled then, and it was harder and costly to do large changes, as Hudson and AMC would discover.

Chrysler should have not gambled so on that platform, should have kept Desotos looking like the '33

1933-desoto-sedan-1.jpg

that's what the public was expecting, that really didn't look that different from the '29 models
ae5c09b7-ecc5-41a3-910c-66fb219e732e-atme.jpg
 
Quality control aside, is it known whether suitable styling was considered for the Chrysler Airflow via clay / scale models / and styling sketches?
 
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