For 1987, Chrysler Corporation introduced two new compact car

Compact car

A compact car , or small family car , is a classification of cars which are larger than a supermini but smaller than or equal to a mid-size car...

s, the Dodge

Dodge

Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....

 Shadow and the Plymouth Sundance

Plymouth Sundance

The Plymouth Sundance is a compact car model that was produced for model years 1987 to 1994. It was designed to compete with upmarket compacts such as the Geo Prizm, Ford Escort and the Honda Civic after the production of the Horizon was to be extended...

(which turned in similar sales figures), intended to replace the Dodge Charger

Dodge Charger (L-body)

The Dodge Charger was built by Dodge, a division of Chrysler Corporation. There have been a number of vehicles bearing the Charger nameplate, but the name has generally denoted a performance model in the Dodge range...

 - Dodge Omni

Dodge Omni

The Dodge Omni and the similar Plymouth Horizon were front wheel drive cars introduced by the Dodge and Plymouth divisions of the Chrysler Corporation in North America in 1978, and were based on a European Simca-based design of the same name...

  and Plymouth Turismo - Plymouth Horizon, respectively. In addition, the Shadow also replaced the AMC-based

American Motors

American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...

 Renault Alliance

Renault Alliance

The Renault Alliance is a subcompact automobile manufactured and marketed in North America by American Motors Corporation , with 623,573 examples manufactured for model years 1983-1987, and with a three and five-door hatchback variant, the Renault Encore marketed beginning in 1984.The two models...

 sedan because of Chrysler

Chrysler

Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

 acquiring AMC from Renault in 1987, officially withdrawing Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

 from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Many Renault and AMC models were poured to the new Eagle

Eagle (automobile)

Eagle was a marque of the Chrysler Corporation following the purchase of American Motors Corporation and aimed at the enthusiast driver.Though short-lived, the Eagle Vision sedan sold in respectable numbers, while the sporty Eagle Talon sold more than 115,000 units.-Overview:Following the...

 brand in 1988.

They were built in Sterling Heights, Michigan

Sterling Heights, Michigan

Sterling Heights is a city in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan, and one of Detroit's core suburbs. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 129,699...

 and Toluca

Toluca

Toluca, formally known as Toluca de Lerdo, is the state capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located west-southwest of Mexico City and only about 40 minutes by car to the...

, Mexico. The first car rolled off the assembly line on August 25, 1986.

Both 2-door and 4-door models were built using a variant of the K-car platform

Chrysler K platform

The Chrysler Corporation's K-cars were compact-to-midsize cars designed to carry six adults on two bench seats and were aimed not only to replace Chrysler's nominally-compact F-body Aspen and Volaré, but also to compete with intermediates like the Chevrolet Malibu and Ford Fairmont...

, known as the P-body, which was based on a combination of the Dodge Daytona

Dodge Daytona

The first car that carried the Daytona name was a sporty version of the Studebaker Lark which was produced from 1963 to 1966 with standard bucket seats and available with an optional Studebaker Avanti V8 high-performance engine....

's suspension with a shortened version of the Dodge Lancer

Dodge Lancer

The Dodge Lancer is a passenger car from the Dodge division of Chrysler Corporation. Dodge used the Lancer name on three different vehicles over the years.-1955–1959:...

's body.

While the Shadow appeared to have a trunk, it was actually a hatchback

Hatchback

A Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...

. Dodge

Dodge

Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....

 considered this a special feature and advertising literature referred to it as "hidden hatchback versatility". The relatively large storage capacity of these vehicles was a major selling point for the company. The Peugeot 309

Peugeot 309

The Peugeot 309 was a small family car manufactured between 1985 and 1993 in England and France.The 309 was originally intended to be badged as a Talbot and, as development progressed, to be called the Talbot Arizona...

 which had been developed to replace the European Horizon used a similar layout on a stretched subcompact (Peugeot 205

Peugeot 205

The Peugeot 205 is a supermini produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot between 1983 and 1998. It was declared 'Car of the Decade' by CAR magazine in 1990. The 205 won 1984 What Car? car of the year.-History:...

) platform rather than a cut-down midsize one.

Carroll Shelby

Carroll Shelby

Carroll Hall Shelby is an American retired automotive designer and racing driver. He is most well known for making Mustangs for Ford Motor Company known as Mustang Cobras which he has done since 1965...

 Enterprises modified Shadows into several performance-oriented vehicles such as the Shelby CSX

Shelby CSX

The Shelby CSX was a limited-production high performance automobile based on the turbocharged Dodge Shadow. These cars were offered by Shelby Automobiles Inc. from 1987 through 1989.-CSX:...

, which was equipped with a turbocharged 2.2 L engine producing 174 hp. Because of the car's light weight and good engine in an era of government emissions choked engines, it was capable of acceleration equal or greater than that of many contemporary muscle and sports cars of the time. A version without the intercooler, rated at 150 hp, was sold to Thrifty

Dollar-Thrifty Automotive Group

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is a holding company for Thrifty Car Rental and Dollar Rent A Car, formed in 1990 by Chrysler and spun off in 1997....

 as the CSX-T

Shelby CSX

The Shelby CSX was a limited-production high performance automobile based on the turbocharged Dodge Shadow. These cars were offered by Shelby Automobiles Inc. from 1987 through 1989.-CSX:...

.

A convertible

Convertible

A convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away having windows which wind-down inside the doors, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle...

 version of the Shadow debuted in 1991, the same year Dodge introduced stripped-down, budget-priced "America" versions of the coupe and sedan models. At the time, the Shadow (along with its Sundance cousin) was the lowest-priced car on the market with a standard driver's side airbag

Airbag

An Airbag is a vehicle safety device. It is an occupant restraint consisting of a flexible envelope designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision, to prevent occupants from striking interior objects such as the steering wheel or a window...

, which had been made standard on all US-market domestic Chrysler Corporation cars in 1990. The Shadow received cosmetic updates for 1989: the inset sealed-beam headlamp

Headlamp

A headlamp is a lamp, usually attached to the front of a vehicle such as a car or a motorcycle, with the purpose of illuminating the road ahead during periods of low visibility, such as darkness or precipitation. Headlamp performance has steadily improved throughout the automobile age, spurred by...

s were discarded in favor of aerodynamic composite units. A new body-color grille and new taillights

Automotive lighting

The lighting system of a motor vehicle consists of lighting and signalling devices mounted or integrated to the front, sides, rear, and in some cases the top of the motor vehicle...

 were among other minor changes. A motorized passenger's side seat belt was added to US-market Shadows in 1994, to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208's requirement for passive restraints. These motorized seat belts do not comply with Canada's safety standards; Canadian-market Sundances continued to use a manual passenger seatbelt, and 1994 Shadows cannot legally be imported across the US-Canada border in either direction.
Production ended on March 9, 1994. The Shadow and Sundance were replaced by the Dodge/Plymouth Neon

Dodge Neon

The Plymouth/Dodge Neon, sold in Europe, Mexico, Canada, and elsewhere outside the United States as the Chrysler Neon, is a compact front wheel drive car introduced in January 1994 for the 1995 model year by Chrysler Corporation's Dodge and Plymouth brands...

.

Engines

The Shadow offered a variety of four cylinder engines, all either of 2.2 or 2.5 L, some turbocharged. Naturally aspirated versions were, except in Mexico, fuel injected. The engines were tuned for torque rather than horsepower, resulting in numbers that appear to be reversed from the Honda Civic

Honda Civic

The Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded...

 - for example, 93 hp and 122 lbft of torque from the base 2.2 L engine. A Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Motors

is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...

-built 3.0 L V6 was added later, which led to the demise of the turbo option. All were available with a five-speed manual transmission

Manual transmission

A manual transmission, also known as a manual gearbox or standard transmission is a type of transmission used in motor vehicle applications...

. A 3 speed automatic

Automatic transmission

An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...

 based upon the Chrysler Torqueflite was optional on the 4 cylinder

Straight-4

The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....

 equipped cars and a 4 speed automatic 41TE was optional on the V6 powered cars. In 1990 the manual transmission was modified to make shifting into reverse easier; a number of other incremental improvements were also made.

Shadows came with the following engines, although not all engines were available each year

• 2.2 L I4 - 93 hp and 122 lbft of torque
• 2.5 L I4 - 100 hp and 135 lbft of torque
• 2.2 L turbocharged I4
  Straight-4
  The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....
  
   - 146 hp and 170 lbft of torque
• 2.2 L turbocharged I4 - 170 hp and 175 lbft of torque (Shelby T2)(87 CSX)
• 2.2 L turbocharged I4 - 174 hp and 210 lbft of torque (CSX-VNT)
• 2.5 L turbocharged I4 - 150 hp and 190 lbft of torque
• 2.5 L turbocharged I4 - 151 hp and 210 lbft of torque (High Torque ECU 91 only)
• 3.0 L V6 - 142 hp and 171 lbft of torque

Options

Features varied with years, but some features included power windows, power mirrors, power door locks, cruise control, tilt wheel, variable intermittent delay wipers (over the standard two speed LO/HI only wipers), overhead console with map lights and compass/temperature display, upgraded "highline" instrument cluster with tachometer, "light package" that added lighting in the trunk, glove box, under-hood mounted light and rear door dome light switches (4 door models), remote trunk release, rear defroster, Fog lights, mag wheels, convertible top, infinity sound system and power driver side seat. On turbocharger equipped cars, there was also a vacuum/boost gauge and a message center that monitored four vehicle functions, door ajar, washer fluid level, etc. Four wheel disc brakes were optional depending upon trim level.

In 1993 a low pressure Bendix-4 ABS

Anti-lock braking system

An anti-lock braking system is a safety system that allows the wheels on a motor vehicle to continue interacting tractively with the road surface as directed by driver steering inputs while braking, preventing the wheels from locking up and therefore avoiding skidding.An ABS generally offers...

 was available.

Starting in 1990, driver side airbags were standard, giving the Shadow a remarkable crash test rating for a car its size at the time: 4 star driver, 5 star passenger according to 1993 tests.

Trim levels

• Sedan/Coupe:
  • base - 1987-1990; 1993–1994
  • S- 1991-1992 (Canada)
  • ES - 1988-1994
  • America - 1991-1992 (sold in the U.S)
  • Highline - 1991-1992
• Convertible:
  • Highline - 1991-1993
  • ES - 1991-1993

European Market - the Chrysler ES

Form April 1988 on, Chrysler also offered the Dodge Shadow on several European markets. The car, simply called the "Chrysler ES", was based on the Dodge Shadow ES and was virtually the same car, just without any "Shadow"-badges. Offered only as a 3-door hatchback

Hatchback

A Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...

, the standard engine was the fuel injected 2,2 L, with an optional turbocharger

Turbocharger

A turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...

. For 1989, the 2,2 L was replaced by the more modern 2,5 L unit. Engines were linked to a standard five-speed manual transmission, with a three-speed automatic available as an extra-cost option.

As European sales figures turned out to be very poor, the selling of the Chrysler ES ended in mid-1991, leaving the segment without any direct successor until the introduction of the Chrysler Neon in 1995.