It's more eyecatching than a Playboy model and more muscular than the body builders on LA's Venice beach. It has the hip-hop crowd in its thrall, features in more music videos than Madonna, and is currently wooing executive car buyers away from the seemingly hypnotic addiction they have to German models.
At a time when the US car industry lumbers under massive financial burdens and struggles to fend off the invasion of foreign marques in its home market, the 300C is the late-arriving action hero, sent forth to save the US car industry.
Unfortunately life does not run like a Hollywood blockbuster and one Chrysler model will not solve all the US industry woes, but the 300C does prove one case in point: the Americans can still build good cars.
"What I gotta do to get that brand new C outta ya?" That's the message rapper Snoop Dogg apparently left for the Chrysler chairman. While the simple answer would seem to be to go down to the local Chrysler dealer and buy one, clearly Snoop doesn't believe in parting with cash for his car. Yet the attraction is understandable.
The designers at Chrysler got the look so right. The thigh-high body styling and small glazed area gives the 300C a real presence on the road that none of the sleeker executive rivals can match. At a time when chrome is gradually making a comeback, the massive Bentley-like grille looks stunning.
Chrysler have never been afraid of pushing the design boundaries, keen to promote the stars and stripes in its DNA. Unfortunately that has not always worked, as the PT Cruiser clearly demonstrates. It was a car that looked dated the moment it hit our roads.
This is not the case with the 300C. While the car is roughly the same dimensions as rivals like the BMW 5-Series and Audi A6, the high set square styling gives it a far greater presence and even on the standard 18" alloys, the balance looked picture perfect, with the front seats set halfway between the sharply cut rear and menacing nose.
Historically, the 300s were part of a so-called "letter series" of luxury cars built between 1955 and 1965. The cars all had 300 horse-power engines and each year's model used a new letter of the alphabet, reaching 300L by 1965, after which the model was dropped. Recently, Chrysler breathed new life into the letter cars and, in 1999 launched the 300M.
The takeover by Daimler seems to have wound the clock back on this, with the lettering jumping back to C. Admittedly for the US market, the 300bhp target is a reality as the engine of choice is the 340bhp petrol engine. Europeans, however, appreciate diesel in this size of car and Chrysler has widened the engine range to accommodate us. While the choice is still rather limited, you can choose an additional 3-litre diesel instead of the awesome 5.7-litre V8 Hemi petrol unit.
Thankfully, making the diesel choice is no longer a sacrifice. The 218bhp 3-litre common-rail diesel engine, which featured in our test car, is perfectly in sync with the cruising theme. From the moment you turn the key until you park up, it never betrays its oil burning origins, instead putting out a traditional big American growl when the throttle is pushed. Initially designed with only the hemi in mind, it's a big heavy car and it takes quite a bit of push to get it up and running, so immediate acceleration is not a strong feature of the oil burning 300C. Yet that's as much to do with the standard 5-speed automatic gearbox as it is about the engine and it does offer a very impressive torque of 510Nm.
Designed with Americans in mind, the steering is not as informative as one would like and not on a par with European equivalents, though it has improved on the pre-production test versions we drove several months ago.
The handling of American cars is legendary - or rather infamous. They are traditionally designed to waft along on long straight roads, offering plenty of grunt and straight-line performance without any great necessity to go around corners.
Sadly, our road planners had to incorporate those pesky things called corners every 100 metres or so and that makes them less amenable to European, and particularly Irish, roads.
Thankfully, Chrysler has taken account of this for its European versions of the 300C and while it's still at its best cruising on long straights, this car manages to deal with our twisting roads without too much bodyroll.
The ride itself is quite comfortable even over rutted roads. Admittedly it's not as agile as the BMW and back seat passengers will complain about being bounced around the cabin if you were to push it on through the twists and turns of Sally's Gap in Wicklow, but on a regular run it's admirably comfortable.
If there were a criticism of the 300C it would be of the finish in the cabin. While the interior trim is well styled and tasteful, it is a little old fashioned when it comes to clock fascia displays and the multiple buttons that litter the central console.
Plastics are not on a par with the Germans, feeling rather flimsy, and the leather is not of the same quality or finish one gets in a Mercedes or BMW.
For all that, it's well-priced, coming in below equivalently powered Germans and it's a lot better equipped. Standard features include leather seats, cruise control, xenon headlights, rear park assist and heated front seats to list but a few features; all of which you can expect to pay extra for on competitors.
The 300C will not tempt more performance-orientated drivers away from the likes of the 5-Series BMW but even they may be a little bored by the choice of German metal on offer, no matter how good the quality.
For once we can look to a US entrant and not have to make a massive sacrifice in terms of performance, handling or finish. For buyers looking for something a little different, a car that turns heads and doesn't require a significant sacrifice in either space or extras, the 300C is a worthy contender.
It's the most welcome arrival from the other side of the Atlantic since the Model T Ford. Styling is subjective but for our money the 300C is the best looking car to come from the US in living memory.
