Oh Look! Chrysler Will Unveil 1st US Hybrid In 2008!! And It's An SUV!!

[hatrack]

Boy, doesn't get much more cutting-edge than that, does it? Talk about staying ahead of the curve!!

:eyes:


NEW YORK - DaimlerChrysler AG'S Chrysler unit, which has for years stayed away from hybrid vehicles and focused on diesel engines instead, will launch its first hybrid vehicle in 2008, the unit's chief of product development said on Wednesday.

"The hybrid Dodge Durango will be the beginning of a line-up of hybrid vehicles at Chrysler," Frank Klegon told Reuters in an exclusive interview at the New York International Auto Show. Hybrids, which run on a combination of engine power and batteries, are popular for better fuel economy but cost more than regular vehicles, and consumers are often reluctant to pay the extra price.

Chrysler and its European parent company are known for their focus on diesel engines as an alternative to gasoline for better fuel efficiency, and have said in the past that hybrid technology was too expensive.

"We still believe it's very expensive," Klegon said. "It's not a great business case. But we have to balance the market pull with regulatory requirements," he added. The Dodge Durango will feature a two-mode hybrid system developed jointly by General Motors Corp., BMW and DaimlerChrysler, and will boost the vehicle's fuel efficiency by as much as 25 percent, Klegon said.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35992/story.htm

[benburch]

1. And it will sell about 200 units.

American auto makers will not exist any more ten years from now.

[AndyA]

2. I hear Ford has a couple of Hybrids in the works as well...

rumor is one of them will be absolutely incredible, but they're keeping it under wraps for now...

I think we'll see some good things coming out of American car makers in the next few years.

[skids]

14. Ford already has one on the market.

...and their tech is basically a fork of Toyotas. If only they'd make a passenger car, though...

[CottonBear]

3. 25% better mileage for a Durango means that gas mileage will still suck.

Meanwhile, Brazil is almost energy independent. They grow sugarcane to make ethanol and they power the sugarcane-ethanol plants with sugarcane waste products. Most everyone in Brazil drives dual gas-ethanol cars. Many of those cars are made by American car companies.

CNN had a special report on the Brazilian ethanol cars and industry jsut a few weeks ago. I do realize that much of the sugarcane is grown on land that used to be rainforests but the rainforest is gone and very difficult to reestablish once it has been cleared and the ecosystem's nutirents have been lost. Brazil needs the land to grow sugarcane for ethanol. The rainforest situation is another story and topic.

[NNadir]

4. The impact of energy on the environment is never "another story."

It is digingenuous to present Brazil as an environmental nirvana. The assault on the environment to produce more ethanol continues there.

The activist Francisco Anselmo de Barros, was so depressed by the planned destruction of the Pantanal wetlands - one of the largest wetlands on earth - for ethanol, that he wrapped himself in an ethanol soaked blanket and set himself on fire, committing public suicide:

http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/11/14/67647.html

[CottonBear]

8. I wanted to point out that US car makers can make dual fuel cars.

I agree with you about the environmental issue. I know that ethanol is not the answer to our energy problems but maybe it can be a part of the answer. I do not advocate destroying more wild lands to produce ethanol. I did not mean to portray Brazil as an environmental nirvana. I know it isn't.

Thank for the link to the story about the activist. :cry:

[NNadir]

10. Fair enough. n/t

[NMDemDist2]

19. exactly! my Durango was a complete pig 12 MPG

now my little straight 6 Chevy gets twice that with the close to the same towing capacity and slightly less weigh capacity (but not enough less to make a difference)

[rfkrfk]

5. if Mercedes-Benz made a, hybrid taxi - hybrid urban car

the German gov't would collapse,
25% of the Reich's tax revenue is from gasoline

similiar story for electrics
similiar story for electrics in California

[GOPBasher]

6. Unreal.

I hope these assholes go broke. They go give a shit about the world economy that will crash from peak oil, nor the suffering of human beings from global warming. The Japanese auto-makers are way ahead of their US counterparts on making fuel-efficient vehicles, and I hope they kick our frickin ass.

[jrw14125]

7. 25% by 2008 is nothing. chrysler in 10 years behind.

[hatrack]

9. No, they'll be a mere 9 years behind - in the US, that is . . .

Honda rolled out the Insight stateside in 1999. Of course, the first production hybrid was the Japanese Prius, which debuted in 1997, so you could also say that DC is going to be 11 years behind.

Either way, they will never, ever catch up.

[ajacobson]

11. Mainly for PR purposes

I had a chance to ask Dieter Zetsche about his view on hybrids before he took the top job at DaimlerChrysler. He didn't think hybrids made much sense for the US market (hybrids are most economical in slow driving when they can rely more on the electric assist than for highway driving which uses the gas engine the same way as a non-hybrid; so the average use of a vehicle wouldn't benefit much from being a hybrid). He thought promoting clean diesel was more doable and beneficial in the short term.

However, by not having any hybrids on the market, the perception of the company is that they aren't thinking about advanced technology. So I think they will release a few low volume models to stay in the game, but will probably push into other areas of innovation.

By the way, Zetsche was very cordial and discussed my question and other students' questions at length, it was a very interesting meeting.

[phantom power]

12. But... Americans do tons of stop-and-go driving. Perfect for hybrids.

As for clean diesel, that's good too, but I'm not seeing any of those from the Big Three either. They may lose whatever market they have to people choosing Japanese hybrids, for lack of any better alternative.

[kestrel91316]

13. I tink somebody needs to remind them they won't be first. Doesn't FORD

already have an Escape Hybrid SUV on the market???

[hatrack]

17. I wanted to say "Its First Hybrid" but I ran out of room

You are 100% correct - in fact, Ford has not one but two hybrid SUVs - there's a hybrid Mercury Mariner as well.

[One_Life_To_Give]

15. Caused by new CAFE requirements?

There is an implication that this was brought about because of the revised CAFE requirements for SUVs. I havn't checked the durango's footprint against the new regulation. But it will likely be required to get 25mpg by 2011.

[NNadir]

16. Before we beat up too much on diesels, I will note that a diesel

engine is the only engine now available that can be run, in theory at least, on 100% solar power. Specifically I am referring to B100 biodiesel made with ethanol.

Although this fuel is something of a pollution risk, primarily through higher NOx emissions, under some circumstances it can be essentially carbon neutral and totally free of sulfur oxides.

Some europeans countries have a 5% biodiesel requirement for their cars. It's no panacea, but it helps.

[Oerdin]

18. Are you really that slow to pick up on news?

GM and Ford have both been selling hybrids for around 5 years now. I keep running across threads here at DU where people claim the Prius is the only hybrid or that only the Japanese make hybrids and that is simply nonsense.

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/ViewMarketModels/category=market/attribute=hybrid

Ford has been selling the Escape hybrid for 4 years now and has just added a Mercury version. GM was producing the largest number of hybrid models in the industry but GM and Toyota's patient sharing agreement ran out last year and the two have been arguing over who owns what technology and what price GM would have to pay to continue using them so for 2006 GM discontinued it's 7 hybrids but they plan on returning to the hybrid market once they finish designing a new hybrid motor which doesn't use Toyota's patients.