Tepidly, Fiat-controlled Chrysler Group will test the U.S. compressed natural gas waters later this year with a small number of Ram CNG pickup trucks. In an interview with Business Week at the Detroit auto show last month, Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of both automakers, said, “We are going to bring them here, there is no doubt,” Sales will be “limited at first. It depends upon the distribution network.”

Previously, Chrysler executives have said they plan to offer vehicles that use the technology to fleet customers in the U.S. by 2017. A Chrysler spokesperson declined to give any further details about the automaker’s plans, including which specific Ram pickup will be converted to CNG fuel or what customers will be targeted, commercial or government fleets. That person said, “We’re sticking with what’s been said, and nothing more at this time.”

Fiat-Chrysler in any event will be playing catch-up with CNG. Chevrolet already has converted CNG vans, as shown here by part of a 1,200 unit order of Express Cargo vans sold to AT&T.

By now, it would seem that the Chrysler-Fiat marriage would have already positioned Chrysler as a prominent player in the U.S. CNG marketplace. In Europe, Fiat is the leader in natural gas vehicles where it commands an 80 percent share of the CNG-powered automobile market and a 55 percent share in the light commercial market. The company’s experience should allow it to easily transfer the technology to the American market.

Marchionne has long been a proponent of natural gas vehicles and has argued they are a better choice for reducing greenhouse gas emissions because they are less expensive than competing technologies. Specifically, electric cars present “too many obstacles” such as access to charging stations and the recharge time for batteries.

Ford CNG taxi.

When Fiat presented its plan for natural gas vehicles in September 2010, Alfredo Altavilla, head of Fiat’s Iveco truck unit, said the additional cost for a natural gas engine is $3,000. That’s compared to $3,300 for diesel and a pricey $8,000 for a gasoline-electric hybrid.

Ford And GM Already Delivering CNG Vehicles

Meanwhile, as Chrysler takes baby steps, cross-town rivals General Motors and Ford are on a quickened pace in producing natural gas vehicles. Last year GM began delivering CNG-powered versions of the Chevrolet and GMC full-size vans and announced late last year that it would add natural gas pickup trucks. Two weeks ago, telecom giant AT&T ordered 1,200 CNG Chevrolet Express vans to be used at the company’s service stations throughout the nation.

Ford’s approach, at the moment, is targeted to taxi fleets. The taxis are CNG conversions of the gasoline-powered Transit Connect, a small van that has gained popularity as a delivery or commercial vehicle. The CNG taxis are in use in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, St. Louis and West Haven and Hartford, Conn.

Fleets are the biggest consumers of natural gas as a transportation fuel. It’s attractive because it is a clean and efficient and cost less than conventional fuels – 30 percent less than gasoline, 50 percent less than diesel. Also, corporate- and government-owned vehicles generally return to a central location to refuel, so potential worries about lack of public refueling are mitigated.

Could the Fiat CNG Doblo van find its way to the U.S. rebadged as a Chrysler?

When Marchionne laid out his five-year plan for Chrysler in 2010, it included bringing commercial vans to the U.S. using the Ram brand based on Fiat’s truck platforms. Well, it’s 2012 now, the clock is ticking and competitors are already making their own strides – could this be the year we see a CNG Fiat Doblo cargo van on U.S. roads with the Ram badge affixed to the grille?

The post Chrysler To Stick Toe Into US CNG Waters appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Short Circuit

On Friday, Chrysler Spokesman Nick Cappa said that its in-house team of electric car development engineers had been disbanded and will be folded into the company’s org chart. This announcement comes three months after Chrysler took $70 million in grants from the US Department of Energy to develop a test fleet of 220 hybrid pickup trucks and minivans. It comes less than year after Chrysler built its case for federal aid—it received $12.5 billion—by showing flashy designs of electric sports cars, trucks and vans, and promising 500,000 battery-powered vehicles on the road by 2013.

With a swipe of his wrist, FIAT CEO Sergio Marchionne cast aside Chrysler’s EV plans—commenting that batteries aren’t ready, the market is minuscule, and “electric vehicles are going to struggle.” In doing so, he followed in the footsteps of other US and European carmakers that have dismissed the inexorable movement of the auto industry toward greener more fuel-efficient electric and hybrid cars. Chrysler is now left with an obligation to put those 220 test hybrids on the road—which it will honor—and an anemic effort to market a Dodge Ram Hybrid, which will dribble out next year after five years’ worth of promises that the vehicle is coming. In an era when green is the new black, the breakup of the company’s hybrid and electric car team is a public relations blunder.

Harmonic Convergence

General Motors, on the other hand, knows about such blunders—but has learned the lesson too well.

After the infamous killing of the EV1, and years of dismissing hybrids as “making no economic sense,” the company is now using its forthcoming star car, the Chevy Volt, as a poster child for all things green and good. GM’s Volt program is tremendous and deserves due recognition as a major achievement. Kudos. Yet, the company continues to turn up the brightness of the klieg lights—now reaching a blinding level. For example, GM’s recent national Volt advertising campaign—promising 230 miles to the gallon—does more to obfuscate than to elucidated.

The publicity is working. The latest example is this week’s story in the Detroit News that the company has given a green light to produce the Cadillac Converj, a slick electric coupe unveiled in concept form at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. As cool as the car looks, the news flash—picked up by major media outlets and the blogosphere alike—is all about marketing. “Cadillac needs as much excitement in its portfolio as possible, so I think it’s a good strategy for them,” Rebecca Lindland, director of auto industry research at IHS Global Insight, told Detroit News. Bingo.

It’s a great strategy for drawing attention to the sagging Cadillac brand. But if the goal of the hybrid and electric car movement is to offer low- or zero-emission transportation, and to make a transition to sustainable personal vehicles, the Cadillac Converj is as wrong as the spelling of its name. The current luxury hybrids on the market are low sellers. The $70,000 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid has sold an average of about 160 units per month this year. Why would a more expensive, less practical two-door Cadillac Converj, even with great lines and 40 miles of all-electric range—sell at much greater numbers? Low production numbers also undermine arguments from Bob Lutz, now serving as marketing chief for GM, that the Converj will help the Volt program reach economies of scale or defray battery costs.

That doesn’t matter. Nor does it matter that Cadillac has not confirmed the Converj story. Mission accomplished for GM PR. Nothing accomplished for sustainable mobility.

Is There Another Way?

Wouldn’t it be cool if there were a Detroit auto company that saw the value of electric-drive vehicles (unlike Chrysler), and (unlike GM) was modestly going about producing common sense, affordable electric cars and plug-in hybrids on existing global scalable platforms? Maybe something like an electric version of a practical mild-mannered Ford Focus, or a plug-in hybrid variant of a small crossover Escape? No super fanfare. No rumors of slick expensive future EVs that may or may not come. No Hail Mary passes. No bloated promises for handouts from American taxpayers.

Once again, Ford is proving that it’s moving in the right direction—not only for consumer value and profitability, but for the future of Detroit, the US economy, and Planet Earth.

The post The Tale of Three Detroit Electric Car Programs appeared first on HybridCars.com.

That vehicle will likely be an electric sports coupe, revealed then as the Dodge EV. The same car, with a new name—the Dodge Circuit—reappeared at January’s Detroit auto show. By that time, it had acquired new front and rear panels, giving it a “unique, fearless Dodge design” with a strong family resemblance to the legendary Viper V-10 sports car—minus the exhaust pipes, of course.

A restyled Circuit hadn’t been expected at the show, where it appeared beside three Chrysler vehicles adapted to electric or series hybrid drive: the familiar electric-drive Chrysler Town & Country minivan and Jeep Wrangler, and a newly unveiled series-hybrid Jeep Patriot crossover. Those vehicles, warn industry analysts, are highly unlikely to be built as shown.

Electric Performance

The Circuit, however, is considered more viable—at least in low volumes. Underneath the sleek lines is a vehicle based on the Lotus Europa unveiled at the 2006 London Motor Show, just as the Tesla Roadster uses basic structures and components from the Lotus Elise.

It’s a good formula: Start with a lightweight, mid-engine Lotus sports car, remove the engine, and add a large battery pack and electric motor. In this case, the Circuit has a 200-kilowatt (268-hp) electric motor powered by a lithium ion battery pack of unspecified size.

Like the Dodge Viper it alludes to, the Circuit is a “halo vehicle” that’s all about performance. It’s said to do 0 to 60 mph in less than 5 seconds, with a top speed of more than 120 miles per hour. The quoted range is 150 to 200 miles; as with all cars, range depends on how aggressively it’s driven.

The Circuit carries over much of the Europa’s cockpit fittings and instrumentation. Two analog gauges are supplemented by a digital display for data on the operation of the electric-drive system.

A CAR Magazine road test of the Circuit called the handling “nimble and rewarding” despite an increased rear weight bias, though it said the Europa’s wind and road roar was far more pronounced with the relative silence of the electric motor.

Saved by a Halo Car?

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Circuit appeared on page 135 of Chrysler’s 2009 recovery plan, filed with the US government in February to support its application for loan guarantees.

It’s just two words on page 135, but in the list of production vehicles for 2011, it says “EV roadster.” Not Circuit, not “EV coupe,” but roadster—leading Dodge fans all over the country to hope the new electric sports car might be closer in spirit to an earlier concept, the Dodge Demon shown to great acclaim in 2007.

By most definitions, a roadster has a collapsible or removable top—think British sports cars like the MGB—whereas a coupe has a fixed roof—think James Bond’s classic Aston Martin DB-6.

The Demon was a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive roadster, similar to the Mazda Miata or Pontiac Solstice. While the styling was aggressive, its powertrain broke no new ground. Asked to clarify, Chrysler spokesperson Nick Cappa shed no further light on the issue. He said, “We’re really not commenting on anything [in the plan].”

The bigger question is whether a low-volume, presumably pricey sports car—regardless of its roof—really helps the company with its financial recovery. The company has a great need for fuel-efficient sedans and crossovers that regular consumers will buy. For those vehicles (electric or not), Chrysler seems likely to rely on its putative partner FIAT—if indeed it manages to survive as an independent company at all.

The post Dodge Circuit appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Sometime in 2010, Dodge will probably unveil the full hybrid version of its big, bold Ram Pickup. Right now, all we know for sure is that it’ll be called the Dodge Ram 1500 Hybrid.

In February 2009, Chrysler’s Roger Benvenuti, manager of communications for Jeep and Dodge Truck, said only, “I can confirm that we will be introducing the Ram 1500 Hybrid in 2010, but we’re not discussing any of the details at this time.”

Unfortunately, that schedule puts Chrysler a good two years behind General Motors, whose Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid pickups began arriving at dealers in February and March 2009.

Timing Is Everything

In January 2008, Chrysler announced it would add a hybrid model to its pickup line. According to that announcement, the upcoming Ram Hybrid will feature the company’s 5.7-liter Hemi V8, with a Multi-Displacement System that shuts off the fuel supply to four of its eight cylinders when only partial power is needed. Redesigned for 2009, the standard Ram pickup is offered with a wide array of engines, cabs, lengths, and strengths. It’s actually Chrysler’s highest-volume vehicle, selling 246,000 trucks in 2008—just handful more than the company’s iconic minivans.

Developing a combined 375 horsepower between the engine and the electric motors, the same hybrid system gave the Dodge Durango Hybrid and Chrysler Aspen Hybrid SUVs—which weighed 5,500 pounds—a towing capacity of 6,000 pounds with EPA mileage ratings of 19/20 miles per gallon (city/highway).

Unfortunately, the company’s continuing sales slump and the global economic crisis combined to kill off Chrysler’s hybrid SUVS right at the time they were first shipped to dealers, with fewer than 1,000 built in total.

It’s the Economy, Stupid

With global vehicle markets down 30 to 40 percent and Chrysler begging for low-interest loan guarantees from the US government, the company was forced to submit a reorganization plan to President Barack Obama’s task force on the auto industry in February 2009.

That plan has been viewed with some skepticism by industry analysts, among them Craig Cather, president and CEO of CSM Worldwide. He told a February meeting of the International Motoring Press Association that he felt the company’s plan made overly optimistic assumptions, and that he believed the company would cease to exist in its current form within a year. So the fate of the Dodge Ram Hybrid depends on macro-economic circumstances outside the company’s control.

Demand for full-size SUVs has all but collapsed, so high-volume full-size pickup trucks are the next frontier for large hybrid vehicles. Between Ford, Chevrolet/GMC, and Dodge, body-on-frame pickups sell 1.5 million units a year, and they’ll soon be subject to steeply higher mileage requirements.

A Hard-Working Hybrid

Unless and until most full-size pickups come with a hybrid system as standard—don’t hold your breath—GM and Chrysler may find it challenging to make the payback obvious enough that it will attract buyers among fleets and commercial owners. They buy the bulk of pickups, to use them as working trucks, and they ruthlessly run the numbers on fleet costs. Much less likely to spend anything on making a green statement, they’ll put out the money if they get it back in gasoline saved.

A year ago, we summarized the defunct Durango Hybrid this way: “This is a powerful, capable, and practical vehicle, especially for work utility—and the gas mileage doesn’t totally suck.” The same will apply to the Ram Hybrid …if Chrysler makes it to 2011, that is.

The post Dodge Ram Hybrid appeared first on HybridCars.com.

.figure.inlineRight.width-300px { display: none }

October’s auto sales figures were disastrous. And hidden in the dismal numbers were a couple of hybrid oddities. You might view them as thrillers: The Case of the Missing Hybrids, double-billed with Last Hybrid Standing.

Missing from October figures were the Dodge Durango Hybrid and Chrysler Aspen Hybrid, for which not a single sale was recorded. Regular versions were sold—984 Durangos and 1,045 Aspens—but nary a Hybrid. Chrysler explained the missing hybrids it this way: “We have not delivered any through dealers yet, as [the hybrids] are just being delivered to dealers for the first time this week.”

Both vehicles will go out of production next month—when Chrysler shutters its Newark, Del., assembly plant. In other words, those hybrids will arrive in showrooms for the first time only weeks before they die for good. Year-to-date sales of both (non-hybrid) SUVs totaled just 37,049, fully 42 percent lower than the 64,084 sold by October 2007. That rate, said industry analyst Aaron Bragman of Global Insight, probably isn’t even enough to cover the plant’s fixed costs.

And that last hybrid standing? It would be the single, solitary Honda Accord Hybrid sold during October, called out from an overall total of 19,783 Accords. (Last October Honda sold 243 Accord Hybrids within 30,936 Accords.) It’s just a straggler, but it highlights the reality that a handful of fairly old “new cars” is buried within the sales figures every month—this would have been a 2007 model. And it was far from the only one this year; 197 Accord Hybrids found buyers in 2008.

The Accord Hybrid had its own history of headlines. One notable review was titled, “Sips gas. Hauls ass.” And that was its niche; it was the first “performance hybrid”. High-performance hybrids turned out to be a niche so small that few buyers cared. They sold OK in 2005, but 2006 sales plummeted as more hybrids entered the market. In June 2007, Honda threw in the towel. If you want one, check with your dealer; you never know what’s kicking around.

The Real Horror Story: GM Sales Decline by 45 Percent

Oh, and those October numbers? US auto sales last month plunged 32 percent from October 2007 levels. General Motors took the biggest hit, a jaw-dropping 45-percent decline, Toyota fell 23 percent despite a 0-percent financing blitz; Ford lost 32 percent; Chrysler plummeted 35 percent; even Honda’s lineup of small cars couldn’t rescue a 25-percent reduction; and Nissan dropped 33 percent. GM’s Mike DiGiovanni summed it up by calling the numbers “unsustainably weak” across the entire industry.

We’ll issue our monthly Hybrid Market Dashboard in the next few days, but hybrid vehicles are still beating the overall market. The demise of Chrysler’s V8 Hemi Hybrids, and the Accord Hybrid—the first muscle hybrid—show how not to succeed with a hybrid. The next two model years promise to get it right: The new Toyota Prius, the low-cost Honda Insight, the new Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan Hybrids, are paving the way in 2009.

By 2012 or 2013, some forecasts say hybrids may take as much as 5 or 6 percent of the new-car market—about double the current hybrid market. As the saying goes, it’s darkest right before the dawn.

The post Dead Hybrids Walking appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Canada’s Windsor Star—not coincidentally the hometown paper of the site of one of Chrysler’s minivan plants—reported that the company has decided to put a full-hybrid system in the Grand Caravan. The technology could lift city fuel economy into the mid-20 mpg range, and highway mileage into the 30s. A Chrysler spokesperson provided a non-denial denial about the hybrid minivan. “All our vehicles are under consideration” for new propulsion technologies, he said.

We will report any and all available news about a Dodge Grand Caravan Hybrid as details become available.

The post Dodge Grand Caravan Hybrid appeared first on HybridCars.com.

In a January 2008 press release, Chrysler indicated that the Dodge Ram Hybrid would use the hemi-powered hybrid system being applied to the hybrid versions of the Dodge Durango Hybrid and Chrysler Aspen Hybrid. “The renowned HEMI powerplant, in hybrid form, will continue to feature Chrysler’s Multi-displacement System, which allows the engine to seamlessly alternate between four-cylinder mode when less power is needed and V-8 mode when more power is in demand.” Those vehicles are expected to achieve fuel economy ratings of 18 in the city and 19 on the highway.

Hybrid technology has not yet been applied to high-volume full-size pickup trucks. As consumers demand greater fuel efficiency, hybrids are likely to expand into a wide range of segments and sizes, including pickups, minivans, wagons, and subcompacts—all of which currently lack a high-mpg hybrid option. Car companies have a limited window of opportunity to become the first in these new hybrid segment—as the race for fuel economy leadership and green bragging rights intensifies.

In December 2004, Daimler-Chrysler produced a limited number of Dodge Ram trucks using mild hybrid technology. Those vehicles, which offered a 10 – 15% in fuel efficiency, were only available to fleet customers. The company dubbed the vehicle a “contractor special,” because it offered traditional household three-prong outlets for construction workers to run power tools. At that time, it was thought that the mild hybrid could be a good candidate to become the first diesel-powered hybrid in production.

In 2007, Chrysler also announced that the Dodge Ram would receive a non-hybrid turbodiesel engine that will meet 50-state emissions standards, and deliver a 30 percent fuel economy improvement.

The post Chrysler Confirms Dodge Ram Hybrid appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The Dodge Durango is the quintessential, work-hard, play-hard, do-anything SUV—except when filling up a 13-mpg vehicle means it’s smarter to leave it parked in the driveway. To avoid this dilemma, the Durango was offered as a hybrid. The Dodge Durango Hybrid achieved fuel economy ratings of 18 in the city and 19 on the highway. That’s about a 40 percent improvement in the city and a 5 percent improvement on the highway over the gas-powered Hemi model.

The Durango’s powertrain added electric motors to Chrysler’s 5.7-liter Hemi V-8. That’s right. It was a Hemi hybrid. The one-two punch of Hemi and electric drive produced 385 horsepower. The technology was the “two-mode” hybrid system—similar to the one being used in the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon hybrids. The chief benefit of this hybrid approach, rather than systems found on some competing hybrids, is uncompromised towing capacity. In addition, the 5,500-pound Dodge Durango offered a capable four-wheel drive system that utilized a single-speed transfer case. The rear-biased system could send up to 100 percent of power to the back wheels, depending on the need and road conditions. The combined result was solid pulling power and a tow limit of 6,000 pounds. That may fall short of the non-hybrid Durango’s 8,950-pound capacity, but it’s still quite respectable.

The Durango Hybrid model was first scheduled to launch in 2003. At that time, the Durango Hybrid was going to be a mild version, only capable of using electric power at a standstill. The 2009 Dodge Durango Hybrid, with the Hemi, was more robust in every sense. Two months after its debut, Chrysler discontinued the model, citing “the global economic slowdown and auto industry contraction, as well as the market’s continuing movement toward smaller vehicles” as the reason.

The post 2009 Dodge Durango Hybrid appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The Dodge Caravan has always been a no-frills minivan. It is purposeful, but without the bells and whistles of many of its competitors. For that reason, it is extremely popular with the budget-minded families that need a reliable and versatile vehicle without having to pay an arm and a leg. Minivans from Honda, Toyota, and Nissan are more pricey. The Dodge Caravan is hands-down the most affordable choice in the minivan segment.

Aside from its low price, the Caravan is reputed for providing a high level of comfort. Its patented fold-in-the-floor seating and storage system is one of the most intelligently designed interior setups in its class. Any drawbacks? Yes. Dodge had to cut some corners to deliver such a low bottom line. Unfortunately, this translates to a lower quality fit and finish on the inside, as well as a shortage of standard safety features.

The post 2008 Dodge Caravan E85 appeared first on HybridCars.com.