Dodge Circuit concept electric car unveiled at 2009 Detroit Auto Show
There will be no electric car named Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep. At least for the forseable future. Chrysler's new owner, Fiat SpA, has pulled the plug on Chrysler's plans to build and market EV vehicles, and even hybrid vehicles.
The decision by Fiat SEO Sergio Marchionne is a major voltage reduction for Chrysler. It is also a direct slap in the face of US taxpayers, who gave Chrysler a $12.5 Billion bail-out package, in part to help float Chrysler's plans for its ENVI program to develop and market fuel efficient electric cars. In addition, the Department of Energy gave Chrysler another $70 million in grants in August for this program.
Will Fiat return the money? Unlikely.
Fiat's decision kills the Dodge Circuit, a two-seater all electric sports car that Chrysler introduced to great fanfare at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year. Chrysler announced in September 2008 that it was developing three EV models, and hoped to get them into production by 2010. That's not happening now.
Fiat's decision also scraps Chrysler's plan to build and test a fleet of more than 200 hybrid and plug-in electric pick-up trucks and minivans.
According to GreenTech Media, Fiat's decision has a negative effect on battery-maker A123, which had been contracted to make the batteries for the Chrysler electric car program.
There is a possibility the new Fiat-Chrysler will pursue electric or hybrid vehicle production, but it is unlikely. Marcchione doesn't think much of electric cars. Reuters reports he told reporters and analysts that electric cars would only represent "one to two percent" of Chrysler's sales by 2014. The implication is that spending millions on R & D just isn't worth it.
So what will Marchionne do with the $70 million he just got from the US Department of Energy to do just that?
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Comments
Perhaps we can take up the slack with our non EV.. But it's sooo much better than an EV anyway you look at it.
JL Mealer
Mealer Companies LLC
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& 100% Self-Regenerative-Fueled
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Sadly, "the American car industry" is looking more and more like the "the American car company". At least Ford continues moving forward with the Focus EV and Escape PHEV--plus other unnamed hybrids.
I for one remain hopeful that GM will complete and deliver the Chevy Volt and that the Voltec powerplant will be prominent in GM's future offerings, but I could just be a foolish optimist.
France owes the United States 12.5 Billion Dollars! The U.S. Government should remind France every single day that we fully intend to collect the reparations!
Correction - US taxpayers did not give anyone anything. It was decided by the US government without our approval. As such, the consequences were completely foreseeable. Look for GM to follow soon.
Very poor reporting. The EV group was reorganized not abandoned.
John Drake -- Of course the money the US government loaned to GM and Chrysler was money from US taxpayers. And, it was with our permission, by extension, since we voted for the members of Congress who voted for the bail-out bucks.
Lou -- Fiat's supreme leader is on record as saying he does not think much of electric cars, which is included in my report. Dissolving the ENVI unit, and re-assigning the R&D staff and marketing gurus is more than a re-organization. It is a burial. Chrysler was already well behind Ford and GM in getting a hybrid, much less a plug-in electric car on the road. Fiat's decision just puts them even further back.
John Drake,
I should perhaps point out, at the risk of stating the obvious, that the U.S. isn't a direct democracy. It's a constitutional republic with democratically elected leaders. As such, U.S. taxpayers NEVER directly spend what's in the Treasury.
Marchionne is said to have let it slip that the first EV outta Fiat-Chrylser will be the Fiat Doblò Minivan. Looks a bit like the Renault Kangoo, which I like.
tinyurl.com/ybj9hjx
Information from the Wiki page is impressive, although I wasn't able to find reliable info on it's range from a full charge. Remains to be seen how far ahead Fiat really is with the Doblò.
tinyurl.com/ycvckez
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