Chrysler looks back, forward 100 years as Cerberus takes over
With the transition of Chrysler from Daimler to Cerberus now complete, Chrysler is relaunching in all sorts of ways, from a new ad campaign to fresh stuff on the website. Chrysler's new "about us" page features a look back and forward 100 years, and includes the following on the Pentastar's green future:
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS. Our concern for the environment has led to a number of firsts in green technology. Like being the first manufacturer to introduce the electric minivan, the first U.S. manufacturer to introduce CFC-free vehicles and the first car maker to sell one million Flex Fuel Vehicles. And for 2008, we expect to put another 500,000 Flex Fuel Vehicles on the road. We also offer the country's cleanest burning diesel with the available legendry 6.7L Cummins® featuring ultra-clean emissions technology, in a full-size pickup. Then there is the 5.7L HEMI V8 engine with MDS fuel-saving technology, and even a 5.7L HEMI V8 hybrid engine coming in 2009.
The big questions, of course, are what all these landmarks mean for Chrysler's future. Sure, ethanol-ready and hybrid cars are two options that automakers can reliably sell to car buyers today, but what are Chrysler's plans ten, twenty, thirty years down the road? We'll know soon enough, but let's just state for the record that as of today, there have been 75 posts on AutoblogGreen about Chrysler. Compare this to, say, 109 about Tesla and 356 about Toyota. Everyone knows green is the future for the auto world. Who is your money on?
[Source: Chrysler]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GregR 9:59AM (8/08/2007)
Chrysler has to say something about eco issues. They all now have to live upto the market expectation that more needs to be done. And this does not include the E85 trick. I say trick because it did not require a big effort, they can claim success (and the flex credits) and dont have to worry about the fact that there are almost no E85 distribution points.
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Kardax 11:40AM (8/08/2007)
We have hundreds of E85 distribution points here in Minnesota. But virtually no E85 cars (they're all big trucks which benefit the most from the flex credits you mentioned).
Personally, I'd like to see some carmaker make E85 support a standard feature throughout their product line, just like fuel injection and radial tires. One would think economies of scale would limit the cost of such upgrades.
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CM 3:20AM (8/09/2007)
I don't think Chrysler really understands the green market. Even in the paragraph on "environmental consiousness" they have to brag about their big fuel guzzling HEMI engines. Not suprising, it's just about the only thing they can brag about.
As for their "electric minivan", what happened to them? Did they sell any? Did they even lease any to the general public? Or was it just a half-hearted effort to meet the ZEV mandate?
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Pete 8:43AM (8/09/2007)
Chrysler Corp is not the angel they puport to be. Something as simple as their PT Cruiser gets horrible mileage for such a small car. Their Neon was decent, but they killed that and replaced it with a confusing mix of wierd crossover type things that don't do any better. Their "Fuel saving MDS" was implemented as a way attain emissions compliance, and only had the side benefit of saving some fuel. Their 5.7 liter hemi trucks are hogs. Compared to a GM pickup of equal configuration, the GM will get 2 to 3 mpg better across the board. I think Dodge trucks cruise around with a huge weight penalty. That low-brow "My truck is tougher than yours" competition that they won (at least in some minds) by overbuilding their trucks is killing them now in the marketplace. The dinosaurs died out when the world got cold. Chrysler needs to adapt more quickly. They're a smaller giant, so hopefully they can.
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