Chrysler plans to shock industry, sell electric car in 2010
— -- Chrysler unveiled three electric vehicles today, one of which will be ready for sale by the end of 2010, a top company executive said, in what he expects will be "shocks to the industry."
The Auburn Hills automaker is working on range-extended electric-drive versions of its Chrysler Town & Country minivan and four-door Jeep Wrangler SUV as well as an all-electric Dodge sports car, Tom LaSorda, a Chrysler president and vice chairman, told the Free Press.
Chrysler company GreenEcoMobility, which makes and markets neighborhood electric vehicles, also showed its next-generation model, the 2009 GEM Peapod. It goes into production next year.
GEM neighborhood electric vehicles have a top speed of 25 mph, a range of up to 30 miles per charge and are street legal in more than 40 states.
Chrysler's announcement is also sure to electrify the automaker itself, which in the past year has undergone dramatic changes as the company not only dealt with going private but also with the transforming U.S. auto industry.
Chrysler's image as a seller of pickups and SUVs has not meshed well with a buying public that wants more fuel-efficient cars. The automaker's sales are down more than 20% so far this year — about twice the decline of the industry as a whole.
While Chrysler hinted at future electric cars during the Detroit auto show last January, many analysts had believed the automaker's immediate-future prospects looked bleak.
Some Chrysler dealers earlier this year even quietly complained to the Free Press over their concerns that Chrysler wasn't moving quickly enough into electric vehicles, especially as GM generated ample press coverage for its Volt, a car first unveiled in 2007.
But one of the biggest secrets in Auburn Hills has been brewing for about 20 months, LaSorda said. "The teams have been working on it for some time. We've had these products in the pipeline," he said.
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