Chrysler Goes Public With Dodge’s Future: Electric Cars Missing

[TerryMason]

(reprinted from gas2.0)

Yesterday, Chrysler/Fiat’s new CEO Sergio Marchionne presented the 5-year business plan he hopes will save Chrysler, and bring Fiat back to the US market for the first time in nearly 30 years. The company presented its plan during a live, seven-hour-long marathon webcast, which was notable for two things: first, a virtually unprecedented willingness to discuss future product, and, second, the conspicuous absence of New Chrysler’s much-ballyhooed ENVI electric-vehicle division.

What happened to the Dodge EV? Can we expect some innovative green tech from Marchionne’s new Dodge product future? The depressing reality:

November 4th, 2009 was a big day for the New New Chrysler (which had only just been New Chrysler since Cerberus bought the company from Daimler back in the not-so-distant past of 2007), and Sergio’s team totally blew it.

To be fair, yesterday’s business plan did shed a lot of light on the company’s product future (which was its stated goal) but notably absent from the company’s Dodge product roadmap (below) was the Dodge EV sportscar. The darling of Old New Chrysler’s ENVI line of “forward thinking” concept vehicles, the Dodge EV was said to be a “go” for production in 2010.

You can see for yourself where the Dodge EV concept is headed below:



...nowhere

There is simply no mention of the EV, no mention of a new, sporty car, and no plans to even introduce a new small Dodge until the 2013 calendar year. What I do see, however, is a new FULL-SIZE CUV (read: SUV) and a new Dodge Viper street-racer under consideration for 2012 and beyond.

That’s right: Marchionne’s plans to drag Dodge the brand back to relevance in the 21st Century don’t include efficient new EVs and lightweight technology from partners like Lotus, Alcoa, and others, but rather consist of bigger CUV/SUVs and an all-new Viper.

Marchionne also plans to divide the current Dodge brand in two: a Dodge brand for “sporty, youth-oriented cars,” and a Ram brand with a new focus on over-the-road semis and new heavy-duty trucks.

OK—so there’s is no spectacular new Dodge EV hyper-exotic halo car coming in 2010, but as I’ve always expressed that was a diversionary con to begin with and never had any legs. The real problem here is that Marchionne and his bunch don’t seem able or willing to see the writing on the wall. Consider what they’re proposing:

no new small cars until 2013
more brands to spend marketing/ad dollars on — not less
bigger cars, trucks, and CUVs — not smaller, more efficient cars
And that’s just Dodge! I still have Jeep, Chrysler, and Fiat rants to rant about!

Maybe, though—just maybe—there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and someone within Chrysler realizes what a horrible bunch of pseudo-ideas all this bogus market posturing and purposeless re-branding really is. I hold on to this hope because, tucked away inside the webcast’s online slide show, Autoblog editor John Neff found this:



It’s a picture of a black sheep with a racing stripe. Somewhere inside Dodge, hidden, there is at least one person who understands that Chrysler without ENVI is a dinosaur, and Dodge without the Ram is a sheep. A follower. So, while the Ram brand will at least continue producing class-leading clean diesel engines (that’s something, right?) the only thing that will separate the New New Dodge from the competition will be some hastily added racing stripes.

Think I’m kidding? Old New Dodge Nitro and New New Dodge Nitro, below.





Bigger cars, bigger trucks, bigger wheels, and lots of *****in’ racing stripes = our tax-dollars at work.


Thanks to gas2.0

[southtj]

To sum up:

Perhaps the biggest Jeep announcement was that a Diesel Jeep Wrangler is coming late in 2010. It's not totally clear if it will be available in the U.S. at launch.

Other Jeep-related information included:

• The much-anticipated Pentastar "Phoenix" V6 engine will make its debut in the 2010 Grand Cherokee next summer.
• It appears that Chrysler's main thrust with the Jeep platform will be to grow international sales outside of North America.
• Expect a new, Fiat-produced small "B-segment" SUV from Jeep for the 2013 model year.
• The Patriot and Compass will get new interiors for 2010. The Wrangler will get a new engine.
• The Liberty will have a minor refresh for 2010 and will be replaced in 2013 with a Fiat-produced vehicle.
• 2010 will be the last model year for the Commander.
• 2010 is the 70th anniversary of the Jeep brand. All models will have a commemorative edition.
• The Patriot and Compass will be replaced by a single, new "C-segment" nameplate.

Overall, nothing ground-breaking, but lots of changes coming to the nameplate in the next few years - it'll be very interesting to see what Fiat-produced vehicles they slap the Jeep name on...

[RockCity]

Don't get me wrong, I love my Jeeps, and will never get rid of my TJ. However, being in the automotive industry, I do not have a whole lot of patience for Chrysler at this time. They have destroyed my paychecks.

[SteelHeadz]

All the Chrysler plans for the EV has been set aside since the bankruptcy. Even the 800+ Hybrid aspen SUV was also halted for now. All this are yet to be re-drawn weather it's going to be on the production line with the Fiat design migration or the chopping block.

[HiHood]

Well, I'm just gonna have to stick with my Willys. I ain't all that sure about those Fiats. I do remember the Fiats of old that were imported and I just hope they have improved.

I believe that JK's are sold elsewhere already with diesel motors, just not in the US. THAT doesn't sound too bad there, but it's a scary sorry situation when an American Icon like Jeep is owned by and traded from one foreigner to another, as US workers tighten up their belts until they figging snap and we still have US taxpayer's money to bail them out (the companies) only so they can get fatter and blame worker's wages and retirements as the problem.

[SteelHeadz]

Originally Posted by HiHood

I believe that JK's are sold elsewhere already with diesel motors, just not in the US. THAT doesn't sound too bad there, but it's a scary sorry situation when an American Icon like Jeep is owned by and traded from one foreigner to another, as US workers tighten up their belts until they figging snap and we still have US taxpayer's money to bail them out (the companies) only so they can get fatter and blame worker's wages and retirements as the problem.

Most of the Chrysler vehicles have been available in Europe and Asia with the option of the 3.0 on the 2009 LE body Chrysler 300C,WH body export Grand Cherokee and XH body export Jeep Commander. The J8(Export version of the JK) didn't debut in the export market till 2008 with a 2.8 Diesel. As surprising as it sound's , most of the designing, prototyping and testing are done here in the U.S. Detroit ,Michigan and most of them are built here in the U.S. for export only.

[jps4jeep]

Good.. Electric, electric/hybrid technology is a dead technology.. I laugh my ares off when people tell me that an electric car would have zero impact on the earth.. where do they think the litheum for the batteries comes from? it's not a renewable source, and what is to happen with it when it's rendered unusable... how much can be recycled? Diesel technology and hydrogen technology will be the future.

[RockCity]

All I care is that they keep the production here in the states. Our economy needs it and our people deserve it. We work hard for our money, we have enough people taking that away from us.

[Jesse]

Originally Posted by jps4jeep

Good.. Electric, electric/hybrid technology is a dead technology.. I laugh my ares off when people tell me that an electric car would have zero impact on the earth.. where do they think the litheum for the batteries comes from? it's not a renewable source, and what is to happen with it when it's rendered unusable... how much can be recycled? Diesel technology and hydrogen technology will be the future.

EXACTLY! So few people get that... They just look at what the battery is doing right now, not what will happen when it dies.

[JohnnyO]

Originally Posted by Jesse

EXACTLY! So few people get that... They just look at what the battery is doing right now, not what will happen when it dies.

Also nickel mines create an incredible amount of pollution and environmental damage.
My concern with Fiat taking over Chrysler and Jeep is that this is a company that left the U.S. market entirely about 25 years ago because they couldn't come close to competing on quality. In other words their cars were crap and shot full of rust in less than three years.
I think electric and hybrid vehicles have their place but the folks running the govt and the folks who run the folks who run the govt don't grasp the concept that what works okay in heavy traffic for the west coast and northeast Boston-NY-DC corridor doesn't work for the rest of us.