Fiat Terminates Chrysler's All-Electric Car Plans - What's Going to Happen to the $73 Million Gov. Grants for the EV Test Fleet?

Just over a year ago, the Chrysler Group's newly formed Envi division unveiled a series of production-based electric cars that it planned to put on sale. Fast forward a few months, Chrysler went in and out of bankruptcy, sealed a deal with the Fiat Group and then, in August 2009 under the leadership of its new CEO, Sergio Marchionne, secured a $73 million grant from the Obama administration for the manufacturing of 220 plug-in hybrid and electric pickup trucks and minivans in St. Louis and in Michigan. Well, guess what;

According to a news report from Reuters, as part of the Marchione's recently announced five-year business plan to revitalize the Chrysler Group, Fiat has pulled the plug on the automaker's Envi division as well as the development of the test fleet for which it had received the government grant.

Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa told Reuters on Friday that Envi, which was responsible for the EV range, will be absorbed in the normal vehicle development program and its former chief Lou Rhodes will head an electric car division for both Fiat and Chrysler.

The group's CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters that for the time being and with the current technology available, he doesn't believe much in EVs and that electric cars would represent just "one or two per cent" (less than 60,000 vehicles) of Chrysler's sales by 2014.

"Until the (battery) storage gets resolved, I think electric vehicles are going to struggle," Marchionne said.

As of yet, there's no official word from Chrysler, but if the report from Reuters concerning the part about the scrapping of the 220 plug-in hybrids turns out to be true, one should wonder what's going to (or what should) happen to the $73 million grant that the automaker received. Post your thoughts in the comment section below.

Via: Reuters

2012 Lancia Thesis Envisioned as a Chrysler 200C, Lancia Delta as a Compact Chrysler

Can't say that were fans of "badge engineering" especially when it comes to brands with a completely different mind-set and background, but like it or not, chances are that Fiat's tie up with Chrysler will most likely give birth to at least a couple of vehicles that will only differ in grilles and badges. The U.S. automaker's recently revealed five-year product plan hints at a few cars of this sort, but photoshop wiz, Theophilus Chin, took it upon himself to create a trio of 'Chrysler-ized' Lancias and vice-versa.

These include a proposal for a Lancia Thesis replacement based on Chrysler's well-received 200C mid-size sedan hybrid concept that was displayed at this year's Detroit Show, as well as Lancia-masked Chrysler Voyager and a Chrysler version of Lancia's premium compact hatchback, the Delta.

Source: Theophilus Chin

[Update] Chrysler Responds to Criticism Regarding TV Spot: We Did Not Pay a Single Penny for the Ad...

Turns out that we fell spot on our criticism about the article from Advertisment Age (also hosted by Autonews), in concern of the 30-second TV Spot about the Chrysler 300 and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader. As we noted in our post, the author of the article, Jean Halliday did not mention all the facts about the TV spot jumping into conclusions about Chrysler ditching U.S. agencies and paying an Italian company to do the job while having received bailout money from American taxpayers.

Chrysler and Lancia CEO Olivier Francois, released a statement saying that the company did not hire the Italian agency and that no one charged automaker a single penny for the creation of the TV Spot. "The only costs were actually spent here in the US, to two companies to coordinate and manage the trafficking of this film," Francois said.

To make matters worse, Chrysler's CEO said that he told the reported that this was a one-time execution with the agency, even before Halliday wrote the story.

Francois added that Chrysler has in fact hired Fallon of Minneapolis to be the brand's official ad agency.

Unfortunately, many news sites and blogs including Jalopnik ("Chrysler Hires Italian Agency To Make This Crappy Car Ad With Taxpayer Dollars") and BNET ("Chrysler Hires Italian Ad Agency With U.S. Bailout Cash to Create Non-Car Commercials") were quick to jump onto the bandwagon, taking everything that the author wrote for granted without even questioning the report...

Links: Adage - Autonews

Here's Chrysler's Official Response:

Olivier Francois, President and Chief Executive Officer - Chrysler Brand, Chrysler Group LLC and Lancia Brand, Fiat Group Automobiles, submitted the following letter to the editor to AdvertisingAge in response to this article:

Today we at Chrysler discovered that an act of social responsibility, running a film letting Americans know that the freedom of a Nobel laureate is currently being denied in Burma, was portrayed in Ad Age as a potential affront to taxpayers here. We'd like to set the record straight and have your readers draw their own conclusions.

First, this film was created by Lancia's Italian ad agency. For efficiencies, it was then re-worked for Chrysler. This was also not Chrysler "hiring" the agency, and in fact neither the agency nor the leadership of Nobel, nor the other Nobel Prize winners in the film charged us even a penny for it. The only costs were actually spent here in the US, to two companies to coordinate and manage the trafficking of this film.

Second, this was a one-time execution with the Italian agency, as we informed the reporter before she wrote the story.

In fact, we have hired Fallon of Minneapolis to be Chrysler Brand's official ad agency, and they are presently developing new commercials to start airing this year.

Hopefully we can enjoy the freedom of having your readers in a democratic society decide for themselves if they should be upset, or whether we instead exercised fiscal responsibility in producing this important film.

Chrysler Groozer: Customized PT-Cruiser with Suicide Doors and Split Rear Window

Over the years we've seen all sorts of customized Chrysler PT-Cruisers but admittedly, this 'old school' ride managed to capture our attention. The owner of the PT-Cruiser has put a serious amount of (body) work into the car that has been renamed to 'Groozer'.

Among many other mods, the owner fitted a pair of suicide rear doors, a custom made rear end with split rear window and unique LED tail lamps, and reworked fascia, hood and C-column.

The PT-Cruiser also features an air suspension system and a sliding canvas ragtop while it rides on 18-inch front and 20-inch rear 'wire' wheels.

As you can see in the photo gallery below, the project is still in the works with the owner of the car saying that in the next phase he'll concentrate on the Groozer's interior.

Via: Cardomain

Chrysler Said to Show All-Electric Fiat 500 as well at Detroit Auto Show

Following yesterday's rumors about a new Chrysler model based on a Lancia vehicle, a news report today claims that the Chrysler Group will also reveal an all-electric version of the Fiat 500 at the Detroit auto show in January, without however giving out any specific details. In addition to the 500 EV, it is said that Chrysler will also display the entire Fiat 500 lineup at its Detroit booth, including the standard model, the 500C Moon Roof err.. Convertible and the sporty 500 Abarth.

The North American version of the Fiat 500 will be built at Chrysler's Toluca plant in Mexico, with sales set to begin in fall 2010. The base version of the city car will be powered by Fiat's new 1.4-liter Multiair 4-cylinder gasoline engine.

The tin-top model will be followed in 2011 by the 500C Convertible which gets an electronically retractable canvas roof as opposed to a full convertible top, while Fiat will complete the range in 2012 with the presentation of the sporty 500 Abarth powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

In North America, the Fiat 500 will be sold at select Chrysler dealerships.

Via: Autonews

PS: All photos are of the Fiat 500 Aria

2010MY Chrysler 300C: New Model Line-up goes on Sale in the UK

If Chrysler keeps on schedule, then we'll be seeing the redesigned 300 sedan making its market debut in the U.S. and other countries sometime in the second half of the year. But for now, Chrysler's UK division has announced a new model-line up of its mid-size sedan for Britain. The new 2010 300C range will now offer four derivatives, the 300C SE, SR and SRT that are powered by 215HP 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine, and the SRT-8 fitted with a 425HP 6.1-litre V8 HEMI petrol engine.

The new entry-level 300C, the diesel-powered SE, is priced from £23,995 (approx. US$38,900) on the road.

Standard features include leather seats, ESP, ABS, front, rear and side-curtain airbags, heated front seats, dual zone climate control, LED ambient lighting, front fog lamps, parking sensors (front and rear), Xenon headlamps and rain-sensing windscreen wipers,18-inch alloys and an in-car entertainment system with CD player and MP3 capability and a six speaker Boston Acoustics sound system.

The 300C SR is priced at £24,995. In addition to the SE grade, SR models feature auto-dimming rear view mirror, upgraded Boston Acoustics sound system including subwoofer and uconnect GPS, uconnect phone with voice recognition, a hands-free communication system using Bluetooth technology.

Priced at £27,995, the 300C SRT offers in addition to the SR models a mesh grille with chrome surround, body coloured door mirrors and door handles, wheel arch extensions, 20 inch alloys, leather and suede trimmed sports seats and carbon fibre interior details.

The diesel-powered 300Cs are offered with a standard automatic transmission and can complete the 0-62mph (100km/h) sprint in 8.7 seconds while reaching a top speed of 143mph 0r 230km/h.

At the top-of-the-range is the 300C SRT-8 that costs £41,795 (about US$67,800 - in the States, the 300C SRT8 carries a sticker price of $47,315 not including taxes, but you may get a better price if you haggle the dealer).

The 300C SRT-8 with its 425HP and 420 lb-ft HEMI V8 goes from 0-62mph in 5.0 seconds, hits the quarter mile in the high 13-second range and has a top of speed of 165 mph or 265km/h.

Dodge to end Viper Production with 50 Final Editions

Dodge's Viper SRT10 will be going out with a bang, or in this case, a limited run of 50 "Final Edition" models starting production this summer.

The Final Edition package will be available on all three variations of the Viper (Coupe, Roadster, ACR) and will consist of the body painted in a Graphite Clear Coat with a center-mounted black racing stripe highlighted in red.

The coupes and ACRs will get a "black windshield surround" and all models will get the oh-so-expected "unique side sill badges" proclaiming that YOU, sir, are more unique than every other Viper owner.

Not only that, but there's a dash plaque in case people didn't get the memo on those sill badges. The rest of the interior gets the Darth Maul treatment with red stitching, red halos painted on the gauge cluster, and other shiny bits here and there. Coupes and Roadsters will roll on anthracite 6-spoke rollers, while ACRs will get black 5-spoke Sidewinders.

Number breakdowns for the 8.4 liter, 600-horsepower Final Edition beasts are like this: 20 Coupes, 18 Roadsters, and 12 ACRs. Get 'em while they're hot.

By Phil Alex

Born in the USA: Lancia, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo Jobs Coming to North America

Automotive News reports that Fiat's Italian manpower is being cut by 5,000 (approximately 6.25% of its total workforce in Italy) while "increasing domestic production to 900,000 units in 2012 from 661,100 units in 2009."

Fiat's response: "Media speculation about the plan's contents [is] 'premature and groundless.'"

Part of the supposed shift involves a decrease in models built, from fourteen to nine, while ramping-up production of the survivors.

Hit really hard will be Fiat's plant in Mirafiori, Turin. "Mirafiori builds the Fiat Punto Classic, Idea and Multipla models, the Lancia Musa and Alfa MiTo. Fiat is remodeling the plant to use a single line to build the Alfa Romeo MiTo and two new small minivans to replace the Idea and Multipla."

The Mirafiori plant is set to ax nearly 50% of its 5,840 workers; that's in addition to the 1,400 that are getting the boot in Termini Imerese, Sicily (where the Lancia Ypsilon is built), the 1,500-2000 in Pomigliano (being outfitted to built only the Panda replacement), and 500 workers at the Cassino plant.

Fiat is said to be bringing some production over to Chrysler's North American manufacturing facilities, which would then export the vehicles back to Europe.

Numbers from Chrysler are in the neighborhood of 270,000 Fiats, Lancias, and Alfas (plus 100,000 500s in Mexico) built on this side of the Atlantic by 2014.

Here's how the models will likely break down:

Alfa Romeo (in America): four models including the Giulia (sedan and touring variants of the 159 successor), a "large crossover", and a big, rear-wheel-drive 166 successor (likely to use Chrysler's LX platform).

Lancia (in Europe): using re-badged Chrysler and Dodge products, Lancia wants to remain (or is that become?) "near premium" by using the 300C (ok), the new-Sebring lineup (wait and see), and the Voyager (why won't you just die?).

Fiat (in Europe): will use the Dodge Nitro (somehow I don't see it winning people over), and Dodge's Journey crossover.

Thoughts on this newly globalized Fiat plan? You know where to go (it's down).

Chrysler's 1993 300C Concept Car up for Sale

With the glitzy Chrysler Thunderbolt taking the spotlight at the at the 1993 Detroit Motor Show, we seriously doubt that anyone even vaguely remembers the company's second concept car at Motown, the 300C sedan. Important or not, fact is that the 300C prototype model is up for grabs at Volocars.

The one-of-a-kind concept features a customized interior and exterior, as well as a glass panoramic roof with electric sun shade with the seller claiming that it cost $145,000 to build. The documented prototype, which has covered only 350 miles, is priced at $25,998. Comprehensive gallery after the jump.

Source: Volocars , Via: Hemmings