Aug

Two More Chryslers No One Will Buy

Posted by admin Published in Chrysler

Consumers love SUVs about as much as Dungeons & Dragons players love John McCain, but that isn’t keeping Chrysler — remember them? — from rolling out not one, but two hybrid SUVs.

A plant in Newark, Del., started spitting out Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango hybrids that week, and they’ll be available in dealerships that fall. It’s the first Chrysler factory to build gas-electric vehicles, and it due revamping the line to install 300-volt batteries and other components. “The implementation of that new manufacturing process was done intelligently, with both quality and cost in intellect,” plant manager Joe Ozdowy said according to Automotive News. (free subscription req.)

Early reviews have been favorable, but the $45,000 question is: Will anyone buy these things?

The bottom’s fallen out of the SUV market as consumers grow tired of spending as much filling their fuel tanks as they do filling their cupboards. The slow economy and awful housing market haven’t helped. Dealer’s can’t move ‘em without offering huge incentives, and crossover utility vehicles — Detroit-speak for car-like SUVS — aren’t faring much better. In fact, the entire industry’s doing about as well as the Seattle Mariners these days. that is expected to

be the worst year automakers have seen since 1993.

Chrysler took a beating during the final quarter, when it saw car sales fall 25 percent and truck sales drop 30 percent. The Durango’s been hit particularly tough - sales have plummeted 51.3 percent since January, and dealers moved just 384 of them in July. Seems like the perfect duration to introduce a pair of SUVs, doesn’t it?

To be fair, Chrysler’s been developing these vehicles for years using the “Two-Mode” hybrid system cooked up in a partnership amoung General Motors, Daimler and BMW. GM’s got a similar set-up in the Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid and argues it makes sense to use hybrids to improve the fuel economy of big vehicles. Chrysler estimates the hybrid system improves the fuel economy of the Aspen and Durango by about 25 percent, bringing the Aspen to about 20 mpg / city.

You’ve gotta wonder whether that’ll be adequate to attract buyers, particularly since Chrysler is asking them to shell out $45,000 for nicely equipped models.

Photo by Chrysler.

Original post by Chuck Squatriglia