Location: Tallahassee, Florida (Home is Ft Myers, FL)
Posts: 20,332
Chrysler says more hybrids coming
Quote:
Allpar.com
Chrysler says more hybrids coming
Chrysler executives say the recently introduced Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen hybrids are just the start of the automaker’s shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Michael Berube, a senior manager for Chrysler brand marketing, said, "These are our first hybrids, but they are not going to be our last. In the future, hybrid and another fuel-saving technology will come in all sizes, shapes and colors."
In his remarks to reporters, Berube also said, "The manufacturer that can develop products with the features customers have grown accustomed to, with the fuel economy of a much smaller vehicle, is going to win out," he said.
The Durango and Aspen hybrids will begin arriving at dealerships in August and Chrysler plans to roll out a hybrid Ram pickup truck next year. Now there are unconfirmed hints the next green vehicles could be hybrid versions of the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger sedans. Chrysler is focusing on its larger, rear-wheel-drive cars and trucks because the relative fuel savings are more significant and because the Two-Mode Hybrid System it has developed in conjunction with General Motors, Daimler AG and BMW AG is more suited to such vehicles.
Glenn Denomme, Chrysler chief engineer for hybrid powertrain programs, said it will take some work to make the Two-Mode system fit in the engine bay of a smaller, front-wheel-drive car. There are also some politics involved as Chrysler and its partners decide how to allocate the available resources.
Hybrids are a farce anyway. With the added cost, complexity, and cost to replace the batteries as well as the fact that hardly anyone is qualified to work on them, the marginal gains in economy arent worth it.
Reduce emissions requirements, reduce the amount of power and luxo garbage that doesnt do anything and continue to perfect engine technology. That'll give better economy and performance.
But its all moot if we dont damn well drill for the oil that we have right here. Theres plenty of it, between the deposits of sweet crude and the oil shale in CO to last for the next 250 years just on that alone even if we stop importing all foreign oil.
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Im Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Jackass!
Why hybrid SUVs? Ifwomen can't afford gas to fill up their tanks or drive themcorrectly they shouldn't own them.
With the prices of these hybrids SUV's, I think the idea is more about the enviroment, than saving money.
yeah and thats a joke too. How environmentally friendly is it to have a car filled with batteries which themselves are each like toxic waste barrels. And as expensive as those batteries are to replace, by the time depreciation kicks in it wont be worth refurbishing the thing, so what do you do? Scrap it and build another, never mind how much energy and raw materials that still takes.
Its so much better to keep our cars simple and reliable so that its easy to ensure that they run properly. Peak performance and efficiency = clean emissions.
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Im Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Jackass!
With the prices of these hybrids SUVs, I think the idea is more about the enviroment, than saving money.
The whole concept of an SUV is stupid, its devistating to the environment because of several factors. The average SUV seats 5 without a third row...but so does an environmentally friendly car! Considering the average number of children US familes have is 2.4, a car would be suitable for a large majority.
These people who buy SUV's don't buy because of the environment and their children, so why would they buy when there's a hybrid put into one? What a hybrid system is, is a pittiful attempt to make them look just. Dodge is saying, "screw the market, we're going to put a hybrid system in even if we know they don't care, we need to sell these things".
Look at it this way. SUV sales are down, so that's slowing down the impact on the environment already. If this was truely about the environment, why wouldn't Dodge still have the fuel efficient Stratus...or better yet the hybrid system in a car that sells better than the doofy Durango? If this was about the environment, don't you think people would want it in their reasonable affordable car?
Because people want vehicles they can use for all purposes, and I would drive an SUV more often if it got better gas mileage. Think about it, not everyone wants small compacts or a minivan.
Location: Tallahassee, Florida (Home is Ft Myers, FL)
Posts: 20,332
RE: Chrysler says more hybrids coming
If i had all the money I needed to buy two stock cars and pay for them for their lifetimes... I would buy 2008 Viper SRT-10 ACR and a 2008 Chrysler Aspen HEMI. I love SUVs.
Because people want vehicles they can use for all purposes, and I would drive an SUV more often if it got better gas mileage.
That's the reason people buy them, but we're talking about like an extra 10k for to get~25mpg. What you aren't willing to sacrafice is power. And power = less efficiency in a larger vehicle. So if power is being sacraficed with an expensive environmental disaster under the hood aka batteries, what would prompt you to buy a hybrid SUV? If you had the money to buy one of these in the first place I guarantee you would A: not be on DF or B: would drive something that's not a Dodge.
Location: Tallahassee, Florida (Home is Ft Myers, FL)
Posts: 20,332
RE: Chrysler says more hybrids coming
If I had all the money in the world, I would still drive Dodges and Chryslers. Would I have a few Ferraris and Lambos? yeah... but the rest would be Mopar... maybe an S7 thrown in.
Chrysler says more hybrids coming
