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 this week, and they'll be available in dealerships this fall. It's the first Chrysler factory to build gas-electric vehicles, and it required revamping the line to install 300-volt batteries and other components. "The implementation of this new manufacturing process was done intelligently, with both quality and cost in mind," 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 lousy 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. This is expected to be the worst year automakers have seen since 1993.
Chrysler took a beating during the last quarter, when it saw car sales fall 25 percent and truck sales drop 30 percent. The Durango's been hit particularly hard - sales have plummeted 51.3 percent since January, and dealers moved just 384 of them in July. Seems like the perfect time 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 between 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. The hybrid Durango and Aspen have 5.7-liter Hemi engines under the hood, and Chrysler estimates cylinder deactivation and the hybrid system improves the fuel economy of the Aspen and Durango by about 25 percent. That would bring the Aspen to about 20 mpg / city.
You've gotta wonder if that'll be enough to attract buyers, especially since Chrysler is asking them to shell out $45,000 for nicely equipped models.
Photo by Chrysler.
