200C EV concept previews Chrysler’s new design DNA

Following on from the Dodge Circuit EV sports car shown earlier today, Chrysler has revealed the 200C EV concept, which is designed to showcase the carmaker's future designs as well as its electric powertrain technology in a premium sedan. It doesn't end there as the concept also previews a new interior concept multimedia screen for the driver and another smaller screen for the front passenger called a "techno-leaf." Based on a shortened version of Chrysler's existing rear-wheel-drive platform, the 200C EV is a performance sedan in a package that is also environmentally friendly. Chrysler 200C EV Concept

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Chrysler shows off Jeep Patriot EV range-extended SUV

Back in September Chrysler showed its commitment to designing and marketing a range of electric and hybrid vehicles with the unveiling of a trio of concept vehicles, one for each of the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands. Despite its current financial situation, Chrysler is keen to show its willingness to keep up with rivals, such as General Motors and its Chevrolet Volt plug-in, by unveiling updated designs of its electric vehicles at this month's Detroit Auto Show. The first of these is the new Jeep Patriot EV, an plug-in hybrid SUV with a 400-mile total driving range and a 40-mile all-electric range with zero fuel consumption and zero tailpipe emissions. As a range-extended electric vehicle, the Jeep Patriot EV combines the electric-drive components of an electric vehicle with a small gasoline engine and integrated electric generator to produce additional energy to power the electric-drive system when needed. 2009 Jeep Patriot EV range-extended vehicle

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Chrysler considering car-based 'lifestyle' pickup to replace Dakota

Earlier this week General Motors announced the death of the G8 ST program because it wouldn't make money for them and the 'sport truck' didn't fit the Pontiac brand image. Today news has emerged that Chrysler is now considering building its own car-based pickup truck as a solution to its need for an efficient and profitable alternative to compact pickups. Compact pickups have been slow-sellers even in good times, but of late they are particularly hard to move. Chrysler's prospective solution to that problem, voiced by Frank Klegon to The Detroit News, emphasizes low pricing and efficiency as the motivating factors. 2010 Pontiac G8 ST

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Chrysler to showcase four-seat electric Dodge coupe in Detroit

Back in September Chrysler showed its commitment to designing and marketing a range of electric and hybrid vehicles with the unveiling of a trio of concept vehicles, one for each of the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands. Despite its current financial situation, Chrysler is keen to show its willingness to keep up with rivals, such as General Motors and its Chevrolet Volt plug-in, by unveiling updated designs of its electric vehicles at this month's Detroit Auto Show. While details remain sketchy, Automotive News is reporting that Chrysler will display at least three vehicles at the upcoming event. 2008 Dodge EV Lotus-based electric sports car

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Chrysler receives $4 billion in restructuring loans

Late Friday evening Chrysler received its first $4 billion in government loan money from the $17.4 billion approved as an emergency measure late in December, pushing its bottom line closer to the $2.5-3 billion minimum it needs to remain in operation. Covering debts and meeting supplier payment demands is priority one at this point, though the company hopes to return to some degree of normalcy soon. Without the loan money, Chrysler's cash hemorrhages in the second half of 2008 would have placed the company in danger of bankruptcy or liquidation.

 

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Big Three CEOs speak before U.S. Senate

The three men at the head of Chrysler, General Motors and Ford are on the spot before lawmakers in the U.S. Senate today, pleading their case for a 'bridge loan' to help the automakers span the gap to a perceived future of prosperity. Remarks released ahead of the hearing before the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committee detail the tactics that will be employed to divert the anti-industry sentiment expected from the legislators. Comparisons to the $700 billion financial industry bailout, illustrating the small size of the $25 billion requested, and the fundamental difference between the outright grants proferred to banks, and the low-interest loans requested by the auto industry.

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2008 Pontiac G6 GT Hardtop Covertible vs. 2008 Chrysler Sebring Limited Hardtop Convertible

Spring: the season of love, flowers and convertibles. As warmer weather approaches, car dealers put away the 4x4 SUV's and pull the drop-tops from the back of the lots in the hopes of snagging passersby wanting a vehicle to celebrate the (global?) warming weather. Pontiac tempts buyers with the G6 GT Hardtop Convertible while Chrysler lures in the public with the newly-introduced Sebring Limited Hardtop Convertible. As the only American-branded hardtop convertibles, which one truly deserves your hard-earned income? Or should both be tossed into the bonfire of the vanities?

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Review: 2007 Chrysler Sebring

TTAC recently placed Chrysler on suicide watch for the easily correctable fact that vast empty spaces and dealers' lots are stuffed with Chrysler/Dodge cars, trucks. minivans and SUV's that no one wants to buy. The new Sebring is a far deadlier proposition: a car headed straight for rental car Hell. For a few bills less than our semi-loaded (half cocked?) Sebring tester, you can buy a base Chrysler 300, which, according to Mr. Mehta, has "reinvigorated American car design." The new Sebring is less invigorating than Vicodin. In fact, I reckon the model only exists because car rental customers are still willin' to take what they get.

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Chrysler 300 Review

Buzzwords like "breakthrough", "paradigm" and "integration" are management Viagra. They give ignorant execs and clueless PR folk the power to appear talented. But no word sets the flack-talker's soul afire like "synergy." And no other word was deployed more often to justify the merger of Daimler-Benz with Chrysler. But what happens when you synergize top-dollar Mercedes underpinnings with Chrysler engineering and sell it for the price of a Camry? I'll give you 300 guesses.

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Chysler Aspen Limited Review

Why? Why in the world would Chrysler release another gas-guzzling SUV into the domestic market? OK, sure, they probably pulled the trigger on the Aspen before gas crested three bucks a gallon and immolated SUV sales. But why bother? The official website proclaims the Aspen offers "Decadence without shame." This from a vehicle that gets [an entirely theoretical] 14 mpg in the urban cycle? Whose shame are they referring to? Surely someone should be embarrassed.

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Chrysler Pacifica Review

The Pacifica is the original crossover, launched by Chrysler before sky high gas prices turbocharged the entire genre. The Pacifica combines the utility of a minivan (without the stigma of actually having to drive one), the raised seating position of an SUV (without getting dirty looks from drivers with "Proud To Be Vegan" bumper stickers) and the handling of a sedan (without the fuel efficiency). While it may not have everything it needs to roust suburban schleppers from their SUV's, the station wagon stilts is still the original and best shot over the SUV's bow. In keeping with its multi-tasking mission, the Pacifica doesn't look like anything else on the market. With its dramatic belt line diving from back to front, the forward-leaning Pacifica's sheet metal has all the style of a Sinatra fedora. The details are equally compelling. Unlike its minivan competitors, the crossover's 17" wheels fit the wheel wells. The door handles aren't refugees from a bottomless parts bin. The bright work is deployed sparingly and with taste. In short, the Pacifica is the first pentastar product in a long time that doesn't look like it was designed by committee.

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Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible GT Review

You can no more assess a PT Cruiser Convertible based on its acceleration, ride and handling than you can rate a Harley Davidson Softail on its ability to keep pace with a Honda Blackbird. As a "cruiser", the PT Convertible can only be judged by one metric: its feel good factor (FGF). Do owners run out of milk at odd intervals? Do they name their cars? Do they lower the lid in winter? Yes, cubed. The PT drop top has all the car-isma cruisers crave-- and then some. First and foremost, it's a four-seater. The rag-top cognoscenti know that a convertible's FGF increases arithmetically with each additional passenger. If the rear seats are spacious, the pleasure generated is almost inconceivable. Try. Imagine stashing a couple of best buds in your Chrysler top-down two-door and heading for the beach; sucking on an ice cold Coke and blissing on Ban de Soleil as your crew sing along with the latest Black Eyed Peas hookfest. If that's not a peak automotive experience (and an example of unpaid product placement), I don't know what is.

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Chrysler 300C SRT-8 Review

I love horsepower. I love the feel of it lingering underfoot, ready to explode into neck-snapping, stomach-churning, tire-shredding violence. I love the sound of it: the blend of Fortissississimo bellowing and heavy metal madness. I love the power of it, the ability to make "ordinary" machines look as if God grabbed their rear bumpers and yanked them backwards. Sure, my passion for accelerative overload is infantile, dangerous and about as politically correct as a 1920's minstrel show. But at least it isn't impractical or expensive. Well, not anymore. You can now buy a four-door 425hp Chrysler 300C SRT-8 for a nickel under $40k. That's a lot of numbers. And no matter how you look at it-- size, performance or style-- the 300C SRT-8 is a lot of car. So let's take this road test thing nice and slow... Only we here at TTAC don't do anything "nice". And "slow" is not a word in the SRT-8's vocabulary (I have a hard time understanding it myself). So what the Hell. Let's strap in, mash the go pedal and see where it takes us.

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Chrysler 300c Review

Every now and then a car comes along that turns convention on its head. Cadillac's CTS-V is a perfect example. Who would have thought that the foremost proponent of the floaty-drifty school of handling would produce a sports sedan with sharper reflexes than a BMW 5-Series? The Chrysler 300C is another case in point. The last thing you'd expect from Daimler Chrysler, a traditional Detroit automaker with German masters, is a bad-ass gangsta-mobile. The 300C was built for a drive-by shooter. Its narrow, high-set windows look more like gun slits than casements. Its gigantic "egg crate" prow projects a distinct air of physical menace. Slab sides, sharp creases and sheer bulk complete the "urban assault vehicle" design theme. Not to put too fine a point on it, what player wouldn't want to roll up in a car with such stylish malevolence?

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