We can’t help but think what could have been with the Dodge Challenger. Had Chrysler developed the car before rising gas prices and the economic downturn, we might have seen all sorts of variants. Perhaps a top-of-the-line model with a 426ci Hemi V8 could have challenged the Shelby GT500 as the king of the road. Those in warmer climates surely would have loved a droptop version, and since we’re day dreaming, we could even imagine a Hemi Cuda version if Plymouth was still around. (more…)

In order to fit in with the cool kids, Chrysler decided to unveil three electric drive technology prototypes and they aren’t only for car shows. Chrysler intends to produce at least one of them in late 2010 with a small number of EVs going out to testing fleets in 2009.

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The smallest Detroit automaker, Chrysler is working hard to change its green lineup. The Dodge Caliber, its most fuel-efficient vehicle, only gets 26 mpg combined city/highway. According to Jim Press, Chrysler’s vice chairman and president, that will change.

The company is spending $3 billion developing a new 6-cylinder motor, called the Phoenix, that will feature cylinder deactivation, a process in which fuel injection to some of the cylinders is shut off at appropriate times to save fuel. That’s due out in 2010. It’s also working on a hybrid version of its Ram pickup, the company’s top-selling vehicle, which also is due out in 2010. (more…)

New management at Chrysler has found many models that have overlapped. Over the next few years, the automaker will be discontinuing SUVs to compensate.

It’s no secret that Chrysler has some overlapping models in its lineup. Case(s)-in-point: it’s hard to make a rational argument that Jeep should be offering both the Compass and Patriot (not to mention Dodge selling the Patriot’s platform sibling, the Caliber) or the Grand Cherokee and the Commander. The Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango barely pretend to be different vehicles and there’s no reason to sell both the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro when they’re basically the same machine. This revelation is as obvious to Chrysler’s new management as it is to us, and Chrysler President Jim Press, says as much. “We’re going to stop overlapping, we’re going to bring everything under one roof. By doing that we will have more products in the markets we are not covering.”

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