Fiat 500 EV on Sale Next Year as Chrysler Slowly Adopts Electric Cars
The Fiat 500 EV will begin production later this year and go on sale in 2013 as Chrysler relaxes its opposition to electric vehicles.
Company CEO Sergio Marchionne has been forthcoming on his hesitation towards electrification, instead opting to pour resources into improving the efficiency of mainstream internal combustion engines.
With the Fiat 500 EV on the horizon, Chrysler is slowly looking at expanding its acceptance of electric cars says Bob Lee, the company’s head of engine and electrified propulsion engineering.
“We do believe in electrification, sparingly and for the right kinds of targeted applications,” he said, speaking at the Center for Automotive Research’s 2012 Management Briefing Seminars. “We’re developing technology for commercialization, preparing for the shift when consumers start pulling them into the marketplace.”
Included the brand’s commercialization testing is a plug-in hybrid Chrysler Town & Country minivan as well as a fleet of plug-in hybrid RAM pickup trucks. Chrysler has yet to commit to any new EVs for consumers and has not made it clear if the Fit EV will be sold at retail to just to fleets – much as Scion is planning with its upcoming iQ EV.
[Source: Automotive News]
With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
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