Chrysler surprises rivals with electric car prototypes

Auburn Hills Firing a surprise shot across the bows of industry rivals, Chrysler presented three functioning battery-powered vehicles on Tuesday and thrust itself to the forefront of the race to build mass-market electric cars.

In unveiling a minivan, a Jeep Wrangler and a sports car, Chrysler's executives spelled out plans for a future where most, if not all, automobiles use electric motors for propulsion - essentially sounding the death knell for the internal combustion engine.

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Chrysler officials declined to say how much the vehicles would cost, nor would they discuss which would be released first. But the third-largest US automaker said it would put hundreds of electric cars in test fleets next year and would bring one of the models to market by late 2010, with more electric cars to follow soon thereafter.

"We're not talking about a single electric car," said Robert Nardelli, chairman and chief executive of Chrysler.

"We're talking about a full line of cars that ... allows us to be energy independent going forward."

That such news came from Chrysler, the industry's downtrodden underdog - and the carmaker with the heaviest reliance on large pick-up trucks and SUVs - was almost astonishing.

The smallest of the Big Three has seen its sales slip 24 per cent so far this year, has been forced to end its once-lucrative leasing programme, and has all but ceded production of small cars to other automakers.

"I didn't think they were a player," said Jim Hossack, vice-president at industry consultancy AutoPacific. "I'm impressed. This suggests a lot of bravado."

While other automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Renault, have made increasingly loud noises in the recent months about producing electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, Chrysler has been almost invisible, doing little more than presenting a trio of electric concept cars in January.

As a result, Tuesday's unveiling blindsided much of the industry.

- Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service