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Chrysler Tests Fleet of Plug-In Hybrid Pickup Trucks

Chrysler Group LLC said it will deliver five Ram 1500 plug-in hybrid pickup trucks, called PHEVs, to NV Energy, a Nevada utility. The car maker is working with the U.S. Department of Energy to test the vehicles' fuel economy, emissions, impact on the region's electric grid and other factors.

The plug-in hybrid pickups are part of a national demonstration fleet of 140 vehicles that will be used during the next three years to evaluate the potential of plug-in vehicles. Chrysler has also sent Ram plug-in hybrids to the city of Yuma, Ariz., for hot-weather testing. Other cities that have received the demonstration trucks include Boston, Houston, San Francisco and Sacramento, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., Albany, N.Y., and Auburn Hills, Mich.

"Cities and states have been carefully selected to help the Chrysler Group LLC collect a wide range of data," said Abdullah Bazzi, senior manager of Chrysler's advanced hybrid vehicle project. "Cities like Las Vegas and areas throughout Nevada offer a combination of suburban and rural driving, elevation changes and a wide range of temperatures that are ideal as test cycles for these vehicles. The constant charging will allow us to measure the impact on battery life and charging efficiency."

The Ram 1500 PHEV is powered by a 5.7-liter V-8 engine and a liquid-cooled 12.9kWhr lithium ion battery pack with and a 6.6 kilowatt on-board charger. Additional features include AC power generation of up to 6.6 kilowatts and regenerative braking to capture more energy. The trucks have four-wheel drive, but the mechanism driving the front wheels can be disconnected to improve fuel economy.

For people who have followed hybrid-vehicle development for a long time, the Chrysler announcement may sound familiar. Several years ago when hybrid technology was beginning to take off with consumers, Chrysler talked about possibly marketing Ram trucks with hybrid powertrains. But the plan didn't get far.

The current program gets some of its funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the Transportation Electrification Initiative sponsored by the Department of Energy. The grant includes $48 million from the DOE and $49.4 million from Chrysler, and was designed to develop vehicles that will be cost efficient for consumers.

Chrysler said it is also developing a fleet of 25 Town & Country minivans with plug-in hybrid power that it will test later this year.

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Ram Adds Tradesman 1500 Heavy Duty Model in Addition to Crew and Quad Cab Express Models for 2012

Earlier this year, Ram revealed a pair of new 1500 models: the stripped-out Tradesman work truck and the slightly more expensive, marginally better equipped, and flashier Express model. The two trucks have low base prices, standard Hemi V-8 power, and extensive option sheets?but they lacked any body choices. Today, Ram announced that for 2012 the 1500 Tradesman can now be had in Heavy Duty (HD) guise and the Express can be had in Crew and Quad cab form (last year the model was regular cab-only).

1500 Tradesman HD

The 2012 Ram 1500 Tradesman HD is regular cab-only and can only be had with two-wheel-drive and an 8-foot bed, but has higher maximum payload and towing ratings than the non-HD Tradesman. The HD is still a half-ton truck, but its 3100-pound payload and 11,500-pound towing capability put it closer to three-quarter-ton territory; those capacities represent increases of 1440 and 1100 pounds, respectively, over a standard Tradesman with an 8-foot box. The Tradesman HD's increased brawniness comes courtesy of a Ram 2500 HD frame, heavy duty axles with eight-lug hubs, and the company's HD-spec 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 engine, producing 383 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque here. The Tradesman HD also features a beefed-up cooling system, larger brakes, and a heavier-duty six-speed automatic transmission.

1500 Express

To expand the appeal of the 1500 Express?which is basically a dressed-up Tradesman wearing 20-inch aluminum wheels, body-color bumpers and front grille, and fog lights?Ram has added the option of a four-door Crew or Quad cab (the difference between the two is rear door length?the Crew's rear apertures are full-size while the Quad's openings are half-size). Whereas the regular-cab Express's interior is sparse, the Crew and Quad cab models boast standard power windows and door locks, automatic headlights, six-speaker audio system with an auxiliary input, and front and rear floormats. Buyers can even choose between vinyl or cloth for the seat covers and either vinyl or carpeting for the floor (cloth seats and carpeted flooring is optional on the regular cab Express).

Of course, a bevy of Mopar parts are available to buyers looking to customize their Express trucks no matter the cab configuration, and the four-door Expresses are powered by the same 390-hp, 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 as the regular cab Express and standard Tradesman. The higher creature feature content baked into the Quad and Crew cab Express trucks do translate to higher base prices?$28,050 is required for the Quad cab, and a more-spacious Crew cab model will set you back $30,210. That is quite a jump over the $23,080 2012 Express regular cab, but only slightly more expensive than Quad and Crew cab SLT models powered by a smaller, 310-hp 4.7-liter V-8. Chrysler hasn't released pricing on the 1500 Tradesman HD, which is due to go on sale in early next year. The 2012 1500 Express trucks be available in dealerships soon.

More RamBox

In addition to the three new 1500 variants, Ram also announced that its innovative RamBox bed storage compartments are now available on 6 foot, four-inch beds?previously it could only be paired with five foot, seven-inch units. Regardless of bed size, RamBox is a $1295 option on all trim levels, but still cannot be had on longer 8-foot beds.

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Comparison: 2011 Chrysler 300C vs 2011 Hyundai Genesis

Fraternal Twins: Dichotomy is the Name of the Game

From the April, 2011 issue of Motor Trend / By Scott Evans / Photography by Evan Klein

There's an unwritten rule in the exclusive world of luxury sedans, or at least an expectation, that a contender must offer a V-8 engine to be taken seriously. Just ask the Acura RL. It doesn't matter if V-6 models sell better or claim better fuel economy - the V-8 engine carries its own prestige, and its presence beneath the hood is nearly as important as the badge on top of it.

There's no greater testament to this phenomenon than the 4.6-liter Tau V-8 powering the Hyundai Genesis. Unlike its luxury competition, Hyundai hasn't been building V-8s for years; it's been building small cars. There was no other vehicle -- car or truck -- to pull an engine from. That Hyundai spent millions developing a V-8 just to play in the luxury-sedan segment tells you all you need to know.

Chrysler, of course, had no such obstacle in the development of the 300C. The company has been building big V-8s and bigger cars for decades. But while Hyundai has been on a tear recently with a string of hits, Chrysler has stumbled in the wake of multiple ownership changes and bankruptcy. In the public eye, neither carries the cachet of a Mercedes or a Lexus brand, but both would like to.

Aspirations to grandeur aren't the only trait these vehicles share. As different as they may appear, the specifications reveal two very similar cars. They're both five-passenger, rear-drive sedans with similarly capable V-8 engines and automatic transmissions only. Both carry long lists of features and prices that handily undercut the competition. And though the 300C appears to dwarf the Genesis, it's only 2.7 inches longer and within an inch in height and width. Likewise, the differences in interior and trunk space can be measured in cubic inches, not feet. The overriding difference, then, is how these vehicles go about delivering on their promises and the results they hope to achieve.

The 300C is not a subtle car. If its sheer size doesn't get your attention, the bold, shameless styling and rumbling V-8 will demand it. Though the shape is instantly recognizable, Chrysler has reworked the sheetmetal for 2011 with modern and retro cues. The same car that wears Audi-like chains of LEDs in its lamps also has mini fins pulled out of the tops of its fenders and enough chrome jewelry to make Mariah Carey blink. While the Genesis may look conservative on its own, next to the 300C it may as well be invisible. Though some appreciated the Genesis' reserved elegance, most referred to it as something along the lines of "that Mercedes-looking thing."

Their interiors tell a similar tale. Where the Hyundai was clearly modeled after the clean, simple designs of its German and Japanese competition, the 300C is unapologetically American. The Genesis' interior flows around you with graceful lines and unobtrusive styling that's highly functional, if not especially memorable. The 300C, again, refuses to be ignored with its overstyled, clocklike gauges, massive touchscreen entertainment center, and wood trim that looks as though it was hand-carved from an ancient tree. Differences in interior noise levels were indiscernible between the two, and materials quality was nearly equal, with Hyundai holding a slight edge. While we may have found the 300C's interior more interesting to look at and more feature-laden, the Genesis must be given due credit for offering a more open and spacious interior front and rear, despite having to work around a 4.6-inch-shorter wheelbase.

The deeper we look into these cars, the more apparent their divergent personalities become. Where the Genesis is quietly confident and demands little from the driver, the 300C is supremely self-confident and boisterous nearly to a fault. This dichotomy made itself well known on the road, where the 300C easily won our hearts. Just looking at the car, you'd expect it to drive like a prince's yacht, but while the 300C absolutely feels like a big, heavy car, it also feels very solid and confident. Off the line, the 300C moves forward like a force of nature -- quickly, but always smooth and never hurried. There's an almost Rolls-Royce-like surge of power that masks how fast you're actually going. Cane it a bit, and you'll find the 300C will top 60 mph in just 5.5 seconds and dash past the quarter mile in 14.0 seconds at 101.4 mph, its 363-horsepower, 5.7-liter V-8 emitting just enough of a growl to let you know it means business.

The Genesis is a completely different experience. The 385-horse V-8 is eager to rev and pulls harder than the 300C, so much so that from behind the wheel you'd be certain you're winning the drag race. And while logic suggests you should -- considering that the Genesis weighs 261 pounds less than the 300C, has a newer six-speed gearbox to the 300C's old five-speed, and packs an extra 22 horses -- you'd be wrong. A 61-pound-foot deficit in torque and a slow-shifting transmission hold the Genesis to a 5.8-second 0-to-60 sprint and a 14.2-second quarter mile at 103.0 mph.

It's not just a difference of straight-line speed, either. How fast you can hustle a 300C around a corner is limited only by your preconceptions of the car's size. Though not particularly communicative and a bit light, the steering is quick and precise, and once the car leans into the outside front tire, it tracks through the corner like driving a cruise ship on rails. Goose the throttle a little, and you can even hang the tail out a bit if you so desire. The Genesis, by comparison, is downright boring, owing to its draconian electronic nannies and heavy, artificial steering. In normal driving, the Genesis actually moves through the corners nicely, but even the slightest push will invoke the wrath of stability and traction control systems, which can't fully be defeated. Neither can the 300C's, but they're far more tolerant of exuberant driving and allowed the 300C to best the Genesis on both the skidpad and our figure-eight course.

The real test of these cars, though, is in ride quality, and again the 300C shines. While the 300C knows an SRT8 performance model is likely on the way and can relax a bit, the Genesis tries to be everything at once. The result is a Chrysler that floats down the road on a cloud and a Hyundai that rides like a sports sedan without the credentials to back it up. Worse, the front and rear suspension feel as though they're tuned for different cars, making the rear end nervous on patchy pavement. The Genesis may give its passengers more room, but the 300C gives them a better ride.

Though a formidable competitor, the Hyundai strikes us as a transitional car, for the company and the buyer. It was a solid first effort on Hyundai's part, but now that it's been followed up by the Equus, the Genesis comes off as a corporate stepping-stone to bigger and better things. So, too, is its place in the market, where the Genesis feels like a launching pad toward established luxury brands, not an aspirational car itself.

The 300C has the opposite problem, if you care to call it that. The 300C is the flagship of both the Chrysler brand and the company as a whole. It's the largest, most luxurious car the company builds, and will likely remain so as Chrysler scrambles to fill the void below it. Free of demands to outdo themselves, Chrysler's engineers could leave everything on the 300's sizable table. The result is a car confident of its place in the market and sold for what it is, not what it could be.

The End? Hardly. Not long after you read this, Hyundai will introduce an updated Genesis for 2012 with a new direct-injected V-6, a more-powerful 5.0-liter V-8, and a new eight-speed automatic transmission for both. Shortly thereafter, Chrysler will update the just-released 300 with a new eight-speed automatic transmission. The rematch is already scheduled.

1ST PLACE: CHRYSLER 300C
Better looks, better ride, more gadgets, and a lower starting price. This was the Chrysler's test to lose, and it delivered a star performance.

2ND PLACE: HYUNDAI GENESIS
Still a solid luxury offering from a company not known for such things, but Chrysler beat them at their own value-based game this time.

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Dodge Grand Caravan rises to the top of the class

Test Drive Column

By James Healey

USA Today, March 4, 2011

It's remarkable how much investment automakers are pouring into the family van (aka "minivan") segment, even though sales are far below what they were in happier times.

Nissan's remade Quest was featured here two weeks ago. Honda's redesigned Odyssey and Toyota Sienna likewise got a full and frank discussion.

Now it's van pioneer Chrysler's turn. The 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country have new drivetrains, suspension details and interiors, and arrived in December.

....if you use a van the way most people do - hauling people and cargo and requiring the most flexibility to do so - it's hard to see how the Chrysler/Dodge near-clones can be beat.

Test Drive's main vehicle was a Dodge Grand Caravan Crew, priced $34,150 and equipped with enough deluxe features to satisfy most users: navigation, rear video entertainment system, heated steering wheel and first- and second-row seats, backup camera, power tailgate, upgraded stereo.

But if you want leather, you have to move up to a T&C, or wait for the Grand Caravan R/T, the so-called man van, starting production next month.

The test van was easy and pleasant to drive and benefited greatly from the new powertrain, suspension and interior.

But legroom and knee room in second-row seats were just OK for adults when the front seats were back to fit taller front-row occupants. And the slant and padding of the second-row seats made them uncomfortable. Kids didn't seem to mind, though.

Third-row seats, usually steerage class, were more comfy than the second row.

Chrysler's Stow 'n Go system is standard: The two second-row bucket seats can be folded into big underfloor bins for wide-open floor space. The bins can be used for storage when the seats are up.

Stowing is simpler than before, and much easier than removing the seats, but still hardly handy: Move the front seat forward, set aside the second-row floor mat, lift the hinged bin cover ? then use the simple latch to release the second-row seat and fold it forward into the bin.

Here's what stood out in the drives:

Go-power. The 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 that eventually will replace seven Chrysler engines makes Dodge/Chrysler vans the most powerful of any. That's a blessing when toting a load, or trying to merge smoothly at the end of the acceleration ramp.

The six-speed automatic transmission shifted with little delay or stumble in most cases. But when you accelerated hard, then let off suddenly, the engine continued to rev for a second or two, as if something were amiss.

Chrysler senior manager Ben Winter says it does that on purpose whenever the gearbox downshifts two gears, as from sixth to fourth or fourth to second. The sustained high revs help smooth the transmission's next shift, especially if you change your mind and jump back on the gas.

Chrysler engineers, bless 'em, left the convenient manual mode as part of the shift mechanism.

An "econ" button on the instrument panel made the engine slower to accelerate and the transmission quicker to upshift. Chrysler used that mode for government fuel-economy tests and says it's worth an extra 1.5 miles per gallon. Maybe for you; not for us.

Interior. Far better: soft-touch surfaces, handsome cloth, classy trim, quiet. Why'd it take so long?

Handling. Stiffer suspension parts and upgraded tires (Michelins now) are meant to remove squish from cornering. Some folks also will like the added stability in crosswinds. In addition, steering and brakes felt suitably direct, responsive.

Ceiling lights. Marvelous LEDs tightly focus the light. Junior could read in the back without spilling distracting lumens into the driver's periphery.

Styling. Too blocky. At least the designers continue to hide the sliding side-door track along the windowsill. That's a huge plus, elevating the appearance well above the dorky look when the sliding-door gash is visible. Only others to hide the track are Toyota Sienna and Volkswagen's version of the Chrysler vans, called Routan.

For mainstream family van use and generally pleasant driving, the freshened, 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan (and near-clone Chrysler Town & Country) strike us as the best on the market.

ABOUT THE DODGE GRAND CARAVAN

What? Major upgrade of the country's best-selling family van (aka "minivan," though nothing's "mini" about such vehicles); seven-passenger, front-drive van. New powertrain, interior, suspension. Same styling.

When? On sale since December.

Where? Made at Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Why? Clunky drivetrains, cheap interiors, sloppy handling of predecessor needed fixing.

How much? Express starts at $24,830 including $835 shipping; Mainstreet at $26,580, Crew at $29,530 and R/T at $31,430 when it goes on sale in the spring. Loaded Crew is about $35,000. (Mechanically similar Chrysler Town & Country comes with more standard features and runs about $31,000 to $42,000.)

How powerful? Only one engine/transmission now: 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 rated 283 horsepower at 6,400 rpm, 260 pounds-feet of torque at 4,400 rpm; six-speed automatic transmission with manual-shift mode.

How big? A hulking brute, just like all other so-called minivans; same footprint as a Chevrolet Tahoe full-size SUV. Dodge Grand Caravan is 202.8 inches long, 78.7 in. wide (88.5 in. including mirrors), 67.9 in. tall on a 121.2-in. wheelbase.

Weighs 4,510 lbs., tows up to 3,600 lbs., carries up to 1,540 lbs. of people, cargo, accessories.

Cargo space in cubic feet: Behind third row, 33; with third row folded, 83.3; with second row stowed under floor and third row folded, 143.8.

How thirsty: Rated 17 miles per gallon in town, 25 on the highway, 20 in combined driving. Trip computer in test vehicle registered 13.5 miles per gallon (7.41 gallons per 100 miles) in suburban use with "econ" mode engaged, 13.4 mpg (7.46 gallons per 100 miles) with "econ" shut off.

Burns regular, holds 20 gallons.

Overall: Big upgrades; put it back on your list.

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We are proud to be Philadelphia's only 5 Star dealer and operate on a high integrity no pressure approach. Located in Philadelphia Airport Automall, the staff at Family Chrysler Jeep Dodge will help you find the vehicle you want. At Family Chrysler Jeep Dodge we offer a searchable online inventory of new 2010 - 2011 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and RAM cars in Philadelphia, along with well-maintained used cars by today's top manufacturers. Come on in and take a test drive! Our sales staff will help you find that new or quality used car that you have been searching for.

Whether you are looking for a new Grand Caravan, Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, RAM 1500, Town & Country or a pre-owned car or truck, Family Chrysler Jeep Dodge is here to help. If you don't see what you are looking for, click on CarFinder and simply fill out the form. We will let you know when vehicles arrive that match your search! If you would rather discuss your options with our friendly sales staff, click on Directions for interactive driving directions. We are convenient to Lansdale, Cherry Hill, and Newtown Square and located at 6735-39 Essington Avenue. You can also reach Family Chrysler Jeep Dodge any time by filling out our contact form or calling us. The entire staff at Family Chrysler Jeep Dodge looks forward to serving you!

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Dinner with ESPN's Tony Bruno

Dealership Owners Mr. Paul Sottile (left) and Mr. Greg Gentile (right) out to dinner with Family Chrysler Jeep Dodge's spokesman ESPN personality Tony Bruno. Tony is a Philadelphia native and host of the popular "Into the Night with Tony Bruno". Tony is heard locally on 97.5fm and 950am from noon to 2 pm and also nationally on "Into the Night" on the same stations.

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