Chrysler

It’s tough to make sense of Chrysler’s forays into hybrids and other advanced fuel-saving vehicles. You could imagine the company playing to the strengths of its heritage with pickup trucks and minivans come to mind—by offering high-mpg hybrid versions. After all, there’s pent-up demand for a hybrid minivan or pickup truck—segments that don’t yet have gas-electric options. But those hybrids remain an idea at this stage. The company dipped its toes into hybrid waters with the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen Hybrids and has dangled notions of electric vehicles. The Chrysler Aspen—a 19 mpg 5.7-Liter V8 hemi hybrid—is perhaps the best example of the company’s hybrid antics. In a case of “Dead Hybrid Walking,” Chrysler closed the Newark, Del., assembly plant that produced the Chrysler Aspen a few weeks before the first models arrived in showrooms.