Chrysler Kills Durango and Aspen Hybrids

Date posted: 2008-10-23 15:44:00.0

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AUBURN HILLS, Michigan — Less than a year after unveiling the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango full-size hybrid SUVs and only two months into their full-scale production, Chrysler confirmed Thursday that it will discontinue the models with the just-announced closing of the Delaware plant where they are made.

But the company said it is moving ahead with plans to introduce a hybrid version of the full-size Dodge Ram pickup in calendar-year 2010.

"The demand for our full-size SUVs has really dropped off this year," Chrysler spokesman Scott Brown told Inside Line. "Even though we got significant orders for the hybrids, it doesn't make sense to keep the plant open for just the hybrids."

The SUVs are Chrysler's first production hybrid vehicles. The Durango and Aspen models, which employ the same two-mode hybrid system found in General Motors' full-size SUVs, are sticker priced at $45,340 and $45,570, respectively.

Chrysler wouldn't say how many of the hybrid SUVs it had planned to build at the plant in Newark, which is scheduled to close at the end of December. Both models made their international debuts at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show last November.

Today's announcement coincided with a report from Daimler AG, which owns a 19.9-percent share of privately held Chrysler, that the U.S. automaker suffered a $772.5-million second-quarter loss due to slowing U.S. sales and a market shift to small cars.

Inside Line says: Look for more product kills from Chrysler in the months ahead. — John O'Dell, Editor, Edmunds Green Car Advisor