FCA to unveil fully-electric Chrysler Pacifica at CES
18 replies, posted
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[quote]Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is not very enthusiastic about electric cars. When the limited-market Fiat 500e was launched a few years ago, CEO Sergio Marchionne complained that FCA lost money on every one sold, and that the car was only built to satisfy California’s zero-emission vehicle mandate. Marchionne hasn’t changed his view since then.
Or has he? [b]FCA may unveil an all-electric version of the Chrysler Pacifica minivan at CES 2017 in January[/b], according to a Bloomberg report. That report was attributed to anonymous sources familiar with FCA’s CES plans, [highlight]who also said the company is working on an “electric Maserati sports car” that would target Tesla.[/highlight]
FCA already sells the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid plug-in hybrid model, but an all-electric version could be its first mass-market electric vehicle. The current Fiat 500e is only sold in California and Oregon, and FCA has no other electrified vehicles in its lineup at the moment. Marchionne has discussed adding hybrids to the lineup as a way to meet stricter upcoming fuel economy standards.[/quote]
[url]http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/chrysler-pacifica-electric-variant-for-ces/[/url]
More competitors is always a good thing.
More competition is definitely always good, but I don't want to see them half-ass it and be like "electric cars don't work we're not doing it again"
[QUOTE=Levelog;51524088]...I don't want to see them half-ass it and be like "electric cars don't work we're not doing it again"[/QUOTE]
This right here is the biggest problem when it comes to advancing the development of electric vehicles in this country. The big three always make a lousy attempt, not fully utilizing existing technology, and then want to blame EV's as a whole rather than their own incompetence.
[QUOTE=grr164;51524128]This right here is the biggest problem when it comes to advancing the development of electric vehicles in this country. The big three always make a lousy attempt, not fully utilizing existing technology, and then want to blame EV's as a whole rather than their own incompetence.[/QUOTE]
GM has been making strides tho, they haven't been half assing it at all in recent years unlike Ford and FCA.
Problem with the EV1 was they had executives like Bob Lutz who didn't think with hindsight about rising gas prices, the high chances of a recession, or changing technologies and the threat of climate change. They reaped what they sowed and lost billions just a few years down the line by trying to stick with gas guzzlers.
Now they have much more open minded executives who wanted to keep developing the Volt even in the face of the auto bailout and Great Recession, and at that time they had no modern electric or hybrid platform to build off of and were starting from scratch.
Just over a decade later and now we're seeing the Chevy Bolt as the first on the market affordable mid-size EV with a range that can compete with the Model 3.
[QUOTE=LtKyle2;51524286]GM has been making strides tho, they haven't been half assing it at all in recent years unlike Ford and FCA.
Problem with the EV1 was they had executives like Bob Lutz who didn't think with hindsight about rising gas prices, the high chances of a recession, or changing technologies and the threat of climate change. They reaped what they sowed and lost billions just a few years down the line by trying to stick with gas guzzlers.
Now they have much more open minded executives who wanted to keep developing the Volt even in the face of the auto bailout and Great Recession, and at that time they had no modern electric or hybrid platform to build off of and were starting from scratch.
Just over a decade later and now we're seeing the Chevy Bolt as the first on the market affordable mid-size EV with a range that can compete with the Model 3.[/QUOTE]
Even the Bolt isnt a competitive EV though. They are only rolling it out to ZEV states for now, confirmed no RHD version, and are losing $9000 per car, the only thing making it viable is the ZEV credit which allows them to sell an ICE without buying any ZEV credits from other companies like Tesla.
[QUOTE=LtKyle2;51524286]GM has been making strides tho, they haven't been half assing it at all in recent years unlike Ford and FCA.
Problem with the EV1 was they had executives like Bob Lutz who didn't think with hindsight about rising gas prices, the high chances of a recession, or changing technologies and the threat of climate change. They reaped what they sowed and lost billions just a few years down the line by trying to stick with gas guzzlers.
Now they have much more open minded executives who wanted to keep developing the Volt even in the face of the auto bailout and Great Recession, and at that time they had no modern electric or hybrid platform to build off of and were starting from scratch.
Just over a decade later and now we're seeing the Chevy Bolt as the first on the market affordable mid-size EV with a range that can compete with the Model 3.[/QUOTE]
Lutz was heavily involved with the Volt as well.
[QUOTE=OvB;51524356]Lutz was heavily involved with the Volt as well.[/QUOTE]
Didn't he only go with the Volt because Toyota unveiled the Prius and he got jealous of the positive image they were getting because of it?
Someone during his tenure had a hand in killing the EV1 and focusing on the gas guzzlers, I remember it was him or one other person.
[QUOTE=LtKyle2;51524399]Didn't he only go with the Volt because Toyota unveiled the Prius and he got jealous of the positive image they were getting because of it?
Someone during his tenure had a hand in killing the EV1 and focusing on the gas guzzlers, I remember it was him or one other person.[/QUOTE]
Lutz wanted to build a full EV to complete with the Tesla Roadster.
[QUOTE=OvB;51524609]Lutz wanted to build a full EV to complete with the Tesla Roadster.[/QUOTE]
I stand corrected then.
I still hate them for what they did to Pacifica. It was a perfectly fine looking crossover, they turned it into a damn van.
#snuggles into his 2005 Pacifica#
[QUOTE=LtKyle2;51524638]I stand corrected then.[/QUOTE]
He wanted to compete with Tesla with a full EV but was convinced that a plug in hybrid would be better, which became the Volt. Lutz makes hybrid trucks these days under VIA Motors. He's got a strange history with Tesla.
[QUOTE=B E A R;51524699]I still hate them for what they did to Pacifica. It was a perfectly fine looking crossover, they turned it into a damn van.
#snuggles into his 2005 Pacifica#[/QUOTE]
Should have been called Town & Country or Voyager IMO.
Now what will the Dodge division come up with as a replacement for the Caravan which ends production soon?
[QUOTE=B E A R;51524699]I still hate them for what they did to Pacifica. It was a perfectly fine looking crossover, they turned it into a damn van.
#snuggles into his 2005 Pacifica#[/QUOTE]
I honestly thought the same thing. I didn't realize the Pacifica was still being made and I'm like "that's not a Pacifica, that's a Town & Country!"
Here's hoping we start rapidly adopting more nuclear investment so that we can actually cope with the increase in electrical draw when EVs really take off.
edit: Imagine not being able drive out to go anywhere or pick up anything because of a blackout in an emergency.
[QUOTE=soulharvester;51526826]Here's hoping we start rapidly adopting more nuclear investment so that we can actually cope with the increase in electrical draw when EVs really take off.
edit: Imagine not being able drive out to go anywhere or pick up anything because of a blackout in an emergency.[/QUOTE]
Fuel pumps don't work without power either. You probably already have your car charged up anyway.
[QUOTE=soulharvester;51526826]Here's hoping we start rapidly adopting more nuclear investment so that we can actually cope with the increase in electrical draw when EVs really take off.
edit: Imagine not being able drive out to go anywhere or pick up anything because of a blackout in an emergency.[/QUOTE]
Hopefully home solar will get a bit of a boost around the time EVs really take off, should be able to take a lot of strain off the grid.
[QUOTE=Morgen;51524338]Even the Bolt isnt a competitive EV though. They are only rolling it out to ZEV states for now, confirmed no RHD version, and are losing $9000 per car, the only thing making it viable is the ZEV credit which allows them to sell an ICE without buying any ZEV credits from other companies like Tesla.[/QUOTE]
1) theyre selling them in europe.
2) only limited in 2017 while production is 1 bolt for every 2 sonics
i dont know how the bolt will take off, GM's rather last minute decision seems more like they dont have the production yet instead of half-assing it to meet state laws because car companies just dont invest billions into a new world leading testing facility and R&D for years to just quietly dump it
[QUOTE=Sableye;51530865]1) theyre selling them in europe.
2) only limited in 2017 while production is 1 bolt for every 2 sonics
i dont know how the bolt will take off, GM's rather last minute decision seems more like they dont have the production yet instead of half-assing it to meet state laws because car companies just dont invest billions into a new world leading testing facility and R&D for years to just quietly dump it[/QUOTE]
They just don't have the production yet I think.
Keep in mind it took Tesla a long time to start churning out the Model S and getting it off the ground since 2010-2011ish, they just recently brought out the Model X and next year will begin producing Model 3's. This is before the gigafactory is even finished afaik. The Roadster was a disaster, admitted by Musk himself.
GM has just recently gotten into the EV field, the Bolt is relatively new and it takes a long time to tool factories for certain models. Ford is switching one of their detroit factories from the Focus and CMax to the Ranger and Bronco as of this year, but they won't be producing anything until late 2018/early 2019.
I'm surprised they've decided to start releasing them now in certain areas instead of waiting for production to be ready for nation wide delivery.
[QUOTE=Sableye;51530865]1) theyre selling them in europe.
2) only limited in 2017 while production is 1 bolt for every 2 sonics
i dont know how the bolt will take off, GM's rather last minute decision seems more like they dont have the production yet instead of half-assing it to meet state laws because car companies just dont invest billions into a new world leading testing facility and R&D for years to just quietly dump it[/QUOTE]
The Ampera-e (Chevy Bolt's Europe branded name) won't be sold in the UK though since there's no right hand version of it planned, ever apparently. If they was serious about it then they would create a RHD version. GM even discontinued the Ampera (volt) over here.
I think the Volt is one of the best hybrids on the market and the Bolt is a decent EV (though they really should make DC charging baseline). It's hard to say GM are taking EVs seriously though when they only launch EVs in ZEV states (for now at least), kill the European versions, and never bother making a RHD version of the vehicles.
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