Chrysler embraces the future
Chris Vander Doelen, The Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, September 10, 2008

DETROIT

Consumers would be able to buy plug-in electric cars "years" earlier if the U.S. government provides $25 billion or more worth of loan guarantees for the industry, says the co-president of Chrysler LLC.

Jim Press said Wednesday that Chrysler and its competition in Detroit could use government guarantees to speed new battery technologies, hybrids and electric cars to market.
Jim Press, vice chairman and president of Chrysler, unveils the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT at the Chicago Auto Show February 6, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois.View Larger Image View Larger Image
Jim Press, vice chairman and president of Chrysler, unveils the 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT at the Chicago Auto Show February 6, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois.

The money "is not a bailout" because Chrysler and the other two Detroit automakers have stabilized their business models and are not losing money at their previous rates, before they obtained more favourable contracts with the UAW, Press said.

"What we want to do is just use it to get technology in customers' hands quickly," Press said when questioned on the industry's plans for the loan guarantees. "This brings it forward by years, not months."

The U.S. Congress approved $25 billion in loan guarantees for the auto industry under an energy independence bill passed last year. With the U.S. industry reeling from the credit crisis and plunging sales, Congress has since been asked to raise that level of aid to as much as $50 billion, although some legislators are balking at that level of support.

Under preliminary plans for the money, any automaker or supplier who invests in new fuel-efficient tecnologies would be eligible to apply for some of the funds. Press said Chrysler would use such money to develop new advanced powertrain technologies and retool plants to build "electrified" vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

Battery technologies would be an important area in which government loan guarantees could help the U.S. achieve energy independence from foreign powers which are currently holding Americans for ransom for oil, Press said.

Unless the U.S. enables industry to develop advanced battery technology the way Korea currently is, the electrification of cars and trucks will simply mean giving up an oil dependency for one on batteries made overseas.

"Are we going to trade our dependence on foreign oil for a dependence on a product that is manufactured elsewhere?" Korea is helping its automotive industry develop battery technology, Press said. "What's wrong with doing that in the United States?"

Detroit, said Press, a former president of Toyota in the U.S., is on the cusp of reinventing itself as the era of gasoline-powered cars comes to an end and other fuels become possible.

"I think you're sitting on a real gold mine of opportunity here. You just have to let go of the past and enbrace the future," Press said.

Press said Chrysler has redirected the engineering talent and energy it used to devote to high performance cars and focussed it on alternative fuels. "Our advanced electrification work is all being done in-house."

Chrysler will debut new alternative-fuel vehicles at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, Press said.