Advertisement

Gas guzzler turns into hybrid V-8

Share
Times Staff Writer

Chrysler Group is taking a different approach to corralling one of its big gas hogs by combining an environmentally friendly boost from an electric motor with the power of its popular “hemi” V-8 engine.

In adding a second hybrid to its lineup, the automaker will use the hemi as the gasoline-powered portion of the hybrid’s gas-electric powertrain.

The company said last year that it would begin offering a 2008 model of its Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle as a hybrid. This week it confirmed long-standing speculation that the new Chrysler Aspen SUV, which shares a lot of its underpinnings with the Durango, would get an electric assist too.

Advertisement

Chrysler executives said that although they were starting at the top, with a hybridized V-8 instead of a less-thirsty four- or six-cylinder gasoline engine, the system co-developed with General Motors Corp. and BMW is compatible with an upcoming family of Chrysler V-6 engines as well.

Chrysler’s rationale for building its first hybrid around a large SUV instead of a small passenger car, as Japanese competitors Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. did, is that the big utes are among the worst gas hogs in the fleet. Improving their fuel economy is a far, far better thing than boosting mileage for an already economical four-banger.

For the 5.7-liter hemi-powered Aspen and Durango hybrids, Chrysler is predicting that overall mileage will jump 25% to about 22 miles per gallon, with city mileage alone soaring 40% to about 18 mpg from 13 mpg.

In addition to using an electric motor to augment the gas engine, the Chrysler hybrids will feature the company’s multi- displacement system, which at cruising speeds shuts down half the cylinders in the V-8 engine.

The Durango is scheduled to hit the market near the end of the year; no on-sale date has been announced for the Aspen.

Nor has Chrysler disclosed pricing, which undoubtedly will be higher than for conventional models by at least several thousand dollars.

Advertisement

*

BOTTOM LINE

Mass transit is way to save (and to go)

AAA has estimated that this year Americans should expect to pay 52.2 cents a mile to own and operate a new vehicle: $7,830 for 15,000 miles of driving.

But in this region -- where fuel, insurance and maintenance costs are higher than in the rest of the country -- the annual cost easily can climb to $10,000, or almost 67 cents a mile, the Automobile Club of Southern California says.

That makes the 64-mile trip from downtown Santa Ana in Orange County to City Hall in downtown Los Angeles a nearly $43 journey by car. And figure at least an hour of drive time each way.

At the risk of sounding anti-auto (we aren’t), but in pursuit of full disclosure (which we favor), we note that the trip planner on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority website, www.mta.net, shows that via various combinations of bus or bus and Metro Rail or Amtrak, the round-trip cost would range from $16 to $29 and the one-way trip time from an hour to 90 minutes.

Of course, you still would have to drive to the bus or train station and back, and you wouldn’t be able to take a side trip to the supermarket on the way home.

But that cost difference is looking awfully good.

*

THE ROAD AHEAD

Highway One

Coming Wednesday to The Times’ weekly auto section:

Rumble Seat: Dan Neil reviews the Lexus LS 600H hybrid.

Throttle Jockey: Susan Carpenter rides the Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Online: latimes.com/lawheels

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Vehicle sales

--

Thanks to soaring gas prices, small SUVs have been a rare growth area in the auto industry lately.

Advertisement

--

*--* Change Market Jan- from segment April ’07 ’06 Small SUVs 113,446 38.6% Luxury SUVs 69,279 5.7% Crossovers sport wagons 1,527,137 4.9% Small cars 742,179 0.2% Large SUVs 182,368 -3.6% Pickups 893,172 -5.0% Mid-size cars 1,141,521 -6.4% Luxury cars 455,306 -6.9% Large cars 70,388 -10.1% Mid-size SUVs 382,049 -11.1% Minivans 397,055 -12.7% All passenger vehicles 5,226,758 -2.9%

*--*

*Jan through April

Source: AutoData

Advertisement