Will Chrysler be first in the electric car race?

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Of the world’s six largest automakers, one stands out as being far behind the curve when it comes to alternative vehicles. Guess which?

Chrysler is the last of the big boys to get a hybrid vehicle to market — its Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen hybrids still haven’t made it to dealerships — and it has made very little noise about developing new technology even as GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda and Nissan have competed to grab ever more headlines with batteries, fuel cells and plug-ins. Chrysler’s biggest innovation in years has been to put wireless Internet in its cars.

But suddenly, and seemingly out of nowhere, the smallest of the Big Three may be changing the equation.

Beleaguered Chrysler, which has seen its U.S. sales drop 24% so far this year and given up on leasing in the process, is planning a special, rather mysterious event Tuesday at its headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.

Rumor has it that the company will show off either an electric car, a plug-in hybrid electric car or an extended-range electric car (like the Chevy Volt), or some combination thereof. Chrysler says officially only that it will introduce a new vehicle and let a select group of journalists drive it. Although it isn’t confirming the speculation, it’s not exactly denying it either. ‘These are future vehicles,’ a spokesman told The Times. ‘You can put two and two together on this one.’

If, indeed, it is a functioning electric, plug-in or variant thereof, it would be a fairly astonishing development in the race to get off gasoline. Although most companies are working on these technologies, and some have shown production prototypes, no large automaker has come near to having a drivable production model and nothing is expected on the market until late 2010.

For Chrysler to beat rivals to market would be impressive. After all, Chrysler hasn’t marketed an electric vehicle since the Chrysler EPIC EV minivan nearly a decade ago, and that was in small numbers to comply with a California regulation. (EPIC stood for Electric Powered Interurban Commuter.) With the worst average fuel economy of any of the top six carmakers, Chrysler could certainly use an electric car to help it meet increasingly strict federal fuel consumption standards.

Chrysler introduced three concept electric and plug-in electric cars at the Detroit auto show in January. But expectation for the prototypes, as with so many of the fiberglass and duct-tape dream machines seen at car shows, was minimal. Almost immediately, the automotive world forgot about the cars — the Dodge Zeo, Jeep Renegade and Chrysler ecoVoyager — and got back to buying lottery tickets in hopes of affording a $109,000 Tesla Roadster.

A few weeks ago, Jim Press, Chrysler’s vice chairman and president, made a trip to Los Angeles and while he was here he said that the company had shown select dealers working plug-in vehicles and that it would show them to more dealers soon. Sitting down with the Up to Speed staff, he suggested that the vehicles would be ready for sale soon, and took a dig at the competition. ‘We’re not advertising a car we don’t intend to sell for five years today,’ Press said. ‘What we’re doing is investing the money to build that car now.’

Whatever is happening Tuesday, Chrysler is taking it fairly seriously. Chief executive Bob Nardelli will be at the event, along with Press and vice chairman Tom LaSorda. In addition, Frank Klegon, the company’s head of product development, and the man who introduced the electric concept cars in January, will attend. According to the company, it will hold a special video conference (in HD, no less) for dealers around the country later in the day to discuss the business and the state of the industry, among other topics.

‘We’re unveiling at least one car,’ a spokesman said. ‘This is the first time anybody has seen it.’

UPDATE: the Tesla Roadster will not be appearing at AltCar after all. But green car fans can see a Tesla anytime at the company’s showroom on Santa Monica Blvd.

—Ken Bensinger