Fizzboy7

Whether it's profitable or not, F-C needs to do exactly what their competitors do. Hybrids and electrics are a must. You have to match or beat the guy next door if you want to get noticed. This is yet another poor decision being made by out-of-touch executives.

mmarshall

Not sure I agree with that point of view. Not everyone is going to want an EV....or jump on the EV band-wagon. There has to be come companies out there that will still be making making alternatives.

Toys4RJill

So what happen if I am wrong and EV's take off like crazy? What does Chrysler do?

mmarshall

Just because EVs take off like crazy doesn't mean that conventional piston engines will suddenly be extinct. For one thing, outside of California, the infrastructure for alternate-fuel (and EV) recharging and refueling is just not very well-developed.

What does Chrysler do? I'm not saying that these should be the only things that they produce, but, look at the way Chargers and Challengers continue to sell, even with big gas-guzzling Hemis. And the owner-satisfaction ratings for those two vehicles are sky-high, despite their less-than-stellar reliability.

Toys4RJill

You would need to be in the game if you are Chrysler. Remember, the auto industry is highly competitive and is shrinking ever so slightly in unit sales. So not having any EV's puts them at a significant disadvantage.

Fizzboy7

Not everyone needs to be jumping on the EV bandwagon in order for FC to have some success with it. That's like saying a supermarket should never sell plums, because they only sell in limited numbers. Yet all supermarkets sell plums because they are expected by a group of people. The point I made was, they need to offer BOTH, just like all their competitors have been doing. This broadens their market and serves both sides, while making alternatives available as demand goes up and down. Again, this is nothing new. All their competitors already offer both products (gas and electric) at the same time to cover all sides of the market. Not doing so is flat out foolish.

Big Andy

There's a lot to be said for letting all your competitors spend all that R&D money developing competing technologies and just wait until one emerges victorious and then copying the hell out of it. Winning the race to be second is often the way to go.

mmarshall

Agreed....basically that's what Ford did when Toyota first started bringing out hybrids. The 1Gen Ford Escape Hybrid used Toyota hybrid parts under license. But it's still not a free ride when you do that....you either have to wait a certain amount of time before using that technology because of copyright laws, or pay the company royalties/license to use it.

highrev6

Sulu

Correction... Ford did not use Toyota hybrid parts. Ford did seek a license from Toyota to avoid having Toyota sue them for similar technology.

Sulu

Agreed. Just like abandoning cars (sedans) altogether in the current fashion trend to crossovers and SUVs, no automaker should completely ignore some potentially important segment of the market, which electrification of automotive drivetrains certainly is. Not nice to be caught with pants down should the market quickly change direction and an automaker has no entry in the suddenly hot segment.

But I do not believe that FCA is completely ignoring electrification. They have the EV Fiat 500e; they have the PHEV Chrysler Pacifica; and they have a 48V mild hybrid coming on the 2019 Ram pickup truck.

mmarshall

Isn't that (essentially) the same thing? They needed a license to use what Toyota had first come up with. In fact, at the time, I remember Ford reps at the D.C. show verifying that.

Sulu

No, not the same. Ford did not use Toyota parts nor use a Toyota design. Ford and Toyota separately and independently designed their hybrid systems, and only coincidentally, came up with a similar design on paper. Realizing this, Ford pre-emptively sought a licence from Toyota, to try to prevent Toyota from suing Ford for copying their design.