Chrysler Plug-In Hybrid Minivan Will Launch Late Next Year, Company Says

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has never been a fan of plug-in electric cars.

So when he revealed at the Paris Motor Show that a plug-in hybrid version of the next Chrysler Town & Country minivan would arrive late next year, he added a few derogatory comments about the range limits and what he views as unrealistic expectations for electric cars.

DON'T MISS: Chrysler Confirms Plug-In Hybrid Minivan, Big SUV In 2016 And Later

Marchionne confirmed the Town & Country plug-in hybrid minivan to trade journal Automotive News [subscription required] at the Paris show last week.

Missing hybrid models

The arrival date of late next year for the plug-in version is roughly a year earlier than Chrysler had indicated in its latest five-year plan, revealed last May to industry analysts and journalists.

No carmaker has offered a hybrid minivan, with or without a plug, since hybrids first hit the U.S. market for the 2000 model year.

While Marchionne said in 2011 that Chrysler would introduce two conventional hybrids--a Chrysler 300 Hybrid full-size sedan (in 2013) and a hybrid minivan to follow the same year--neither vehicle ever appeared.

In this year's May product-plan presentation, Chrysler president and CEO Al Gardner claimed the plug-in hybrid minivan would get "75 mpg"--presumably a reference to its MPGe rating goal when running in fully electric mode.

Slamming plugs as panacea

Marchionne, speaking on the sidelines of the Paris show, told Automotive News electric vehicles will "never provide the travel distance that you require," alluding to "what we know today about the storage capabilities" of the lithium-ion cells used in battery packs.

But he also suggested that the "cost equation of electrification" for plug-in cars--a discipline the recovering Chrysler hasn't had the funds, time, or staff to invest in--remained a "fundamental obstacle."