Small cars get the best gas mileage. So do hybrids. So wouldn’t a small hybrid get really good gas mileage? Something like, say, a Fiat 500 hybrid? Fiat certainly thinks it’s a good idea.

Up until now price has been the major opposition to small hybrids. Small car buyers tend to be cheap car buyers, so it has always been assumed that the “hybrid tax” would be too much for many people to buy a small hybrid car.

However, recent years have seen a resurgence of small cars with all kinds of buyers. Small cars are now a way to reduce environmental impact and not just wallet impact. This, coupled with decreasing hybrid system and battery prices, has made the small car hybrid economically viable.

When Fiat is done with their design, it will likely be coupled to their new 900cc turbocharged engine. This combination would have good torque and plenty of horsepower while delivering stellar mileage in the city.

And here’s the kicker: they plan to share the technology with Chrysler. So, even though we won’t be getting a Fiat 500 anytime soon, I’m certainly looking forward to seeing something using this technology on Chrysler’s showroom floor.

Source: Treehugger

In case you’ve forgotten what day it is today, it’s Earth Day! To celebrate, Chrysler is showing off its electric minivan in United States Postal Service colors. Along with the nice paint jobs, Chrysler has announced that it will apply for the Department of Energy’s Transportation Electrification stimulus program alongside the USPS.

As Chrysler likes to point out, they invented the minivan back in the 1980s and still have a large market share in that segment. Now, Chrysler is trying to reinvent the minivan by taking the often stereotyped “mommy-mobile” and turning it into a posterchild for personal electric transportation.

Though you may rarely see them, there are more than 10,000 of Chrysler’s minivans in the service of the USPS, which gives both Chrysler and the USPS a good entrypoint for phasing these electric vehicles into service.

Source: Chrysler

Unlike most automakers with EV concepts, Chrysler is not focusing on just one electric car. Instead, the company is trying to cut costs and improve quality by designing a full line of electric cars on a common platform.

While the concept vehicles are not ready to hit the road yet, you can see them at this year’s New York International Auto Show.

Chrysler Showcases 3 Electric Cars in New York

Dodge Circuit EV Concept
If you wondered where Tesla’s competition would be coming from, this is the car that is set to do it. The Dodge Circuit also sports Lotus styling and will be able to go 150-200 miles on a single charge. This is one car I’d like to see in a race with the Tesla Roadster.

Chrysler 200C EV Concept
The 200C is Chrysler’s answer to the GM Volt: a sleek looking car that will be able to drive 40 miles on electric power alone before a gasoline generator kicks in to recharge the batteries. Chrysler is also advertising the car’s “social media” capabilities, which, to be honest, sounds like something that we should leave to phones instead of trying to integrate into our cars.

Chrysler Town & Country EV Concept
This is the minivan that started it all. Now, Chrysler is hoping that it will be the first minivan to head into our alternatively-fuelled future. Built on the same ENVI platform as the other vehicles, the Town & Country will, like the 200C, be a parallel hybrid with range extending capabilities.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVKYhoWAC_w

Like many other automakers, Chrysler began the day with an empty stage. As their event started, everyone knew they would be bringing something up there to show us. But no one expected that Chrysler would roll out of a back door in Fiat’s iconic 500 micro-compact.

The little blue car, which you can see in the video, rolled calmly to the side of the stage, where it was parked for the discussion you can watch in the video. Because Chrysler’s partnership with Fiat is still fresh, this car hasn’t been put through the paces to make it to the US market, but today’s display showed the company’s confidence that they will soon be selling the car in North America.

After the shock wore off and the brief discussion of the 500 ended, Chrysler moved on to an unveiling of their new Jeep Grand Cherokee. Unlike the 500, this luxury SUV occupied most of the presentation, with few green features to be mentioned besides an 11% increase in fuel economy and an 8% decrease in aerodynamic drag.

No one knows when the 500 will make it to the US, but now we’re at least a little more sure that it will.