If bankruptcy isn’t a sign that things aren’t going well for a business, then what is? Despite the doom and gloom however, Chrysler insists that its day to day operations won’t be affected and that its green ENVI division will continue.
The ENVI sector had plans to produce at least one of its prototypes with the Dodge Circuit EV listed as a 2010 product in the company’s viability plan. According to Nick Cappa, a Chrysler spokesman, nothing has changed where these plans are concerned and “vehicle electrification is still very important to the company”.
ENVI has been working on vehicles since 2005 and wants to have as many as 100,000 of them sold by 2010. Its battery mini van is already on the road, albeit in small numbers.
The high sales numbers that ENVI anticipates, however, are appearing to be more difficult to reach. The bankruptcy is expected to last between 30 and 60 days with a new company acquiring many of Chrysler’s 3,300 dealerships – production will shut down on Monday and not restart until a long-awaited deal with Fiat is completed.
ENVI has so far delivered four battery electric Town & Country minivans to the US Postal Service with another 24 planned. The programme will expand to 250 vans if the Department of Energy offers the company grants.
