It’s fair to say that Chrysler has taken more than its fair share of hits in recent months. Its partnership with Fiat failed to get off to a rousing start as June sales plummeted by 42 per cent – but now the company is hitting back.

Fiat has now brought two of its greenest – and most impressive – innovations to Chrysler in the form of the Fiat 500 and the Multi-Air, a new engine technology that boosts fuel economy by at least 10 per cent.

Chrysler will build and sell the Fiat 500 model in North America. It will be available in four versions – the standard hatchback, a 500CC convertible, a station wagon and a sporty 500 Abarth from Fiat’s racing partner. A four-wheel drive utility vehicle is also said to be planned.

The manufacturer will hope that its version of the vehicle can match the popularity of the Fiat 500 in Europe – it was recently named as the Car of the Year. In the United States, it is expected to compete with the MINI Cooper as well as the Scion iQ.

Meanwhile, the Multi-Air system brings Chrysler an engine technology that has been long-awaited. The engine replaces traditional camshafts and valves with electronically controlled hydraulic valves, meaning the opening of each can be varied individually. Customising the air flow into each cylinder and the spark timing uses less fuel and cuts carbon dioxide emissions by at least 10 per cent.  

Of course Multi-Air technology comes at a price but it is still roughly the same as a diesel engine, which typically cost around 10-20 per cent more to build than petrol engines.