Archive for the ‘Transit Connect’ Category

Last week, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne unveiled the company's five-year recovery plan. This week, we've received details about Chrysler's electric vehicle program, which has been given a fairly extreme makeover and a new direction.

Most notably, Chrysler's EV development initiative -- known as ENVI -- has been "absorbed into the normal vehicle development program", according to a Chrysler spokesperson. That doesn't mean that electric vehicles are off the proverbial table, however; as many or slightly more workers will be dedicated to EV programs, but in organizational terms, the ENVI team has been split and rolled into Chrysler's...

Over at our sister site GreenCarReports.com, we've been following the launch of the 2010 Ford Transit Connect van with keen interest. It's a vehicle that has very few direct competitors in the US, though in Europe, there are more than a dozen small urban delivery vans like it.

Rated by the EPA at 22 miles per gallon city / 25 mpg highway, the Transit Connect is far more fuel-efficient than full-size vans. And with a payload capacity of 1,600 pounds, it carries as much as some models of half-ton pickup truck.

So we were pleased to get an early report that early 2010 Transit Connects are flying off dealer lots, spending as little as eight...

We don't usually break much automotive news here in New York City, unless it's in bankruptcy court (where Chrysler is now, and GM may be next week).

So we took great pleasure at driving a 2010 Ford Transit Connect before our colleagues in Detroit and Los Angeles, which are the more usual venues for automotive test drives.

We have a full Transit Connect drive report over on GreenCarReports.com (because it's, you know, relatively small, and fuel efficient, and all that good stuff). But here's the bottom line:

THE PROS

- Tons of room inside, with a load bay 6 feet long, 5 feet tall, and 4 feet between rear wheelwells. That toasts the 2009...