Chrysler Group announces a full-size Hybrid SUV

Check the date on this post, just so that you know it's May Day and not April Fool's.

Chrysler Group just announced that there will be a hybrid Chrysler Aspen and a hybrid Dodge Durango for 2008, and that the vehicles will be powered by Hybrid HEMI engines.

That's right -- a hybrid HEMI.

Here's a quote from a Chrysler Group press release:

The new 5.7-liter HEMI Hybrid is expected to deliver an overall fuel economy improvement of more than 25 percent, including an improvement of nearly 40 percent in the city.

The HEMI powerplant, in hybrid form, will continue to feature Chrysler Group’s Multi-displacement System (MDS), which allows the engine to seamlessly alternate between four-cylinder mode when less power is needed and V-8 mode when more power is in demand...The new Chrysler Aspen Hybrid and Dodge Durango Hybrid vehicles represent a bold change in what is generally a “me too” category. Chrysler Group’s full-size hybrid vehicles will deliver seamless dependable power on demand in an efficient package. With an electrically variable transmission (featuring two electric motors), two full hybrid modes of operation, and four fixed mechanical gear ratios, the drive system improves fuel economy around town and at highway speeds.

Aspen and Durango will use a two-mode hybrid powertrain that Chrysler developed with GM and BMW.

You should check out Christine and Scott Gable's About Alternative Fuels site for more detailed information about how a hybrid works.

And start saving up for that Hybrid HEMI.

Photo © Jason Fogelson