Dodge Hybrid

Chrysler, Dodge's parent company, is finally starting to become involved in the production of hybrid cars with next year's lineup. Dodge's first hybrid was the Intrepid ESX, which was designed to meet the high standard of 80mpg. The ESX was a bitter success, though Dodge did meet their goals, an ESX would have to cost nearly $90,000. Later they developed the ESX2 and ESX3 which were relatively more on track, but still not feasible for production.

In 2001 Dodge announced that hybrid versions of the Durango SUV and Ram Pickup would be available by 2003 as 2004 models. Time went by and the hype died down, 2003 came and went, but still nothing from Dodge. As it is now, Dodge offers no production hybrid vehicles - truly a testament to Chrysler's lack of dedication to implementing hybrid technology. Chrysler did however recently announce that later this year the Dodge Ram hybrid will be available to select fleet customers and popular Dodge models will be available as hybrids as early as 2005, with a 2006 model year.