Thursday, June 19, 2008 – I am in Boston, MA as a guest of Chrysler to drive the 2009 Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango HEMI® Hybrids. We don’t get into the vehicles until tomorrow so I’ll give you a sneak peek at the photos and offer a brief overview.
The heart of the Hybrid drivetrain was co-developed with GM and BMW so the performance and functionality of the Hybrid system shouldn’t be much different than the one in the GMC Yukon Hybrid we drove recently. It will offer an average of 25% improvement in fuel economy with the majority of improvement (40%) coming in city driving.
The biggest difference so far is that Chrysler is offering this technology in their vehicles that are priced “nearly $8,000 below the competition” to quote the Chrysler press release. The MSRP for the 2009 Dodge Durango HEMI Hybrid is $45,340 and the 2009 Chrysler Aspen HEMI Hybrid is $45,570 – both prices include destination.
To be fair, the Durango and Aspen aren’t nearly as large as the Tahoe and Yukon that they are comparing them to but they do offer similar passenger and towing capacity (6,000 lbs). With fuel prices the way they are, these Hybrids just might make sense.
We’ll follow up with a full review including driving impressions. Until then, enjoy the photos.