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American automaker Chrysler Group has announced that they would launch the gas/electric hybrid versions of their Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs next year.

These models would be powered with their 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine. The company said in a statement that these SUVs would use a “two-mode” hybrid system they developed in collaboration with General Motors and Germany’s BMW.

One of the first products in the market to use this technology would be the GM’s GMC Yukon Hybrid. GM would be launching this model sometime later this year.

Chrysler claims that this 5.7 liter Hemi is their most fuel-efficient V8 engine. They have developed this engine to shut off four of its eight cylinders during highway cruising when their extra power is not needed.

They are claiming that these new engines would provide a 40 percent improvement in fuel economy in city driving and a 25 percent improvement in overall economy compared to regular versions.

Mark Chernoby, Chrysler Group vice president for advanced vehicle engineering spoke on these new upcoming models: “We have to think hard about the consumer who buys vehicles like the Dodge Durango and the Chrysler Aspen. These are people who want to have hauling capability.”

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Japan’s Toyota has overtaken US rival General Motors to become the world’s biggest carmaker, a spokesman for the company has said.

According to company figures, Toyota sold 2.348 million vehicles in the first three months of 2007.

General Motors (GM) is estimated to have sold 2.26 million cars and small trucks during the same period.
Japanese carmakers have been boosting foreign sales and making gains in the US, the world’s largest car market.

Toyota Camry North Americas most popular car.

Toyota has enjoyed strong sales on the back of the success of its pioneering petrol/electricity hybrid, the Prius, and new models of popular car ranges like the Camry Sedan and Corolla.

Meanwhile, its Detroit rival GM has struggled to compete as high fuel prices have driven people away from its trucks and sports utility vehicles.

The American car giant has been forced to cut thousands of jobs and close factories to turn around its business.

The first-quarter results steps up the heat on GM - which sells vehicles under a range of brands, including Saab, Buick and Cadillac - to maintain its long-held status as the world’s number one carmaker by global sales.

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Now that they both have big pickup trucks on the market, Toyota Canada Inc. and Honda Canada Inc. intend to open new dealerships in Western Canada, senior executives of both companies say.

Without full-size pickup trucks to sell until recently, both companies have felt shut out of farming communities and other rural territories where such vehicles are considered an essential tool of working and living.

With full-size pickups accounting for up to two-thirds of all vehicle sales in some areas of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, there was little sense for Toyota to set up shop offering only its 2006 Tundra to truck buyers, even if it was almost as large as a Detroit-designed truck, said Stephen Beatty, managing director.

In a logging or farming community or even in an oilsands boomtown flush with cash, Toyota’s popular small urban cars and luxury vehicles would probably not sell well enough to carry a dealership.

But the arrival of the full-size 2007 Tundra changes that calculus, Beatty said in an interview in Windsor. “That opens up opportunities in areas of the country that were formerly closed to us.

“Until now, if you didn’t have a fullsize pickup truck . . . in some areas of the country you wouldn’t bother trying to sell vehicles there,” Beatty said. Virtually all of those regions are west of the Ontario border.

Most North American critics agree the new V-8 powered Toyota Tundra is every bit the match of the trucks turned out by Detroit, and better in some respects.

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Willa Norris, 8, left, and Hannah Fowler, 10, sit in a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country minivan during a demonstration of Sirius Backseat TV on Thursday, March 29, 2007 in New York. Chrysler, which invented the minivan, is teaming with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to bring three channels, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network, to the next generation of select Dodge and Chrysler 2008 model vehicles. The driver’s TV screen, for safety reasons, operates only while the car is in park.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

The system will cost about $470, which includes the first year of service, when packaged with Chrysler’s rear seat entertainment system in new cars. Customers must subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio.
The company, which invented the minivan, is teaming with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to bring three channels — Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network — to the next generation of minivans, as well as the 2008 Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, Dodge Magnum, Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee.

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“This generation is huge, and if you miss the boat with them, or alienate them entirely, you’ll have a hard time winning them back,” said Rebecca Lindland. “There are 75 million of them and they’re going to be a huge part of the buying market in the next 5 to 10 years.”

Toyota markets the Scion brand differently from the regular Toyota brand or luxury Lexus line, said Lindland. Scion tries to keep its models fresh and focuses on “underground” marketing tactics like the Second Life launch. Scion rarely advertises on television, she noted. Want proof hip marketing can make average cars cool? Just look at Toyota’s Scion franchise. Launched in California in mid-2003, Scion has shifted almost half a million cars in the United States. Not bad for a business based on selling recycled Japanese-market Toyotas.

The Toyota Scion, with its unconventional advertising (favoring a heavy presence on the Web and at lifestyle events over conventional TV and print spots) and potential mass customization (the cars are bare-bones basic, but all the extra stuff you can get to put in them is pretty neat) has become a case study for industry insiders obsessed with capturing the youth market (although almost half Toyota Scion buyers are in fact over 35).

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