Fiat and Chrysler intend to focus on developing natural gas vehicles and forego investing in electric hybrids, a Chrysler Group LLC spokesman confirmed Monday.
"We're looking at a variety of alternative fuels, such as compressed natural gas, natural gas that will reduce our dependence on imported oil," said Chrysler spokesman Vince Muniga.
"We are not throwing out diesel" as a fuel source, he added.
Muniga confirmed published reports, in which Fiat and Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne said natural gas engines offer a better way to reduce emissions because they are cheaper than competing technologies.
In the same report, Marchionne said electric-powered vehicles present too many obstacles, such as the time it takes to recharge batteries.
Other Fiat officials asserted that natural gas use in the US is very suitable for mass transit and fleet vehicles hauling heavy loads that are refueled from a central location.
Chrysler Group LLC was formed in June 2009 a "global strategic alliance" with Fiat Group, the company said.
Denise McCourt, director of communications for NGVAmerica, said the Chrysler Group became an association member in late November. "The Chrysler Washington office has been working with our government affairs committee on key legislative issues," she said.
Chrysler doesn't offer any natural gas vehicles in the US now, but McCourt said Fiat "is the largest producer of light duty natural gas vehicles in the world."
"Chrysler is looking at the Fiat models that they have now in Italy [to] see what might be appropriate to use in the US market," McCourt said, noting that the focus of the international natural gas vehicle market is "on passenger vehicles, where as here in the US the focus has been on more fleet-oriented vehicles.
The Honda Civic GX is the only light duty passenger car model that has come of the production line right now as a natural gas vehicle, McCourt said, adding that "it is being used as part of the fleets that are being used. We do see consumers buying the Honda Civic GX where there are fleets in the area that have generated enough business to have a public access station."
"We have no idea what Chrysler will be bringing over to the US," McCourt said. "The thing that the president of Chrysler has said about natural gas vehicles is certainly agreeing with our position t
Speaking after talks with his Chinese counterpart, Putin told reporters that while a final pricing agreement is not expected until next year negotiations between Russia’s Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation on the prospects of supplies of Russian natural gas to China are looking very positive.
Under the terms of an earlier agreement Russia is to supply China a total of 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year beginning in 2015 via the Altai gas pipeline, which joins Siberia and China's western border with Russia.
The two nations have been locked in the final supply price negotiations of the gas from 2006, with China demanding a lower price than that charged by Russia for supplying European countries
With the difference between what Russia is asking and what China is prepared to pay being around $100 per 1,000 cubic meters being the final hurdle, negotiations are expected to conclude by mid-2011.
Milton Financials data shows that economic ties between the two countries have significantly strengthened over the past year with mutual trade between Russia and China increasing by 56% in the first nine months, reaching $42 billion.
Russia also recently completed the Skovorodino-
Milton Financials has learned that the two nations signed a total of 11 documents during Putin’s meeting with Wen, including an agreement to construct the third and fourth phases of the Tianwan nuclear power plant situated on the Yellow Sea coast. The Tianwan power plant currently consists of two reactor units each rated at 1,000 MW capacity, which were constructed by Russia's Atomstroyexport. The first reactor began full operations in 2006 and the second in 2007