US automakers are ready for competition, says Chrysler's Press

11 September 2008

Mumbai: US automakers have reached the start of a new era in which they can compete with foreign brands, Chrysler LLC vice chairman Jim Press said. He also called for government support for clean-fuel vehicles.

For this, the government should make available billions of dollars of funds to US automakers to help them come to the market quicker with electric cars, Press said.

''I think it will allow everybody to bring electric cars, plug-in hybrids, hybrid cars, even range-extended hybrids. All of those vehicles will be accelerated,'' he said.

US automakers have been pressing the US administration for $25 billion in industry loans, climbing down from their original request for $25-billion.

There needs to be ''some way of taking a look at the return on that $25 billion, and if, in everyone's perspective, we can do it again, we should. I think for a beginning, $25 billion is an appropriate place to start,'' Press said.

Chrysler had plans to develop an electric car that would compete against Chevrolet Volt - an electric vehicle with an onboard generator. The lithium-ion battery technology vehicle was slated to hit the market in 2010.