Friday, August 13, 2010

Chrysler Close to Naming Replacement for A123 Systems

Chrysler Group LLC, the automaker controlled by Fiat SpA, said it will soon name a new battery supplier for its electric vehicles after A123 Systems Inc. said it withdrew from the “diminished” program.

“Our plans for the EV are the same and this does not impact the program timeline,” Katie Hepler, a spokeswoman for Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler, said today in an e-mail. More details on the supplier may be announced in the “not-too- distant future,” Hepler said.

Chrysler and Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said in November that he plans to produce about 56,000 electric vehicles annually by 2014. The company in March announced plans to sell a battery-powered version of the Fiat 500 subcompact in the U.S. in 2012. A123’s deal was reached with Chrysler’s prior managers, who had suggested a full lineup of electric vehicles....More

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