DaimlerChrysler has announced a new 2007 design for the increasingly popular Sprinter cargo van. These are amazingly popular in Cascadia (doubtlessly more so in Europe in the form of the Mercedes Sprinter), we saw them everywhere last summer.

Now the failing Dodge division is showcasing this successful van by offering a plug-in hybrid version, and the venerable NY Times is already operating one in Manhattan. As a pluggable vehicle, the Sprinter offers the ability to perform short commutes, up to twenty miles, on battery power alone. Fuel economy should be very good, the 2006 diesel sprinters were already rated around 27 mpg, not too bad for a cargo van of this size.

For the ailing US auto industry, the Sprinter’s success (and more importantly, the success of the pluggable hybrid model) could serve as a model for the industry. Although seemingly still hell bent on ‘giving the American consumer what they want’, Detroit is going to have to face up to reality sooner or later and produce cars for the next generation that run cleaner and go farther than their current crop of over-sized gas-guzzling behemoths. If American manufacturers can get over themselves and their anarcho-capitalist fantasies, it is still early enough for the industry to do an about-face and lead the world forward into a new, more practical transportation age.

 

Tags: Hybrid+Technology, Dodge+Sprinter, Conservation, JP+Oliva, Plug-in+Hybrid, Electric+Car

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