Chrysler: Let’s Ruin America!

Looks like Chrysler has figured out a novel way to move their 2008 model gas guzzlers off the lot. Sign up for their new "Let’s Refuel America!" credit card and they’ll lock in the price of gas at $2.99/gallon for three years.

That’s right, it’s a 36-month guarantee that you don’t have to think about moving over to a more fuel efficient car, commuting by bus, lobbying your elected officials for a national passenger rail system or the fact that Chrysler is essentially writing checks to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria and Vladimir Putin on your behalf.

Before you rush out to purchase yourself a new, 13 mpg Dodge Durango and set up shop at the nearest pump as a gasoline reseller, you’d better read the fine print. The program caps the number of annual "price-protected gallons" that Chrysler will actually pay for. If I understand their "gallon allotment calculation" correctly (Charlie Komanoff, feel free to step in here and do some math), Durango owners get a maximum of 2,400 discounted gallons over three years. As for global warming, oil war, suburban sprawl and American economic disintegration, Chrysler is offering a lifetime guarantee.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Rising Gas Prices Hurt Truck Sales

|
The New York Times reports: As with sport utilities, the popularity of pickups is in decline. Sales have dropped, rebates and other incentives are climbing, even for companies like G.M. and Toyota that have the newest models on the market…truck sales are down 5 percent so far this year from a weak market last year. […]

America (Or 1,800 Miles of It) Through the Windshield

|
It’s easy to tut-tut at the auto-dependent from the transit-rich confines of New York City. So, to get a taste of what it’s like out there as the era of cheap gas seemingly draws to a close, Streetsblog sent me on a road trip. My destination was Athens, Georgia, where I checked on the state […]

Michigan TV Station: Bikes Are Strange. Buy a Chrysler!

|
Check out this "news of the weird" item from WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan, on last week’s DC bike-share debut: Not all that surprising, we suppose, on a news site where the day’s top-ranked story is "End of the line for GM’s 3800 V-6." And the station’s view of cycling gets less strange after the jump.

What Happens to a Closed-Down Auto Plant?

|
The bankruptcy of Chrysler may sound like good news to critics of American auto culture, but the resulting job losses and plant closures are poised to deal a serious blow to already-struggling midwestern towns. Which is why it’s heartening to see that the Obama administration is working on a plan to help clean up the […]