New Fiat Doblo may be first Chrysler BEV

Earlier this week, Fiat unveiled a new version of its Doblo light commercial van and there has been speculation that it could come to North America as a new member of the Ram brand to challenge the Ford Transit Connect. The parallels to the Ford actually run deeper however. The Transit Connect will be Ford's first new plug-in vehicle next year and the Doblo could well hold the same position for Chrysler.

During Chrysler's recent marathon business plan meeting, SVP Paolo Ferraro showed a slide that made one of the few mentions of Chrysler's electrification strategy. The first pure battery electric vehicle in the severely scaled back program was shown as a light commercial vehicle and the image was of the current generation Doblo. While Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said at the time that no final decision had been made on which product would get the BEV system, this new Doblo seems a likely candidate, especially if the TC proves popular with fleets.

[Source: GreenFuelsForecast]