THE CAR: Chrysler Sebring

Some live pictures of BAIC's Sebring-based electric car have been found, and the results are thankfully not scary to look at.

China's BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Co.) opened its own dedicated alternate propulsion division a while back in the form of the Beijing New Energy Automotive Company. Now that's a name that rolls off the tongue.

B-NEAC's goal is to build a few hundred test vehicles as taxis that would be rechargeable throughout Beijing. If the taxis are successful, stage two would consist of building a bunch more and lease them directly to the public.

Called the BE701, it's a Chinese-built re-faced Sebring resulting from a partnership with Chrysler. The surprising part is that a Chinese company (usually notorious for a lack of originality) made a better-looking Sebring than Chrysler, the company that actually builds the Sebring.

The electric Chinese Sebring 2.0 supposedly has a range of 200 km (124 miles), a top speed of 199km/h or 124 mph, and can hit 60mph in under 15. Motivation is sourced from an electric motor connected to a 4-speed automatic transmission.

This could have potential, as long as the necessary recharging stations are in place. In regards to the styling: if Chrysler made its Sebring this attractive (comparably), maybe it wouldn't have had to kill the nameplate.

By Phil Alex

Via: Jalopnik , Tycho, Che168 and Autohome

According to a news report from the Detroit Free Press, Chrysler's super-refreshed Sebring replacement will be called the Nassau, after executives decided the Sebring name has been "tarnished". More like utterly destroyed.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Nassau name, it's derived from a few previous Chrysler concepts (most recently the 2007 Nassau 4-door coupe/wagon concept) and the location where Bond won his Aston martin DB5 in a poker game.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne explained one reason for the name switch, referencing Chrysler's poor image/entry in the mid-size segment: "If you look at the Sebring and benchmark it against the competition, it's not where it needs to be." Hopefully a redesign and a new identity will help out.

A more Euro-centric feel for the car will also help out where Chryslers are going to be pushed as Lancias (i.e. anywhere but North America).

We can expect a fully redesigned interior that will hopefully have a little more character and a little less cheap plastic (Chrysler's goal here is Buick, after all), while power will come from Chrysler's 2.4 liter 4-cylinder or the new Pentastar V6.

One thing's for sure: as long as it gets the 2007 concept's nose, something will have gone right in the world.

By Phil Alex

Via: Detnews

Chrysler Nassau Photo Gallery