WASHINGTON, DC: Dog food that's good for you is fine, but you have to make an effort to make it taste great and be affordable or no one will buy it.
Essentially, that's the view that DaimlerChrysler (DCX) took in designing the latest version of its high-mileage vehicle for the future, the Dodge ESX3, as its contribution to the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV).
So the ESX3 falls a little short of its goal of being a car that needs only 3 litres of gas to go 100 km (which is 80 mpg in the U.S.) by 2004, but does a fairly good job of being close to something today's consumers could imagine buying.
In taking this tack, DCX is distancing itself from the other two companies that are members of PNGV -- Ford with its Prodigy and General Motors with its Precept.
The original intent of the PNGV, as outlined by President Bill Clinton, was to triple the mileage of the 5-person sedan on the road in 1993, while hanging on to the same general performance, comfort and safety levels.
On the price front, DCX says it would cost about US$7,500 more for the ESX3 than it would for today's Dodge Intrepid, which is about US$21,000. The other companies declined to be specific on price, but left the impression that their models would be a lot more expensive.
"At DaimlerChrysler, we always have our eye on the consumer," says Tom Gale, Executive Vice President of Product Development and Design for DaimlerChrysler.
"While we've achieved tremendous gains in fuel efficiency with the ESX3," Gale says, "we've put that technology in a dynamic design that is clean and safe, that has the comfort, utility and performance consumers demand -- and is closing in on affordability."