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>> Nothing at all hard to understand about the new Chrysler. Nothing at all, that is, as long as you're comfortable with Jeep sharing floor space right next to the Mazarati, hmm, which is just a couple steps away from Dodge, which is right next to these two little Fiat 500s, which are right in front of that Ferrari. One big happy garage. These 500s are here because they're finally coming to the U.S. Very hot car in Europe. Should make a splash in the small car circuit in the United States. Now, these are not the exact two that are coming. The light gray one there, that's an electric concept. Probably not going to make it to the market anytime soon. The darker one is a Fiat Abarth. That's got 175 horsepower engine. 75 more, thanks to turbo-charging. But these will not be the initial entries. Small as they look, they're almost a yard longer than a smart car. The Base 500 Hatchback will be the first one to come to the U.S., late 2010, with a pretty garden variety 1.4 liter FIRE engine, they call it. Now, you may recall that Fiat got Chrysler, not by spending any money to speak of, but taking on debt and contributing Fiat technology to keep Chrysler healthy and innovative. Here are a couple examples of what they're kicking in in that sweetheart deal. One is this very exact, dual clutch transmission, a six-speed dual-clutch like nothing Chrysler had in the works. Very compact and can handle up to 260 foot pounds of torque. Pretty good. Here is another major component there. This is the FIRE engine. But really what's going on here is what they call MultiAir injection. So the exhaust valves here are operated traditionally by the cam. But when you go to the intake valves here, it's different. You've got this follower here that then hits this little piston, goes into these red channels here, a piaso [phonetic] electric controller solenoid. And then that actuates the valve independently. Sounds kind of complicated. What happens here is this relaying of intake valve control allows the engine to precisely and electro-hydraulically vary and adjust the intake valve timing. It's a relatively simple way of doing that, even though it may sound complicated, and lets the engine have more horsepower, better fuel economy, lowered emissions, kind of everything at once gets 10 to 15% better. The real surprise was this one, a Lancia Delta from the European market, badged up as a Chrysler Delta, I guess. Perhaps might be spotted in the U.S. as a Sebring-like hatchback. I'm not quite sure when it's coming. Their best estimate was you'll see it when you see it. And there's one good-looking ass on this stage. And it doesn't have a Chrysler badge on it. But Delta's an acquired taste, to say the least. But at least it's distinctive, which might be just the thing Chrysler needs to have products rise up out of this audamalgum [phonetic] they've become.
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