Chrysler dismantled a team of engineers dedicated to accelerating the arrival of several electric vehicles

Chrysler dismantled a team of engineers dedicated to accelerating the arrival of several electric vehicles to dealers and sales ruled out ambitious goals for electric cars that were set when the firm was facing bankruptcy and sought help from the Government.

Fiat SpA's decision is a setback for Chrysler, which had used the electric vehicle program as part of its request for 12,500 million dollars in federal aid package.

Until August, Chrysler received $ 70 million in subsidies from the Department of Energy U.S. to develop its test fleet of 220 trucks and minivans hybrid vehicles which have now been discarded in a radical change of plans announced this week by the Fiat chief Sergio Marchionne.

Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said on Friday that a team of engineers to develop electric vehicles had been removed in favor of a more traditional organization.

The former owner of the automaker, Cerberus Capital Management, had created a special division called "Envi"-derived from the English Environment, environment-which means to lead the development of hybrid technology, a sector in which Chrysler is far behind of its competitors.

"Envi was absorbed by the normal program of development of vehicles," Cappa said Reuters.

Under increasing pressure to improve efficiency in fuel consumption of its cars, Chrysler announced in September last year that was developing three electric vehicles and to sell the first models in 2010.

At the Detroit car show in January, Chrysler upped the ante in its line of electric cars by promising to have 500,000 cars on the roads electric by 2013, including sports cars and trucks.

But a presentation of the company's strategy for the next five years made by Marchionne on Wednesday did not mention the previous development plans electric vehicle from Chrysler.

Under the plan Marchionne, the former head of Envi Lou Rhodes will become the chief executive responsible for developing electric vehicles both Fiat and Chrysler, Cappa said.

Since Friday, the website still shows the Chrysler Group and advertising images of the now-discarded set of electric vehicles that had been developing.

That includes the Dodge Circuit, a two-seat sports car all-electric Chrysler engineers had developed quickly using a Lotus platform.