A battery-powered 268-horsepower two-seat sports car is in line to become Chrysler LLC's first electric car, provided the carmaker lives to see another day.
To survive, help is needed from Italy's Fiat but, as negotiations with the Italian automaker bog down and the two week deadline to hammer out a partnership approaches, the company's future - as well as its aspirations for an electric hot rod - are increasingly in doubt.
Chrysler's first electric car, set to be introduced late next year around the same time as General Motors' Chevrolet Volt, will be a sports car with a zero-to-60 time of under five seconds and a top speed of 120 miles per hour.
Following that, according Chrysler's filings, will come electric-powered cars, SUVs and crossovers, some based on Fiat vehicles, according to the "viability plan" Chrysler submitted to the Treasury Department.
While Chrysler has still not officially announced any of these details, the carmaker's viability plan listed an "EV Roadster" as a future product for 2010. That would be the Dodge Circuit, a car that Chrysler unveiled at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show in January and which is now prominently displayed at the New York Auto Show.
0:00 /4:40Battery power for Chrysler
The Circuit will be a purely plug-in car - there will be no gas tank or gasoline engine at all - with an expected range of 150 to 200 miles on a full charge. Power will come from a 200 kilowatt, or 268 horsepower, electric motor.
"This vehicle is so light it doesn't even require power steering," said Chrysler spokesman Nick Cappa.
Cappa would not comment on how closely Chrysler will adhere to the plan laid out in the government filing, so he could not confirm that the Circuit will be the first Chrysler electric car. Executives insist the program is on track, generally speaking, and Chrysler will be ready to produce cars on time.
"To be able to meet a 2010 timeline, you have to be pretty far along in development, and right now we are," said Lou Rhodes, head of Chrysler's electric car program, in a recent CNNMoney.com interview.
The Circuit is similar to the Tesla Roadster, a $109,000 sports car produced by a small California company. Pricing for the Circuit has not been announced but will likely undercut the Tesla.
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