Automotive Journal

I see the creative juices have been flowing over at Chrysler which is being hurt more than most by high gas prices. Buy a selected Chrysler model and Chrysler will subsidise the cost of the fuel going in the tank via a special credit card. It's an interesting one and I must say I like the inherent gambling element involved with holding the fuel price constant for the next three years. Will the actual pump price rise or fall and by how much? Who's judgement do you trust - Chrysler LLC's Chief Economist or your Auntie Pam's? Seriously, I wonder if other manufacturers are looking at this. Sure, you can say it's just another incentive (and it's capped of course), but it might be one that flies with consumers on the back of a feel-good factor which goes with filling the tank for 'just' USD2.99 for the next three years. A guy at Goldman Sachs has just forecast that the price of oil could conceivably rise to USD200 a barrel within six months. Yup, that 2.99 price might start to look like a real bargain. There again, the price of oil might just go the other way when peace breaks out in the Middle East, the dollar recovers on a stronger than expected 2009 US economic rebound and yet more oil is discovered off Brazil. As any gambler knows, there are no sure bets. And I wonder what the most fuel uneconomic Chrysler vehicle covered by this 'fuel protection' incentive is?