Remember the Chrysler Aspen? It was a very short-lived luxury SUV with underwhelming sales numbers. Now, do you remember the hybrid version of the Aspen? I didn’t think so. Here’s one to jog your memory; a 2009 Chrysler Aspen Limited Hybrid, one of only two for sale on Autotrader as of this writing.
A Dressed Up Dodge Durango
Before we get into the hybrid weirdness, a quick recap on what the Aspen was. Chrysler looked at its lineup in the mid-2000s and decided that it needed an SUV. Chrysler was the only American car company at the time that did not have an SUV in its lineup. To remedy that, it borrowed the Dodge Durango, changed some sheet metal, and even borrowed an old Dodge nameplate and called it the Aspen. The result was…well…a second-generation Dodge Durango with Chrysler badges, for better or worse.
The Apsen was featured in the 2006 film “Deck the Halls” starring Danny DeVito and the video game “The Movies: Stunts and Effects.” Unfortunately, both of those pieces of media were as forgettable as the Aspen.
First SUV and First Hybrid for Chrysler
The Aspen was not only the first Chrysler-branded SUV (unless you count the original Pacifica, I guess), but the hybrid variants of the Aspen and Durango were the first-ever production hybrid models from Chrysler. They borrowed the same two-mode hybrid system that was used in the Chevy Tahoe hybrid and mated it to a 5.7-liter Hemi V8.
The combined output was 390 horsepower and 499 lb-ft of torque. Fuel economy was rated at 20 city/22 highway/20 combined mpg. Not super impressive, but notably better than the 15 combined mpg of the non-hybrid version of the same SUV with four-wheel drive.
Sadly, about two months into production of the hybrid Aspen and Durango, Chrysler announced they were shutting down the plant in Delaware where they were built. So the 2009 Aspen Hybrid was discontinued before the year 2009 even began. That’s just the Aspen’s luck.
We can mock the Aspen for being a half-hearted, badge-engineered, pseudo-luxury SUV. But, there’s currently an Aspen-sized hole in the Chrysler lineup. The brand bafflingly does not offer an SUV in 2021 and hasn’t since the Aspen was discontinued in 2009. I suppose that’s because you can get pretty upscale SUVs from Dodge and Jeep these days. Somehow, this 2009 Aspen Hybrid is one of the newest Chrysler SUVs you can buy. And if you do want to buy it, it’s being offered for just under $9,000 at a dealership in Memphis, Tennessee. Find a Chrysler Aspen for sale
