For clarity's sake, the next-generation Chrysler Town & Country minivan will be available as a plug-in hybrid. That will be an extra-cost option. Lower-level models will still offer a conventional gasoline engine minus the battery pack. But this is where it gets interesting: in a recent report coming from Automotive News, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne stated that the plug-in hybrid Town & Country will debut late next year – roughly a year earlier than what the automaker previously announced.

Sometime after that the gasoline-engined version(s) will launch. The engine-battery pack combo will also soon find its way into additional Chrysler models, namely an upcoming full-size crossover. However, Marchionne wants to be clear that electrification is not the end-all solution to improve Chrysler's overall fuel economy. I keep running into this fundamental economic obstacle of overcoming the cost equation of electrification. You can't. You can't unless there is a wholesale change and a fundamental shift in the pricing structure of cars," he stated.