Chrysler Picks Up Your Gas Tab

Chrysler's gas card guarantees that new owners of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles will pay $2.99 a gallon for the next three years.

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The Michigan-based maker of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles announced an offer that caps the price of gasoline at $2.99 a gallon for three years for people who buy or lease new vehicles from May 7 through June 2. The offer covers most of its models and is based on 12,000 miles of driving per year and the vehicle's government fuel-economy rating.

Customers will get a gas card that is linked to their own charge account, Chrysler said. The customer will be billed $2.99 a gallon, and Chrysler will pay the rest.

Actual savings depend on what happens to gas prices during the next three years, but based on the average price of $3.61 a gallon in Detroit as reported by AAA Michigan, someone buying a 2008 Dodge Durango four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicle with a 5.7-liter V8 engine would save  roughly $414 per year.

The Durango is one of Chrysler's least fuel-efficient vehicles, getting 13 miles per gallon in the city and 18 miles per gallon on the highway, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The savings calculation is based on its highway mileage.

Japanese automaker Suzuki has made a similar offer in the United States, with free gas for the summer.

The Dodge Durango gets 13 miles per gallon in the city and 18 miles per gallon on the highway.

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General Motors tried a gas payment promotion two years ago in California and Florida with little impact on sales, company spokesman John McDonald said.

GM instead is focusing on making vehicles more fuel efficient because that's what customers are demanding, McDonald said.

''It really didn't do much to drive sales, and it really was for consumers more an issue of do vehicles really get good fuel economy or not?'' he said.

Ford spokesman Jim Cain said the company has tried similar programs regionally but also has decided to focus on more efficient engines and transmissions and other measures.

''We know that fuel economy is important to consumers,'' he said. ''It'll be important whether gas is $2.99 a gallon or $4.99 a gallon.''

Spokesman John McCandless said Toyota is focusing its incentives on particular models, especially older ones that are near replacement or ones in highly competitive segments, like pickup trucks.

But Chrysler is hoping its move will boost sales, which dropped nearly 18 percent from January through April when compared with the same time last year, according to Autodata Corp.

''It's a way to give (customers) peace of mind,'' Steven Landry, executive vice president for North American sales, said. ''We want to get everybody through these challenging times.''

Chrysler has been hit hard by the market shifting from trucks and sport utility vehicles to more fuel-efficient car-based models. Through the first four months of the year, about 70 percent of its light vehicle sales were trucks.

Chrysler said it's in the middle of investing $3 billion in engines and transmissions to make them more efficient for the next generation of models.