Internet Browsers Can Buy Electric Vehicle for Under $3,000

DaimlerChrysler Offers New Yorkers Unique Opportunity

FARGO, N.D., May 19 -- Finding hidden GEMs on the Internet is one of the joys of Web surfing, but what will greet industrious New York visitors to a DaimlerChrysler consumer Web Site during May will be quite surprising and unexpected.

Global Electric Motorcars, a DaimlerChrysler subsidiary, is offering New Yorkers its two- or four-passenger Neighborhood Electric Vehicle for $2,995, roughly a third the manufacturers suggested retail price.

The special program runs through May 31.

After the consumer logs onto one of the Chrysler Group Web sites, clicks either the "Best Values" (Chrysler or Dodge) or "Jeep Days" (Jeep) areas, clicks on subsequent areas to learn more about the brands' promotional programs and enters a New York zip code into the "special deals" box, up will pop a balloon offering a terrific value on America's number-one selling electric vehicle, the GEM Neighborhood Electric Vehicle.

Interested customers can download purchase certificates from one of the Chrysler Group or GEM (www.gemcar.com and then "Find a Dealer") Web Site popups, bring the certificate to one of the 10 New York-area dealers and, once the state registration process is finalized, complete the purchase.

GEMs are classified by the federal government as Low Speed Vehicles (LSV), with a top speed of 25 mph. They are ideal alternatives to full-size automobiles for short trips, as well as a primary people mover on corporate, academic and military campuses, especially ones with both public and private roads between buildings.

New York recently legalized public road use, on roads posted at 35 miles per hour or less, of the GEMs, which went into production four years ago in Fargo, ND. DaimlerChrysler, in December 2000, purchased Global Electric Motorcars.

Global Electric Motorcars, the largest U.S. producer of street-legal electric vehicles, has been manufacturing the GEM neighborhood electric vehicle since 1998. The GEM is designed for downtown driving, college campuses, office campuses, planned communities, industrial parks, military installations, resorts, and similar localized uses.

A GEM costs pennies per mile to operate and is easily charged by plugging into a standard 110-volt household outlet. GEM complies with all applicable federal safety laws.

With more than 17,000 GEMs on the road, these vehicles have a long and successful track record of displacing many short trips traditionally taken with internal combustion vehicles, reducing both emissions and gasoline consumption.