Second Ex-Chrysler Exec Turns Up in Auto High-Tech
By John O'Dell August 23, 2010Barely a week after a former Chrysler Corp. executive connected with that company's once-ambitious electric-vehicle development programs was named to lead a company planning to make plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles, another executive who previously worked for Chrysler also is joining up with a company connected to electric-vehicle development.
Former Chrysler Executive Eric Ridenour is heading to Colorado where he'll take up reins as president and chief executive of a growing automotive electric-drive systems manufacturer, UQM Technologies.
Earlier this month, Mike Donoughe, once a Chrysler engineer who moved on to serve as vice president of vehicle engineering and manufacturing for electric-car maker Tesla Motors, was named to run the operations of Indiana's Bright Automotive, the company working with General Motors Co. to build a plug-in hybrid commercial van called the IDEA.
Ridenour left Chrysler in 2007 after a 21-year career there - his last three as chief operating officer - when Cerberus Capital Management LLC took over Chrysler from Daimler AG. Ridenour will join UQM in December as longtime chief executive William Rankin retires. Rankin will continue as chairman of UQM's board, a post he's held for the past decade.
UQM, which began in the late 1960s as a manufacturer of dune buggies and fiberglass kit cars, began building a battery-electric car, the Electrek, in the late 1970s. It developed a proprietary electric motor for the car and in ensuing years shed its other business lines to concentrate on electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems,
It supplied Chrysler with electric motors when the company was developing hybrids and EVs in the years leading up to its 2009 bankruptcy and subsequent takeover by Fiat S.p.A., and earlier this year was named to supply the electric motor and powertrain controller for nascent EV maker Coda Automotive. The company also supplies electric drive systems to industrial, commercial and military clients.
The company reported a net loss of $4.1 million for its fiscal year ended March 31, on revenue of $8.69 million. The compared with a loss of $4.4 million on $8.73 million in revenue the prior fiscal year.
The company said at the time that it expected to begin reporting profits this year, in part on the strength of its contract with Santa Monica, Calif.-based Coda and a related $45.1 million federal advanced vehicle development manufacturing program grant. But UQM reported a first-quarter net loss of $486,870 on $2.55 million in revenue.
Photo
The Dodge EV was one of three electric vehicles Chrysler unveiled in Fall 2008 along with plans to bring one to production by this year. Those plans were scrapped as part of Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy and the Fiat Group subsequently being named the new Chrysler Group LLC's managing partner (photo by Chrysler)
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