DETROIT -- Break out the charging cord, Chrysler Group is going electric.
The automaker has begun a search for engineers to lead an electrification push in North America for both its domestic lineup and Fiat.
According to Chryslercareers.com, the company's job postings site, Chrysler plans to develop a wide variety of technologies, including stop-start systems and electric vehicles. It also is seeking engineers to work with suppliers on electrified-vehicle technology.
The postings indicate Chrysler is actively planning plug-in hybrids, mild hybrids and electric vehicles.
They also show that Chrysler and Fiat plan to develop "belt starter generator" stop-start systems. The technology uses a modified alternator that generates current, but also doubles as a starter to restart the engine when the vehicle is stationary. The modified alternator fits on the front of the engine in the same place as a traditional alternator.
Chrysler has been the odd man out among automakers when it comes to electrification. It currently has one fully electric car, the Fiat 500e, which was developed in Detroit, is built in Mexico and now sells at a $10,000-per-unit loss only in California, CEO Sergio Marchionne has said.
Chrysler has not offered a hybrid since the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango hybrids rolled into showrooms in the fall of 2008 and were promptly canceled. Those vehicles used mild-hybrid technology developed with General Motors, BMW and Daimler.
Last month, Bob Lee, head of Chrysler and Fiat global powertrain, said consumers weren't ready to pay for electric powertrain development and might not be until 2020. He said Chrysler would concentrate instead on diesels and small turbocharged engines.
But Chrysler powertrain spokesman Eric Mayne said the job postings are consistent with future product plans.
"We've said all along that we'll need electrification to comply with the regulations going forward, and any hiring that we do on that front is consistent with that plan," Mayne said. "The range of electrification technologies we've said that we'll adopt starts with start-stop and goes through EVs."
Though it has offered consumers only a few alternate-powertrain vehicles, Chrysler has been testing and experimenting with electrified vehicles for several years. It teamed with a number of governments and companies to put more than a million test miles on a fleet of plug-in hybrid Ram pickups in 2011.
In late 2008, executives said electrified versions of a minivan, Jeep Wrangler and a two-seat sports car were in the works, but those products never came to market.
Richard Truett contributed to this report.
