Via Leftlane News, buyers, under the new promotion, are given a gas card with a price lock of $2.99/gallon for three years - well below the current price of gas at $3.61. UCS Clean Vehicles Program research director David Friedman cites "poor fuel economy and environmental performance" as the basis for what amounts to a smoke-and-mirrors campaign.

At current gas prices, the card would save the driver of an average Chrysler Vehicle about $400/year, a number that could be reached easily, he said, by increasing fuel efficiency by just 3 mpg. Over the expected lifetime of a Chrysler vehicle, this increase is substantial at $3,000, over the approximately $1,200 savings from a gas card for three years.

The solution, according to the UCS, is for Chrysler to update their vehicles rather than trying to address gas prices.

My take? Chrysler recently finished at the bottom of UCS' latest auto company environmental performance rankings, so it's no wonder that a gimmick like this gas card would draw their ire.