With the transition of Chrysler from Daimler to Cerberus now complete, Chrysler is relaunching in all sorts of ways, from a new ad campaign to fresh stuff on the website. Chrysler's new "about us" page features a look back and forward 100 years, and includes the following on the Pentastar's green future:

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS. Our concern for the environment has led to a number of firsts in green technology. Like being the first manufacturer to introduce the electric minivan, the first U.S. manufacturer to introduce CFC-free vehicles and the first car maker to sell one million Flex Fuel Vehicles. And for 2008, we expect to put another 500,000 Flex Fuel Vehicles on the road. We also offer the country's cleanest burning diesel with the available legendry 6.7L Cummins® featuring ultra-clean emissions technology, in a full-size pickup. Then there is the 5.7L HEMI V8 engine with MDS fuel-saving technology, and even a 5.7L HEMI V8 hybrid engine coming in 2009.

The big questions, of course, are what all these landmarks mean for Chrysler's future. Sure, ethanol-ready and hybrid cars are two options that automakers can reliably sell to car buyers today, but what are Chrysler's plans ten, twenty, thirty years down the road? We'll know soon enough, but let's just state for the record that as of today, there have been 75 posts on AutoblogGreen about Chrysler. Compare this to, say, 109 about Tesla and 356 about Toyota. Everyone knows green is the future for the auto world. Who is your money on?

[Source: Chrysler]

Click the photo for a high res gallery of the Smart ForTwo diesel

Bosch is one of the world's biggest automotive suppliers and one of their product lines is fuel and engine management systems particularly for diesel engines. As such they have a vested interest in promoting the sales of vehicles using their diesel hardware like fuel injectors and exhaust after-treatment hardware. As part of their efforts to build a market for diesels in the US, they have compiled a press fleet comprised of European vehicles with diesel that they are letting Americans drive to demonstrate how powerful and refined modern diesels have become.

Many if not most Americans still have an image of diesels as noisy, smelly, soot belching and slow. I got to spend a couple of days with a pair of modern diesel-powered cars that pretty much dispel that image. The 2007 Chrysler 300 CRD and 2006 Smart ForTwo CDi are about as different in size and personality as two cars can be. Most Americans are familiar with the brash distinctly American styling of the 300, but have never experienced the European incarnation propelled by a 3.0L turbo-diesel V-6 sourced from the Mercedes product line. The Smart ForTwo is a tiny machine that Canadians have known for a couple of years and most Americans are seeing for the first time this year as SmartUSA does a summer road show before beginning sales early in 2008.

Read our initial impressions of the Chrysler 300 and Smart ForTwo diesels after the break.