Can the Chaplygin gas be a plausible model for dark energy?

In this paper two cosmological models representing the flat Friedmann universe filled with a Chaplygin fluid, with or without dust, are analyzed in terms of the recently proposed ``statefinder'' parameters. Trajectories of both models in the parameter plane are shown to be significantly different with respect to the ``quiessence'' and ``tracker'' models. The generalized Chaplygin gas model with an equation of state of the form p=-A/ρ^α is also analyzed in terms of the statefinder parameters.