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Dodge Desperately Needs a New FWD Passenger Car

Dodge Desperately Needs a New FWD Passenger Car​

A Turbocharged Comeback Under $35K Could Win Back Young Buyers​


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Dodge has muscle cars, SUVs, and electric performance, but what it doesn’t have is a true entry-level car that speaks to younger drivers or people who just want something fast, fun, and affordable. It’s time for Dodge to build a new front-wheel-drive (FWD) car that revives the spirit of the old Avenger and Stratus, but with modern power and attitude.

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Dodge Desperately Needs a New FWD Passenger Car

Discover why Dodge desperately needs a new FWD passenger car to attract younger drivers seeking fun and affordable options.
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Totally 100% wholeheartedly agree. This would be a perfect addition to the Dodge lineup. Although you could take this argument further and pretty much say Dodge needs a lot of different products, and so does Chrysler. It is just staggering how Dodge and Chrysler have been starved of products.
 
I'm just showing this because I like the styling and this particular model demonstrates the variety of models from one platform, because other Stellantis brands have tall boxy crossovers on the same platform. This is from the Vauxhall website.
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My 2012 Dodge Avenger was 192" long with a wheelbase of 109". Surprisingly it was an inch and a half taller than this sport wagon. While the Avenger is ten inches longer I think somewhere in between the lengths of the two models would be ideal. If Dodge built something along this theme on the STLA Medium no-one would cross shop (no pun intended) this with the next Jeep Compass.
 
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@patfromigh​

I Agree. Opel has some striking designs that would give Dodge its striking performance look.

Robert, I like the exterior rendering but I find the interior to be too generic. I see too much LX influence, and they have to move past that design, into the future, possibly using influence from other brands in the portfolio. If you look at my Mopar portfolio, you'll notice a lot of PSA/Jeep influence, while still trying to retain an overall Dodge look.

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Totally agree. Do folks remember the two excellent coupes, one pictured, the Dodge Avenger and the Chrysler Sebring? Owned a Sebring, built with a Mitsubishi platform by the Diamond Star Motors partnership and it was a great car. Handsome, a smart, wonderful performing, handling, reliable sports coupe.
Build something close for Dodge and Chrysler and hit a sure fire home run in this market segment. The new Compass could share its platform and all can be built in Belvedere. Your spot on in your article.
 
Looks a lot like the Charger, but a lot better, for some reason.

It wouldn't be my cup a tea with the FWD, but with the following changes, It would be a compelling car. Not sure if these changes would push it out of the $30k price point.
- make it RWD
- increase the dash-to-axle ratio
- shorten the rear overhang
- make the back end less droopy
- the dash, and probably the rest of the interior, needs more pizazz
- love the idea of the Hurricane turbo I4
- need to couple that 4 with a 6 speed manual trans
 
It doesn't *need* to be front wheel drive. In fact, they could leverage the performance aspect in making a fleet of RWD/AWD models for Dodge; leave 4x4 for Jeep and FWD/AWD for Chrysler. 🤔
 
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Why FWD? Unless you just enjoy owning a vehicle that's hard to work on, expensive to work on, has weird driving dynamics, and won't last as long.

Do a RWD car for $29,995 base price, $34,995 nicely equipped, that's nimble and efficient and fun to drive. THAT would sell like hotcakes.
 
WXman said:
Why FWD? Unless you just enjoy owning a vehicle that's hard to work on, expensive to work on, has weird driving dynamics, and won't last as long.

Do a RWD car for $29,995 base price, $34,995 nicely equipped, that's nimble and efficient and fun to drive. THAT would sell like hotcakes.
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A modern neon but with rwd. I think the base price needs to be lower though, 22-25 base; optioned to maybe 35-40 incl SRT/ACR variants.
 
AlexB said:
Not happening, especially without China.
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which part isn't happening? - the price point? I dunno, if Chevy can make their Trax start at 20k, we should be able to pull off a *sedan* at that price point. They just need to stop over-sizing & make it fun to drive. A Compact or Midsize, something to undercut the Charger in scale but not style, Price but not quality. It needs to be a comfortable and enjoyable place to be for extended periods of time and be able to take the abuse of people that don't always have the time or money to do maintenance when right on cue, while still being reliable.
 
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suzq044 said:
which part isn't happening? - the price point? I dunno, if Chevy can make their Trax start at 20k, we should be able to pull off a *sedan* at that price point. They just need to stop over-sizing & make it fun to drive. A Compact or Midsize, something to undercut the Charger in scale but not style, Price but not quality. It needs to be a comfortable and enjoyable place to be for extended periods of time and be able to take the abuse of people that don't always have the time or money to do maintenance when right on cue, while still being reliable.
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Chevy might discontinue the Trax in 28.
 
suzq044 said:
which part isn't happening? - the price point? I dunno, if Chevy can make their Trax start at 20k, we should be able to pull off a *sedan* at that price point. They just need to stop over-sizing & make it fun to drive. A Compact or Midsize, something to undercut the Charger in scale but not style, Price but not quality. It needs to be a comfortable and enjoyable place to be for extended periods of time and be able to take the abuse of people that don't always have the time or money to do maintenance when right on cue, while still being reliable.
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The price point without China doesn't work.
 
The Chevy Trax is a hodge-podge mix of globally sourced parts from wherever labor is cheap, all assembled in Korea. The tiny engine is a disposable unit. Use once and toss away.

Why is all this hate for front-drive? Looking at the sales charts, many of the successful passenger vehicles are front wheel drive. The Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic constantly battle for the compact class sales crown and the latest Toyota Camry sets the new benchmark for mid-size sedans. The Camry starts at under 30 Grand USD and much of the compact class stays well under that price as well.

The Hornet is a failure on many levels. Mechanically, the plugin hybrid drive was way too complicated. Toyota has been building affordable vehicles with e-axles for a few years. Maybe Stellantis should study how it's done. Dodge needs a D-segment product. The opportunity shouldn't be wasted on duplicating an Alfa Romeo model which already exists in our market. Use the STLA-medium platform that the next Jeep Compass is based upon and build something worthwhile here in North America. If Dodge wants to borrow some ideas from a STLA-medium based Alfa project nobody is supposed to know about that's fine. Just build the Dodge here and use American sourced engines, transmissions, and axles.

Now for a C-segment model to compete against the Koreans, there are some upcoming Fiat models arriving for that brand's global product offensive in 2026. There will be a C-segment crossover SUV (F2U), a fastback Tipo replacement (F2X). and a compact pickup truck with Latin America in mind, but built for global consumption. The tariff situation complicates things, but there is probably a work around, if American built engines are used. The strategy worked well for the Turkish built Ram PMC. Perhaps a badge engineered Dodge fastback might just work.
 
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I don't hate fwd - I have mostly fwd-based vehicles. lol
I was just thinking it'd be a unique way to differentiate the brands.

As much as I would love to leverage our european marques for rebrands here, I think there is a certain amount of folly in that strategy. First the whole importing thing which is potentially even more costly the way things currently stand, but it's lazy. They tried reskinning an Alfa for Dodge and did very little to make it Dodge beyond the bumpers and lighting. The upside, is if they do that with CHRYSLER they don't already have a brand identity beyond the minivans. That might work.

I like DS for Chrysler, especially the No8. It looks to be about the same size as the Cherokee/Wagoneer S, but clearly styled as more of a sedan.
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The DS No4 could be a Dodge, too. They need to stop being afraid of hatchbacks in the US. lol

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The problem with the C-segment models from Stellantis is that they’re all either the small CMP or the Smart platform. There are no production lines existing or planned for here. I also don’t know if any of our North American built engines would fit under the hood.
 
patfromigh said:
The problem with the C-segment models from Stellantis is that they’re all either the small CMP or the Smart platform. There are no production lines existing or planned for here. I also don’t know if any of our North American built engines would fit under the hood.
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Just means they're way behind the curve in actually producing anything that isn't a Jeep as far as we know.
 
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