Just my thoughts and opinions on this, and it's nothing I haven't said before. A lot of issues that Stellantis faces right now could have been eliminated by better presentation and some of the rest of their issues could have been resolved by better utilization of what resources they have along with a different method of incorporation of electrification. The knee-jerk decision to not only stop selling V8s and do a full 180 and come out saying that "hey guys now that we're stellantis we're going to turn the company into the exact opposite of what our customers want and sell all EVs" was a HORRIBLE IDEA!!!!!! And it was a bit arrogant to think that everyone should be okay with this new direction. Did the Hemi-class V8 have their issues? Yes, did they have valvetrain issues, Yes, were they becoming more expensive to produce because of emissions compliance fines? Yes. Outside of the Hellcat and Hellcat-Plus forced induction engines, did they respond well to bolt ons? Not really. Maybe the 5.7L Hemi did but with it having only 370hp and 390lb-ft of torque, it was actually competition for alot of four & six cylinder cars out there so it wasn't really competitive with any other V8 muscle car on the streets and the money it would take to get it there, a person was better off just getting a 392 and then being kind of stuck there. Were the designs a bit long in the tooth as well as the platforms they rode on? Yes. So there were alot of reasons that there needed to be changes in the Mopar lineup.
I think they were smart to bring out the new STLA platforms and to make them modular to use all sorts of powertrains from pure EV to hybrids to pure ICE vehicles. Stellantis right now is doing everything they can to get it's neck from under Telsa/EPA's foot and not having to buy credits from Tesla so they can continue operation and make their company a bit more profitable, which is totally understandable. Where pure electrification could have been utilized to revive Chrysler and bring out a fleet of premium EV people movers which would have more directly challenged Tesla and Lucid (possibly even Porsche, BMW & Mercedes) and had a small 1.3L turbo gas Range-extending generator onboard, Stellantis decided to use the technology to make the upcoming Charger Daytona and has focuses on the Wagoneer-S, a Recon and the Ram brand trucks, some of which may have been in an effort to save face from government and EPA criticism. In a different approach where a knee-jerk reaction wouldn't have been necessary, Stellantis could have used alot of the Charger Daytona's tricks and Tech in a Chrysler 300E Hurst edition, giving the next gen sedan it a bit of retro 1970's styling with the R-Wing front and rear, being that the design of the R-wing is very similar to the wing on the trunk of the 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst edition coupe, giving the Chrysler brand a vehicle that would be a competitor to the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Model-S Plaid. The same with a Pacifica, making it's peak performance that of a Tesla Model-X Plaid and some of the AMG Mercedes electric vehicles and the BMW electric M vehicles. The could have come complete with Fratzonic exhaust systems and everything else to shake up the EV market in a more sensible and profitable way. The Chrysler brand's biggest issue is that it's largest rival brand is another in-house brand, which is Jeep. While the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are amazing vehicles, Vehicles like these, the Wagoneer S and even alot of the Grand Cherokee trim actually take away from the Chrysler brand as luxury vehicles. Again, I feel like Stellantis missed the mark on these as well as the Grand Wagoneer really should be called the Chrysler Imperial with the Wagoneer being the Chrysler New Yorker with one being a shorter version of the other, similar to the Tahoe & Suburban or Yukon and Yukon XL or Escalade and whatever the longer version is called. The current Range Rover rivalling Grand Cherokee Should be the Chrysler Lebaron, with the Wagoneer S being the Lebaron-S. Moving all of those vehicles to being electric would make alot more sense as they are literally priced the same as any European brand premium/luxury vehicle and it would put Chrysler back on the map in a major way. Doing that also would allow Jeep to go back to being a Jeep brand. While having modern version of heritage vehicles is always nice and the Wagoneer was a luxurious off roader, it was still more of an off roader than a pavement princess. Even being on the STLA frame platform, the Wagoneer should be more of a plush Jeep gladiator SUV than an Escalade rival. It should be a Jeep at the end of the day. Jeep needs to go back to being a Jeep Brand and bring back the off-road freedom machines that they were known for. With Jeep being the volume selling brand, moving everything to a hybrid powertrain would actually help Stellantis to reduce it's carbon footprint and allow the brand some breathing room for other powertrains. The Hornet R/T's hybrid powertrain should have been in the new Renegade/Compass as the sole powertrain option on the STLA: Medium platform. As for the STLA Large & Frame platform vehicles powertrain, making some revisions to the 2.0L 4Xe powertrain with the new 8-speed ZF plug in hybrid Gen-4 transmission would be more than ample for what Jeep's vehicles need to be. As I've said before, just think of what a 2.0L Turbo hybrid system could produce with a plug in PHEV 8-speed backing it that can add up to an additional 160kW and a maximum addition 450-Newton Meters of torque. Plus that same transmission can provide that without switch the ICE powertrain on so that's 215hp and 331lb-ft of torque in pure EV mode. To put that into perspective a Ford Maverick with a 2.5L Hybrid produces 191hp/155lb-ft of torque and with a 2.0L Turbo had 250hp/277lb-ft, meaning that the transmission itself puts out more hp/tq than some vehicles' entire drivetrain. Bringing back an SJ-Type Cherokee/Grand Cherokee on the STLA: Large platform and having a revised Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer share a platform with the Wrangler & Gladiator all with a 390hp 2.0L 4Xe hybrid powertrain makes alot more sense and brings JEEP back to the Jeep brand. These vehicles would definitely outsell and out perform the Ford Bronco and Bronco Raptor while being cleaner since they're hybrids. Just think, a modern 2-door option Cherokee would be alot longer than a 2-door bronco with more cargo space and passenger space so it would be more practical than the Bronco and still equally as home on and off road on the STLA Large platform so it makes alot of sense. This fully takes care of the volume selling brand and the luxury brand and makes the company profitable.
When it comes to the DODGE brand, I have no issues with the Hurricane powertrains and I think they will be great performance options. Both the Standard output and high output out perform the 6.1L & 6.4L Hemi V8 engines and will be much easier to tune and modify and will more than likely respond to modifications better. While the Hurricane 3.0L High Output engine out-powers the Dark Horse Mustang, Stellantis still has room to offer a slightly larger I-6 Twin turbo setup that would still pay homage to it's performance history and that would be to add in a 215cu (3.5L) version of the Hemi-6. If Stellantis can squeeze out 550hp from a 3.0L, a 3.5L I-6 Twin Turbo could replace the Hellcat powertrain with no problem. Remember that cross town rival Ford uses a 3.5L Ecoboost V6 for the F150 Raptor and Ford GT Super car so it's not like the displacement would be anything the EPA should balk at. The 215-Hemi-6 was used back in 70's in the Australian Mopar performance vehicles as an economy Hemi engine but it still bore the Hemi-6 name. Taking the two 3.0L Hurricane powertrains along with a 3.5L Hemi-6 and a 2.0L Hybrid that could put out about 390hp and 485lb-ft of torque from an updated hybrid system and placing them in a RWD based AWD setup on the STLA: Large platform would offer a better received lineup for the new Charger than some high powered but heavy EV variants that don't seem like they'll be very competitive with Tesla's Model S simply due to their weight. A 390hp Charger GT, a 420hp Charger R/T Six Pack S/O, a 550hp Charger Daytona Six Pack H/O & a 720+hp Charger Super Bee Hemi-6 definitely sounds better than what Stellantis currently has slated for the Charger. Now if we're going to re-introduce Dodge's "Scat Pack" properly, let's look at what the Scat Pack really was. It wasn't a trim level it was a trio of vehicles which included the Dodge Dart, the Dodge Coronet and the Dodge Charger. Similar to how Dodge's current performance trio includes the Challenger, Charger and Durango. The next-gen Scat Pack should include three vehicles on the STLA Large platform under the Dodge umbrella which Could be the Charger (coupe & sedan), the Durango and the upcoming STLA:Large platform pickup truck. Whether or not the American truck uses the Rampage name or brings back the Legendary Dodge Dakota name, these three vehicles should make up Dodge's Scat Pack with these new powertrains. While these three Scat Pack vehicles could handle the street & strip performance scene, the Durango & Rampage (or Dakota) have the versatility to also bring Rebel, RHO and TRX models to life similar to what Ford did with the Ranger & Bronco Raptor as understudies to the F150 Raptor. The STLA Large platform can support an off road SUV/Truck package with up to 11.3" of Ground clearance and a 32.6" tire. For reference, a GMC Canyon AT4X package sports a 33" tire with 10.7" of ground clearance, same as a Ford Ranger Raptor. This approach allows Stellantis to modernize the muscle car and keep most of it's core customer base, but wait, there's more.
While everyone has focused on the STLA Large and STLA frame platform, Stellantis also has the STLA Medium platform that in a different way can be just as much muscle and modern as the brand needs to be. While the STLA:Medium platform is setup as a FWD based platform with AWD as an option, some companies have shown that chassis tuning and the proper drivetrain can make a transverse engine setup vehicle behave more like a RWD type vehicle as shown with the Acura TLX Type S and the Ford Focus RS. With a wheelbase than ranges from 106" to 114" This puts the platform roughly around the size of a Mustang or BMW M3/M4 as the Mustang has a 107" wheelbase and the M3/M4 duo come in roughly around 112.5 inches. When Dodge released the Hornet a few years ago, it was supposed to be a gateway performance vehicle and while it doesn't sell very well for whatever reason, the idea behind the vehicle isn't a bad idea. What happens if Dodge takes that idea of a hybrid performance vehicle with a hot tuned 4-cylinder FWD powertrain up front with a powerful electric motor in the back, brings out a GLH package that uses a bit of the Demon 170 tuning and ideas for the ICE part of the powertrain and couples that with some of the EV tuning tech they are planning for the Daytona Charger EV in the Electric rear motor, puts all of that in a car that is around the size of an M3/M4, but in more of a Civic Type R hatchback design and brings back a Dodge Dart and calls this vehicle the SRT Dart Demon-340 being that it would have 340Kw of power, which equates to roughly 455hp. The STLA Medium platform is truly no slouch in and of itself and even in EV form it can handle both 400 and 800 volt architecture, which means an all electric Dart GTS-426 could be useful in actually competing with the performance variant of the Tesla Model-3 with 426kW of power which is roughly 571hp. At that point, an electric performance Dodge has a purpose. A 571hp EV pony car/hot hatch/ Sport Compact that has an E-Rupt system, Fratzonic exhaust, "engine" feel and all of that kind of stuff would definitely do better competing with the Tesla Model 3 or the Hyundai Kona-N EV While the Demon-340 would out perform cars like the Civic Type R, Integra Type S and the Ecoboost Mustang. Adding GLH And maybe even a Hornet AMX-390 EV variant to the Hornet lineup with 390kW of power (522hp) on the STLA Medium platform might not be a bad idea either as it would hearken back to the AMC days. This is how Dodge could do EVs and Hybrids while not destroying its fan base.
Lastly, the Ram brand. While Jeep and Chrysler are kind of hand in hand when it comes to volume selling and luxury. Ram and Dodge share more of that power and performance idea that blends premium quality with gut wrenching, stump pulling old school performance. I think Ram did itself well with the frame platform and the Hurricane powertrain and even the Ramcharger EV system. I think the RHO is going to be a big hit as well but still people are upset about the departure of the V8 powered TRX, which we know Ram is up to something to replace that. My suggestion would be a 720+ hp 3.5L Hemi-215 I-6 twin turbo, but there is something else missing from the Ram lineup to me and no it's not just a full size replacement to the SRT10 Ram street performance truck called the Warlock with a 720+ hp powertrain or anything like that. The Ram 1500 brand is missing a truck that is something different, a truck that isn't super lifted or anything like that but something that is still a rugged truck. Something that is a decent farm truck, fishing truck, hunting truck, trail truck, mud truck kind of truck that you don't mind getting dirty with. a truck that is just simply meant to do truck stuff but still be a Ram at the end of the day. Something with a small 5.7L Inline-6 Cummins in it that maybe doesn't have insane hp but enough torque to get the job done and then some. I guess in a sense, a Ram truck that can bring back memories by creating a few new ones. A straight forward truck that looks and feels right next to the cabin by the lake or riding through backroads and farm roads. a truck that brings back those retro colors and wheel designs and just looks and feels right. That is a truck that Ram is missing. A Ram 1500 "D-150 Classic" model. As a customer, a fan and employee of the Dodge brand, this is how I would want to see my favorite brand move into the future.
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I had a Dodge Omni with a 70 hp four cylinder during the malaise era.