I am genuinely inclined to agree that if Stellantis continues to move in the direction it is heading, it's going to take that "9-second pass straight to extinction" as Tim Kuniskis so eloquently put it. I've stated before that Stellantis does need to repurpose their brands to make the North American brands more profitable which would allow Stellantis to price their vehicles more accordingly and also allow for expansion of the brands with new models that would allow Stellantis North America to cover a wider range of the auto market and allow them to profitably sell EVs along with ICE & Hybrid vehicles in a more strategic manner. If Chrysler is a Luxury brand, let Chrysler be a luxury brand. if Jeep is a Jeep brand, let Jeep sell Jeeps that fit the definition of what a Jeep is. If Ram is a truck brand (which it is) Let it continue to sell MIGHTY MOPAR POWER WAGONS!!! (yes that was a power rangers reference.) And if Dodge is going to be the people's brand then let it continue to be Dodge! While they are repurposed, that doesn't mean they need to be pigeonholed kind of like what they are now.
Stellantis has four STLA platforms and a plethora of powertrain options along with the fact that Mopar has such a rich history of vehicles and powertrains that it does not have to do what it's doing at all. I've said before the possibilities of what Stellantis could do with the Mopar brands are endless and they could do alot of it without upsetting the EPA, without buying tax credits and without upsetting their customer base and fan base and in fact they could have done things that would have kept everyone happy. Chrysler could have easily been purposed to take on brands like Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Lexus, Acura and Genesis along with Tesla, Lucid & Porsche. And they could have done it with both full BEV and Hybrid powertrains with ideas from something they just brought out being the Dodge Charger. Let's think about the 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst. It's not too dissimilar from the Charger in design and to market it as a vehicle that could be a market rival with the BWM 7-Series Li, the Mercedes S-Class, Audi A8 and the Lucid Air with some vehicles featuring a hybrid version of the Hurricane-6 High Output and others with the 400V & 800V full BEV powertrains. Retro '70's Hurst styling with a front and rear R-wing that's adjustable on the EV variants and a rear only adjustable wing on the Hybrid variants with all of the luxury and performance a Chrysler 300 Hurst vehicle would be known for and sell it as a four door coupe and you have a car that can be marketed at a premium price that is electrified with every powertrains. The same goes for several other vehicles from a renamed Grand Wagoneer to Chrysler Imperial, along with other names for vehicle that speak of wealth like the Chrysler New Yorker, Chrysler Fifth Ave, Chrysler Newport and Lebaron. While these vehicles would bring back that top tier Chrysler luxury to the Automotive scene, it doesn't mean there isn't room for two other Chrysler names to return that would be a bit more hot-rod retro fun. I wouldn't be upset about the rebirth of a Chrysler Prowler and Chrysler PT Cruiser, redone on the STLA Large platform, with the Prowler going back to a '32 Plymouth PB Coupe look more than a Ford Hot Rod and the PT Cruiser hitting the scene as more of a modern version of a '32 Plymouth Hot Rod sedan both with 550hp versions of the Hurricane Cat-3 with a bit of Chrysler luxury on the inside but all hotrod on the outside with the wide fenders, side pipes and all of the things that made hot rods cool along with a whole bunch of Direct Connection upgrades, but of course, still emissions compliant. Remember, this is still an American market.
Let Jeep go back to being Jeep. Wrangler Renegade 2-door jeeps, Wrangler Unlimited 4-door Jeeps, SJ styled Cherokee 2&4 Door models, off-road rugged but still plush, body on frame Wagoneers (not escalade competitors), Gladiators, and a Jeep Trail Duster (yes I know it was the Plymouth Trail Duster back in the '70's but Plymouth is gone). Outside of a full size off-road trail duster SUV with a Standard Output 3.0L 420hp Hurricane, everything else should come with the 2.0L Hybrid 4Xe powertrain, meaning that most of the lineup is hybrid.
Ram is mostly fine with the new lineup, although the new STLA: Large Rampage pickup needs to hurry up and the Ramcharger should have been a Rebel/RHO based off road SUV, but we all know that. a Ram 1500HD "D100 Classic" pickup still needs to happen with a 5.7L I-6 Cummins turbo diesel with a hybrid-diesel drivetrain. Something that would be a great, farm truck, hunting truck and fishing truck and just all around truck with a classic two-tone look. Something that's less Monster Truck Big Rig and more simple old-school 4x4.
Dodge needs to be rethought as "the people's brand." This means, Dodge not only needs to continue making the raw performance vehicles that it makes, but it also needs to figure out a better way to contend with the rest of the world outside of the muscle car range. Yes it does need to build some Dodge versions of the more pedestrian vehicles that aren't quite muscle cars but aren't "beige" either. Dodge needs to be the Stellantis affordable volume selling brand that Stellantis can use to flood the American market and fight off vehicles like the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, Camry & Crown, the Acura TLX, Integra, MDX and the Ford Explorer. Stellantis with the STLA Medium platform can knock alot of that out of the park with Hybrid vehicles that can have a transverse mounted 4-cylinder turbo front axle powertrain with a multi-speed 400V rear axle powertrain. With the footprint of the STLA Medium platform, I've already mentioned that Dodge could bring back a vehicle about the size of an M3/M4 with a 3-door hatchback coupe, a 5-door fastback hatchback, a more traditional 5-door hatchback and a wagon and call it the Dart and have it range from being very mild and pedestrian to having well over 500hp and having it as a serious contender to not only vehicles like the Civic Type R but also the Ford Mustang Dark horse and even an M3/M4 in both normal and competition trim specs all for an affordable price and they'd be 4-cylinder hybrids that can return better MPG numbers and way smaller carbon footprint specs as they can be driving in not only eco modes but also full EV modes. Plus direct connection pkgs that can take those power numbers even higher. Same thing with the Hornet. a 500hp+ Hornet GLH on the STLA medium platform, with the regular Hornet R/T and Hornet being slightly revamped being slightly larger and less goofy shaped would actually help the model sell and if they're all hybrids, Dodge could really do what it needs to lower their carbon footprint and make the EPA happy. The Dart and Hornet Combo could actually spice up the Dodge brand in a positive way while still electrifying the brand and being more of those types of gateway vehicles that the Hornet was supposed to be. Dodge also needs to reclaim the Minivan and bring back the Grand Caravan as a Hybrid vehicle on the STLA Large platform. the 375hp 2.0L 4Xe powertrain would definitely be more than sufficient as the sole hybrid powertrain, while a 400v full EV R/T version with the Grand Caravan R/T putting out 340kW or 456hp for people who want a bit more performance with a single option 496hp Grand Caravan R/T Stage-1 trim package with a bunch of performance goodies and a few other things. A Dodge Nitro brought back as the STLA Large Dodge version of what the Jeep Recon should be with a base 3.6L V6 and a 2.0L 4Xe Hybrid powertrain for an R/T model would fit right in with the lineup on the Large platform with an optional 400v EV variant, filling the gap of the Dodge Journey in a more versatile package. a full EV Dodge Neon would serve as the full-electric Tesla Model-3/Kia EV6 volume selling EV competitor. At This point right here, You have several vehicles that not only give the Mopar brands a new lease on life but purpose as well. From here, you can now focus on a few Mopar Muscle cars and even bring back a bit of tradition to the brand while looking forward and electrifying the brand at the same time.
The STLA Large platform is already geared for the next chapter of Mopar Muscle and the new Charger does bring with it a design that loosely hearkens back to the 1969 Model year, minus a few MAJOR styling points ( I am going to harp over those doors until they fix them, that is inexcusable!) While I am mostly excited for the new Charger and I am anxiously waiting to see this vehicle in person, I feel it is a stroke of laziness on the part of Stellantis in making the Charger both a 2 & 4 door model, when they didn't have to. Now I'm not going to lie, I'm really not going to miss the Challenger at all when it's gone. I love the car but I'm more of a fan of the mid-size muscle cars more than the pony cars. To me, if the Charger is going to be the coupe, then the more formal-roof Coronet should have returned as the four-door variant with it's own styling from the '70 Coronet. That would have been a great way to bring back the Dodge "Scat Pack" and still have some separation between the two and four door muscle vehicles, especially considering that the Coronet originally was offered with a sedan body style which the Charger did not have. Having an STLA Medium platform Dart with a focus on Sport Compact/Pony Car performance, while the Charger and Cornet focus on Muscle car dominance along with bringing an STLA Large Platform Dodge Durango and Ram Rampage into the pack, which would also Hearken back to the '90's era of Mopar performance, Dodge could still have it's cake and eat it too. Here is where it gets interesting though. Dodge could offer a base 375-390hp 2.0L Hybrid setup based on the 4Xe powertrain in a GT package, a 420hp 3.0L Hurricane version (matching the 3.0L Ecoboost from Ford) in an R/T package, a 3.0L H/O 550hp version and then on top of that having a DOHC 5.2L Hybrid that can out-perform today's Hellcats (pushing maybe 765hp and alot of torque so it would outpower the GT500 Shelby mustang with the same size V8 while also being able to utilize the ZF 8HP plug in hybrid transmission technology which not only acts as a power adder but also allows the car to run in full electric mode which still reduces emissions. The 5.2L V8 would also pay homage to a very famous Mopar engine, the 318ci V8 which had a metric displacement of about 5.2L. A small displacement hybrid V8 with AWD and backed with optional Direct Connection upgrades should keep everyone completely happy. With a 5.2L Hybrid Charger Daytona coupe and Coronet Super Bee sedan duo along with a Durango and Rampage Rumble Bee duo, who is going to complain? No one! On top of that, it still leaves room for the 885hp Banshee packages and their Stage 1 & 2 optional packages. The Hybrid 5.2L V8 with that kind of power could also return to challenge the Raptor-R and dethrone it again in a Ram 1500 TRX package along with bringing about an SRT-Warlock Street truck and an 800V Ram SRT Banshee EV street truck. This could also be a cool way of bring back the RTS (Rapid Transit System) that Plymouth called their performance vehicles but this time it would be on the Ram performance trucks such as the Rampage Rumble Bee/Banshee, a Ram 1500 SRT Warlock and a Ram 1500 SRT Banshee.
Stellantis CEOs have admitted an arrogance on their part when it comes to taking responsibility for the mistakes that were make in the Market as of recent. The company's flaws aren't the fact that they are trying to evolve to survive in the current market, the issue is they responded late to the changes and their response was a knee-jerk reaction without stopping to think of what all they had at their disposal and how they could utilize their rich history to keep moving forward with what they were currently doing but tweak it to make it work for their advantage. Not saying they didn't study the new rulebooks and try to exploit grey areas and figure out what they could do, they just didn't look at it from all angles. the Ford 5.0L and 5.2L and Godzilla V8 are all surviving because of the ecoboost platform and the fact that Ford can be versatile. Dodge decided to wallow in nostalgia but not in a productive for the future type way. There is nothing wrong with adding hybrids and EVs to the lineups of the Mopar brands but it needs to be done right.
moparinsiders.com
. Rumor has that the Durango replacement will use the same platform as the Grand Cherokee, but the name won't carry on.