I love the fact that Stellantis is letting the Freedom of Choice ring loudly for us again and for the people who are fans of the beloved Hemi V8 engine. With Tim Kuniskis being back and the helm and him bringing back the V8 engines, it has definitely boosted morale among not only the consumers, but also the crew of Stellantis, North America. That is always something to be happy about. I would love to see this race car, along with a Hurricane Cat-X and a "Banshee" race car show the world that all three powertrains can co-exist with one another on and off the track.
While reading this article and realizing the obvious fact that a V8 fits under the hood of this new car. My thoughts still remain the same when it comes to the balanced future of vehicles under the three remaining effective brands under the Mopar umbrella. In essence, I agree with Bill Burke about expanding the Performance themed lineup throughout the brand but I feel Stellantis really needs to expand in certain directions across the board for the North American Market. I think the V8 should return in a Dodge vehicle, but not in a Dodge Muscle car and also not naturally aspirated in any level at all. I would love to see Dodge bring back the Viper with a base model featuring a 650hp Supercharged 5.7L Hemi V8, moving up to a 717hp 6.2L, a 797hp 6.2L an 840hp 6.2L and lastly a 1,000+hp Hellephant 7-liter Supercharged V8. While the car would still be 100% Viper, it should be on the STLA Large Platform with three body types, basically becoming an American version of the Maserati GranTurismo, Maserati Quattroporte and even Levante Trofeo (Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Diamondback). All of them AWD and all backed by a Dual-Clutch transmission putting the Viper Lineup squarely in the realm of Grand Touring Supercars with certain trim levels that will be more track focused, expanding the reach of the Viper and making it more profitable all while keeping it special and separate from the rest of the line up.
When it comes to Dodge cars and SUVs, I would love to see Dodge do one more "muscle car" along with the Charger and the next generation of the Durango all on the STLA Large platform. The other "muscle car" being a more hard-nosed, hard lined Coronet in a two door and four door wagon configuration about the size of an M5 which would make it a step smaller than the current Charger and still practical, sticking with Hurricane powertrains and AWD drivetrain setups and then have the Durango. Drop the Scat Pack name and return the Super Bee name to the two cars for the 420hp models and the R/T for the 550hp models. Same two powertrains would power the Durango in GT and R/T trim levels. Add the plug in hybrid 8HP EVO transmission to the back of the Hurricane-6 H/O for the next-gen Daytona Model and then add a rear EDM to the car from the current Daytona to this setup for a monster SRT setup for all three vehicles. It's literally the same setup as the Mercedes AMG C63S except for they use a 4cyl turbo up front instead of a twin turbo I-6. This gives Dodge three muscle vehicles, the Charger, the Coronet and the Durango.
The STLA Large platform also handles transversely mounted powertrains, which means a Dodge Dart sedan along with a Dodge Diplomat Crossover Wagon vehicle and a Dodge Aspen Sport crossover, all of them powered by the new 2.0L Hurricane powertrain with hybrid transmissions and all of them All-Wheel-Drive could easily return as the mid-size volume selling vehicles Dodge really needs right now. ZF is already working on the next gen 9-speed with hybridization just like the ZF8HP, not to mention that the STLA Large is a modular architecture, meaning an ICE engine can go in the front while an electric drive motor (EDM) can be placed in the rear like what Dodge already did with the Hornet. These are the Volume selling vehicles that compete with cars like the Camry, the K5, the Passport, etc. but still have that Dodge spirit and feeling with options of muscle-car levels of performance with modern levels of efficiency, electrification and technology. It's also time to bring back the Grand Caravan on this platform with trim levels like the Citadel, Limited, Platinum and Tungsten in a MPV that's a little less minivan in looks but still 100% what a Minivan is known for. This would also be a great spot for a full blown EV in the Dodge lineup. Not saying that every model would have to be all EV but a few trim levels of full electrification for this vehicle would do very well.
With that being Dodge, you still have two other brands under the Mopar umbrella being Jeep & Ram. With Jeep bringing the 2.0L Hurricane-4 out, that opens up alot of doors for the brand, especially on the STLA Large Platform, The Cherokee, being a FWD based version of the STLA Large platform could get the more powerful 325hp engine option while the Grand Cherokee could even use this powertrain in a 4Xe setup for a bit more off-road power in a very capable Trailhawk. What's even cooler is that the Wagoneer S can use this new powertrain with that insane ZF 8HP EVO hybrid plug-in gearbox for a more powerful SRT4 Wagoneer S and bump up power even more for a SRT Wagoneer S Trackhawk that adds a rear EDM along with the Hurricane-4 engine and the ZF 8HP EVO gearbox on that 400V system just like the AMG C63S, giving us literal monsters for the next generation of SRT performance. Plus, the Jeep Recon could even be a serious all-terrain performer with a Hurricane-4 mounted Transversely up front with a hybrid 9-speed transaxle and a rear electric drive module with a mechanical differential and multi-speed gearbox as a Recon R model. What's even wilder is that everything I've mentioned has all been on one platform and it has spanned from volume sellers to absolute monsters with only one model getting V8 engines. Personally, I think that the Jeep lineup almost completely misnamed. I don't mind the Cherokee or the Recon, but the current Grand Cherokee should be the Jeep Grand Wagoneer and the Jeep Wagoneer S should be name the Jeep Renegade. For the sportiness of the the Wagoneer S, It would be much cooler to call it the Renegade S, and then have a Renegade SRT4 and then a Renegade SRT4 Trackhawk with the powertrains I mentioned above. Have the Grand Cherokee become the Grand Wagoneer and having it as an Long wheelbase only model with the new 2-liter powertrain brings it back to the SJ days but makes it more modern. Effectively replacing the overpriced behemoth that we have today that should have never existed in the first place.
I've said before, Stellantis North America only needs two platforms to succeed in this market, STLA Large and STLA Frame. STLA Frame is obviously for midsize trucks full size trucks and SUVs. I'm genuinely concerned though about Ram entering the full size SUV market for the simple fact that you don't really see alot of full-size SUVs on the road anymore outside of police and fleet vehicles. Trust me, I want to see the return of the Dodge Ramcharger, Just like I would love to see Jeep have a sister model called the Trailduster (formerly Plymouth Trailduster), but not as big as a Tahoe or Expedition. Both the Ramcharger and Jeep Trailduster SUVs should be Body on Frame vehicles with the dimensions of a Long-bed Jeep Gladiator so slightly larger than a Durango or 3-row Grand Cherokee. Both of these vehicles could support 3-rows with decent cargo space but the main versions would be 2-rows with exceptional cargo space and have that all-terrain capability that a body on frame vehicle would provide, being powered solely by a 2.0L Hurricane with a hybrid 8-speed EVO gearbox and 4x4 or 4wd only. This midsize setup would also allow the Jeep Wrangler (now 4-door only), Jeep Gladiator pickup and the new Ram Dakota pickup to thrive as well with these powertrains and even the Hurricane-6 powertrains both S/O and H/O. Beyond that, the only thing the 1500-series trucks are missing are some genuinely cool street trucks. Street trucks with RHO/TRX styling but lowered and design to pound the blacktop with full size pickup performance. A 420hp Hurricane powered Ram 1500 G/T, a 550hp Hurricane Ram 1500 R/T, a 650hp Supercharged Hemi Ram 1500, Rumble Bee, a 797hp Ram 1500 Daytona and an 840hp Ram 1500 SRT8 pickup truck. Keep doing Limited, Longhorn and Tungsten trim levels for luxury and have the Express and Bighorn for the general truck sales, dropping the 5.7L Hemi N/A and replacing it with the 405hp/430tq 6.4L BGE along with the 420hp/468tq 3.0L Hurricane S/O and the pickup truck lineup never looked so good. Let the Ram HD trucks be diesel only and now we have a lineup.
I think it would also help to bring the Ram Brand back to Dodge and just have the two companies, Dodge and Jeep. Cut out all of the separation and nonsense and just have these two company really drive the Mopar brands forward into the future. Cull Chrysler completely being that there is really no need for that brand anymore with this lineup being that Dodge would have the Grand Caravan back and the Jeep vehicles along with pickup trucks would have their luxury trims anyway. Take that money from what would be spent with Chrysler and pump that in to Direct Connection and SRT, this way there would be more factory customization for all of the Dodge performance trim levels. While I understand that not everything that I say is popular opinion, I still believe in having a balance in the brand that still allows for radical vehicles that exist within the lines of regulation and can be balanced out with volume selling vehicles and also not get pigeonholed into a specialized niche where they can become easy targets when it's time to cut vehicles from the lineup because they have no worth. Everything I mentioned above has levels of practicality and can be used as an every day vehicle. Just my thoughts.
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