Yesterday, we talked about Stellantis’ conference called EV Day 2021. The July 8th event will supposedly answer a lot of questions in which electrified direction the company will take for its fourteen different brands. One of the brands that have the most questions surrounding its path to electrification is the Dodge brand.
Over the past decade, Dodge transformed itself from a mainstream brand competing with the likes of Chevrolet and Ford to a performance brand with a duo of muscle cars and a full-sized three-row performance SUV. With the two best-selling vehicles (the Grand Caravan and Journey) gone from the lineup for 2020, it has left a lot of people wondering if the Dodge brand will survive.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, recently told the press that he would give each of the fourteen brands in the Stellantis portfolio to prove itself worth. “How many brand CEOs in the world have visibility of a 10-year funding for technology and product to organize the growth?” he asked the press during the Automotive News’ Congress Conversations series. “That’s what we are giving them so they have a chance. If they win, we will applaud. If they lose, then we’ll see what we do.”
That means that Dodge has about the same period of time to reinvent itself, to get where it has now.
Muscle Cars and Trucks recently had a chance to interview Tim Kuniskis, the CEO for the Dodge//SRT and Chrysler brands about the brand’s future direction.
“Tune in July 8th … we will have some pretty interesting stuff July 8th”, Kuniskis teased.
Although he wouldn’t respond any further, his comment does shed some light that we will soon be learning about some future details about the brand.
Kuniskis also did provide another hint that Dodge would be showing something new around this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas. We wouldn’t be surprised if it is an all-electric Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, as Ford broke the electric vehicle quarter-mile record this past weekend with their Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 drag car.
While we aren’t sure if it means that the conference will shed light on future products and powertrains, an announcement about going all-electric (like the Alfa Romeo and FIAT brands), or if Dodge will showcase a future vehicle. What we do know is that it will be a pivotal point for the 107-year old automotive brand.
Rumors have been circling for some time about a trio of new UVs coming to the performance brand. The first would be an SUV based on the upcoming compact Alfa Romeo Tonale, dubbed the Dodge Hornet. The Hornet should be the first Dodge vehicle to feature a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain. The second vehicle would be along the lines of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio as a rear-wheel-drive (RWD) based performance SUV offering. The third SUV would be the Dodge Durango, as it has been said it would move to a body-on-frame (BOF) chassis for the next generation of the vehicle.
An all-new Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger will make their debut in 2024 on the new STLA Large architecture. Both vehicles should retain both RWD and all-wheel-drive (AWD) offerings and adopt new PHEV and Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) powertrains. Rumors put the Challenger offering both a two-door coupe and convertible, while the Charger will remain a four-door sedan.
Stay tuned, as the MoparInsiders team will be covering the entire event on July 8th.
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