Years of missed opportunities and under-investment have pushed Dodge into a corner it may not escape easily
Dodge is doing terrible and was outsold by Chrysler last year. To make matters worse, the company just killed the Hornet. A new Durango isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2029. Dodge sales plummeted 28% last year and things aren’t looking up as the brand recently killed their second best-selling vehicle.
While the Hornet was far from a hit, it still managed to find 9,365 takers. That was enough to put it ahead of the Charger Daytona, which only generated 7,421 sales. That’s little more than 618 per month and a far cry from the 27,056 Challengers sold in 2024. More: Dodge Sales Crashed In 2025, Yet Its Failed Charger EV Outsold Fiat And Alfa Combined While the Charger lineup has expanded to include a four-door liftback and twin-turbo V6, Dodge is now left with just two models. That’s technically as many as Chrysler, which managed to outsell Dodge by 24,446 units. This came despite the fact that Chrysler is peddling an aging van and an even older version of the same thing. Needless to say, things aren’t looking great for Dodge. Unfortunately, there’s not much help on the horizon as Stellantis’ $13 billion investment in America is largely focused on Jeep and Ram. Is Dodge Being Left Behind? It’s not all bad news as the company has announced plans to build the next-generation Durango at Jefferson Assembly in Detroit. However, it’s years away as production won’t begin until 2029. That means the current model could stick around for nearly two decades. Despite its age, the Durango experienced its best sales since 2005. Dodge moved 81,168 units last year for a 37 percent improvement. With all that being said, how would you save Dodge? That’s a pretty open-ended question, but the brand probably needs a legitimate entry-level crossover. The Hornet and Nitro were both half-hearted attempts that were little more than badge-engineered versions of other products. Needless to say, the crossover should also be made in North America as importing the Hornet from Italy was a disaster in the making. Tariffs were the final nail in the coffin, but it was a boneheaded move to begin with. A street-focused version of the redesigned Compass would slot in nicely below the $38,495 Durango. However, it would need to be distinctively Dodge and not just a neutered Jeep like the Nitro. The Charger lineup is almost certain to expand with a new SRT variant, but it probably wouldn’t hurt introducing something below the R/T. That model starts at $49,995, which is $10,610 more than the 2023 Challenger R/T and a whopping $19,450 more than the old Challenger SXT. That leaves a lot of Challenger owners with no place to go other than a Ford dealership. Speaking of which, sales of the Mustang climbed 3% last year to 45,333 units.
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