When Chrysler killed off the Plymouth brand in 1999, it came as a shock to many Mopar fanatics. To those who actually watched the auto industry though, it was a move that was foreshadowed by both a lack of product and the supposed “merger of equals” between Chrysler and Daimler, making Plymouth redundant.
Is the same thing about to happen to Dodge? With the mid-sized Avenger about to be phased out, and two other Dodge products supposedly migrating to Chrysler, Wards Auto believes the future of Dodge is very much in doubt.
Right now the Dodge Avenger is setting a very strong sales pace despite competing with the all-new Dodge Dart, which is based on the Fiat CUCW platform. With the Avenger gone, that leaves Dodge’s portfolio with just the Dart, Charger, Journey, Durango, Challenger, and Grand Caravan. Chrysler already has its own version of the Grand Caravan, and the Challenger is rumored to be replaced by the Barracuda, which will migrate to the SRT brand.
The Charger also has its Chrysler version, the 300, leaving the Dart and Durango as the only uniquely Dodge vehicles. By 2016, when a major redesign cycle is set to hit the Chrysler brand, the Fiat brand will have expanded to include its own version of the Journey, and there are no replacements on the horizon for any missing Dodge vehicles. With the Ram brand building just trucks, will Dodge still have the volume left to survive? Or is it beginning to look a lot like Plymouth 2.0?
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