Dodge: Refresh and Market Like Hell
Dodge brand boss Ralph Gilles has made his presentation on the future of the Ram-head brand. First up: it’s not the Ram-head brand anymore. Beginning next year, Dodge will be represented by the word “Dodge” in black with red accents. According to Gilles, the de-Ramification of Dodge was due to the fact that trucks were dominating brand perceptions. “Mojo” seems to be Dodge’s new buzzword du jour, along with the tagline cool × fun=Dodge. In addition, Dodge will be getting away from the “base, mid, high” trim level ladder to a “lifestyle-based” trim level system. In the future, Dodges will be available in the following trims: “sweet and simple,” “fun and practical,” “uptown luxury,” “thrill seeker,” and “cool extroverted.”
These trim levels will debut with the revamped Caliber interior, and a few slides indicate how this will be executed (comparison shots coming in a separate post). The Avenger and Journey will be the next models to be refreshed in the new marketing-mad mold, with an “even more dramatic” revamp of the Caravan to follow. The substance of these revamps amounts to new interiors, refreshed exteriors and “improved NVH, comfort, convenience and performance.” Only the Caravan will receive new engines.
Further down the road, there’s a new Charger and a seven-passenger CUV formerly known as the Durango. By 2012, new Fiat-based products (C, D segment sedans, B segment hatch), but in the meantime, Dodge will have to rely on new interiors, refreshed exteriors and a lot of marketing. That’s not much to go on for the next several years.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- SCE to AUX I get it, and yet I don't. Time has put a lot of distance between the 1964.5 and the 2025, and Ford has already sullied the Mustang name by putting it on a vehicle completely unrelated to this one.I guess 1965 somebodys will see fit to pay Ford and its local dealer a hefty premium to 'celebrate' the Mustang name.Are the 30th Anniversary Mustangs worth a nickel today? Better yet, how about the 10th Anniversary Mustangs?
- SCE to AUX Oddly, my 22 Santa Fe has higher HP and torque from its 2.5T/8DCT drivetrain, but it has similar fuel economy (22/28).Must be a different ECU tune for the Elantra N.
- Lou_BC EV weight is a BS argument as long as people buy 1/2 ton and HD pickups for personal use.
- SCE to AUX This sounds like it's related to the service brakes and the automatic braking software sensitivity, not the parking brake.My making it hyper-sensitive to save the children, they imperiled the other children.
- SCE to AUX Too bad they didn't include Level 2.Banning Level 5 may be a mistake, since on paper it must work (unlike Level 2, which doesn't have to work). My concern is that mfr claims about Level 5 will be shattered by reality.
Comments
Join the conversation
50merc wrote: Oh, say, what was the old plan? I assume it called for shoddy, noisy, uneconomical and unreliable cars with crappy interiors. If it was, they executed perfectly!