IN 2009, Ram Trucks was formed as the first division created under the new name of FCA, which has successfully started to separate what should be under which name brands. Having the truck division in a different category at that time left Dodge with a minivan and the Avenger, not a very impressive lineup at all. With this slight offering it might have been the best idea to dissolve Dodge altogether as GM has done with Pontiac, but the leaders of FCA had a much better idea and now that idea is starting to come to fruition.
Originally, the idea was to start branding Dodge as the new mainstream offering from FCA and leave Chrysler as the near luxury vehicle line that it had been come to be known. That idea has since changed, as many ideas tend to do, and Chrysler will continue to carry a great brand, but be the brand for the mass market. This will be a significant change for Chrysler as they take the next steps and offer some of the regular models with the Chrysler name. This should attract even more buyers as consumers see the Chrysler brand name with the more attractive pricing.
With Chrysler all set up to take on the masses and offer the brand and vehicles everyone will love, what will become of Dodge. As they have recently remade the Charger and Challenger, it would certainly be a shame to see Dodge go the way of Pontiac and be dissolved, thankfully, the team at FCA has something entirely different in mind.
What Dodge will become in the wake of the new direction for Chrysler is more of a unidirectional brand that offers high powered and high performance vehicles for those of us looking for these kinds of vehicles to enjoy. Obviously this is somewhat of a risk for FCA because generally when the economy takes a dive and gas prices rise the first cars to be deemed unnecessary are the performance vehicles. Even with this said, most of the high performance cars have withstood the rise and fall of the economy and fuel prices over the years so Dodge might just be in the driver’s seat and ready to take on the world as America’s newest leader in muscle and performance cars.
Does this mean we will see the Viper come back under the Dodge brand? That is yet to be seen. Dodge has announced there won’t be any new offerings until at least 2018, so there will be a bit of lull while Chrysler is branded with the typical models and Dodge is built for performance. We have already seen the newest ad campaign which gives us some form of humanity to the Dodge Brothers with depictions of them in the ads as power hungry roadster driving experts for all of us to love. With this thought, any one of us can be one of the Dodge Brothers in our new Dodge cars that are built to take on the world with power and performance.
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