Dodge needs an affordable sporty coupe, say a new Daytona.

[Les / Vipers Rule]

Being a life long Mopar fan and one who generally likes the direction, styling, general performance, value and such of most Chryco products, I believe that Chryco needs a sporty, lower priced coupe.

Dodge has Challenger as its legacy, pony car and of course a cool, kick ass car it is even in 305bhp V-6 form. Of course Challenger Hellcat is as one might say, "to die for." Dodge has Charger as it main sedan from V-6 to super charged V-8. Dodge has its Viper as it top halo car. It has Dart for its sub compact and affordable sedan and I really like the Dart. It has mini vans and SUV's but no say modern day incarnation of the then cool Daytona.

I often still miss my Shelby Z.

I would welcome a 2 door sporty coupe and return of the Daytona name plate. Base models could be the 2.4L Tigershark engine with 6 speed manual or 6 speed auto and front drive. As one moves up add a 3.6L V-6 to mid line models with 6 speed manual or 9 speed auto and the top model would be an AWD with 3.6L V-6 and again I'd want a 6 speed manual or 9 speed auto as a choice.

Dodge Daytona would be styled more sporty, handle more crisply and offer a wider price range from as value leaders in oh $15,000, to mid lines 4cyl and V-6 FWD in the $20,000-$25,000 range and TOTL AWD V-6 say about $28,000-$30,000.

Dodge model names could be:
Dodge Daytona (2.4L FWD 6 speed manual)
Dodge Daytona SE (2.4L FWD 6 speed auto)
Dodge Daytona SXT (2.4L FWD 6 speed manual)
Dodge Daytona SXT-AWD (3.6L AWD 9 speed auto)
Dodge Daytona RT (3.6L FWD 6 speed manual)
Dodge Daytona SRT (3.6 AWD 6 speed manual)
Dodge Daytona RT-Limited (3.6L AWD 9 speeds auto)


Chryco could make a Chrysler labeled model, Sebring. A more upscale, GT like model with fewer choices say FWD 3.6L and an AWD 3.6L. price range starting as $22,000 up to say $34,000.

Chrysler Model names:
Sebring SE (3.6L FWD 6 speed manual)
Sebring Limited (3.6L FWD 9 speed auto)
Sebring GT (3.6L AWD 6 speed manual)
Sebring GTS (3.6L AWD 9 speed manual)


Meh, just thinking about a product area Chryco has no car choices in. And IMO the return of two cool names for both.

[thewalrus]

Why not make them RWD and offer it as a serious competitor to the BRZ / Genesis Coupe genre of vehicles? Even do away with the AWD option - and just offer it as something sporty, light, and driver oriented with seating for 2 adults and 2 kids (or two additional, very uncomfortable adults).

Otherwise, aside from the number doors, what would separate this from a Dart?

[Arthur Dent]

A very quick mock up but something along the lines of a coupe based off the Dart would be nice. Is there a big enough market? I dunno ...

[Les / Vipers Rule]

[Les / Vipers Rule]

[Les / Vipers Rule]

I see these coupes competing with KIA Forte and Hyundai Elantra, (including sorta also Veloster) coupes. Honda Civic coupe, and sorta with VW Beetle. The Toyota and Subaru RWD 2 doors are in the mix but different.

It's too bad the market for smaller 2 door coupe type cars is few as these can be cool looking, nice performing and affordable sporty cars.

[thewalrus]

[Les / Vipers Rule]

I guess for Chryco, the Fiat 500 comes as a 2 and 4 door hatch. It's not and American built car but it does offer to those who like its funky styling ( it's not for me though) a small commuter car and small sporty hatch.

[JaysonAych]

[ryguy79]

[Arthur Dent]

[Turbojett]

[Turbojett]

I was thinking about this the other day. It occurred to me that FCA does have a smaller, 3-series sized RWD platform that could support something like this. And better yet, the platform is engineered to be modular and come in whatever wheelbase you need:

[Turbojett]

My thing is though, that Daytona is currently being used on the Charger, and I don't think Dodge is going to take that off and slap it on a different car. There's other names from Dodge/Plymouth/Chrysler's past that could be used for such a car. Coronet, Demon, Duster, GTX, that sort of thing.
...maybe even a car that's actually deserving of the name "Avenger" that doesn't suck.

[Talon]

The Alfa is sexy. I don't even want to know how much replacement parts cost, though.

[Turbojett]

Yeah but it could still be done in America, with American-made parts based off of the Italian prototypes, much like the Dart was. Even if the Dart wasn't a winner, doesn't mean that this couldn't be.

[SBF]

Problem is, in the eyes of FCA, they already have a sporty coupe, the Challenger. If you're talking about a more compact Coupe, that is a fastback of some sort (i.e. hatchback/liftback), that somewhat resembles the old Daytona, then that would make sense. However, the problem is, and has been for a while, is that particular body style is virtually dead. I honestly don't know who even has an honest-to-god liftback style Coupe anymore. The FRS/BRZ is the first car that comes to mind, but that actually has a trunk.

I think turbojett has the right idea though and it needs to have another name.

[Turbojett]

I think the last true liftback coupe was the Scion tC, and it's not being made anymore. No other recent car like that comes to mind. The bodystyle has been moribund for awhile. But If somebody could do it right, it could make a comeback.
I think what the idea here is, is to concieve a sub-Challenger sporty coupe to revitalize the sport compact market. The Challenger is a fantastic car, but it was built to be a big brawny muscle car; it's a sledge mallet. I kinda like the idea of them having an X-acto knife to go along with it.

[SBF]

But you have to remember that everything is a bean counter mentality anymore. The Dart and the 200 are dead because FCA jumped into two different markets that had very strong contenders and they didn't do enough development on either car most likely because of cost of R&D, so FCA put them on the chopping block. The other HUGE mistake was that FCA didn't make a Dart SRT model. They could have easily made a 2.4L Tigershark Turbo with some good Recaros and it could have easily been a competitor to the Focus ST which was and has been a great selling car.

My point is that I don't think you can revive the liftback Coupe market unless you market it towards teenagers and college students, because those are the only people I see driving Mitsubishi Eclipses and Scion tCs. If you want to market it towards grown men and enthusiasts, you need to have them involved in a racing series like SCCA (think the original Neon ACR), then have it air on TV (I remember they used to show random SCCA racing on ABC on Sunday mornings when I was a kid during Wide World of Sports) and that will get men of age to come in the dealer doors to buy a vehicle that would otherwise be popular for the Taylor Swift crowd.

Don't regard what I'm saying as being a Debbie Downer towards the idea, I would be one of the first people to welcome back a FWD liftback coupe. It to me, is just a dead market. All the manufacturers feel that people want 5-Door hatchback pocket rockets, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but people want to be able to stuff their kids in the back seat while they are doing 120mph into a guardrail (or Cars and Coffee crowd). I honestly am surprised the Sedan is still popular in the compact car market. I think a FoST Sedan would be cool, but I've always preferred the Sedan to the Hatch when it comes to most cars anyways (and this is someone who has a Focus Hatch).