1955 Dodge Custom Royal on 2040-cars

Auto blog

FCA applies to trademark 'Hornet' and 'Dodge Hornet' names

FCA's trademark binge on March 6 isn't the only time this month that the automaker's appealed to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Motor Trend discovered two applications FCA submitted on March 3, one for "Dodge Hornet," the other simply for "Hornet." The automaker requested to reserve both names in Canada and Mexico, too. The only time Dodge has ever used the Hornet name was on a chunky, four-door subcompact hatchback revealed at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show, planned for the European market with a 170-horsepower engine developed with BMW. Crowds loved the car, encouraging Chrysler to find a way to put it into production. What followed was three years of aborted platform-swapping efforts first with Chinese automaker Chery and then with Nissan before Chrysler gave up. In 2009, analysts suspected new owner Fiat might try to get a Hornet done on one of the Italian automaker's European platforms. Nothing came of that, either, FCA opting to resurrect another historical nameplate for the Dodge Dart sedan in 2011. If a new Dodge model gets the Hornet label, the best guess for a product that needs to succeed in North America is a crossover. With the Grand Caravan soon headed to pasture and the Journey expected to follow soon after, the brand will be left with a big sedan, a big coupe, and a big three-row crossover. A reborn Hornet could pick up where the concept left off, slotting into the compact space left by the outgoing Journey and where models like the Nitro and Caliber once lived. Another guess posits something a little larger, based off the Chrysler Pacifica platform, to lower development costs and increase utilization at the Windsor, Ontario, plant that builds the Pacifica and Grand Caravan. Or the Hornet could be a PSA Group model reworked into service for our market; that opens up the size choices, although PSA is moving all of its products to two platforms, both front-wheel-drive based. It's possible Dodge won't do anything with the name, the recent application nothing more than an attempt to reserve company property. Hudson reserved Hornet in 1950 for a sedan built from 1951 to 1954. After Hudson merged with Nash to form AMC, AMC used the name on a compact sedan built from 1969 to 1977. Chrysler took over AMC in 1987, letting the Hornet trademark expire in 1992.

How Dodge dealers are earning the right to sell Hellcats

We all hate the idea of the dreaded dealer markup when it comes to buying a highly anticipated new car. Take the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, for example. You might spend hours reading about its supercharged V8 and speccing the model just right in the configurator, but when it finally comes down to laying down the cash, the dealer adds thousands of dollars as a "market adjustment" on the muscle machine of your dreams. As it turns out, when the Hellcat starts hitting showrooms in the third quarter, Dodge is trying to make sure that's not the case.
Dealer orders for the much-hyped Hellcat recently started, but Dodge boss Tim Kuniskis has put some special caveats in place to ensure that the Hellcat makes it to the road quickly. The initial allocation is based on the number of Dodge products that a showroom has sold in the last 180 days, and a second allotment in December is based on the last 90 days of sales and 30-day turnover. "You sell a lot of Darts for me, Journeys for me, Durangos for me, I'm going to give you the rights to this one, too, because this is a halo of the brand," said Kuniskis to Automotive News.
Furthermore, how quickly the Hellcat sells is also going to decide whether showrooms get more of them. "If you want to market-adjust the car, that's your right. But if your days-on-lot goes above what the other guys that are selling them at MSRP is, they will end up earning the allocation because their days-on-lot will be lower," he said to Automotive News. Obviously, this doesn't prevent dealers from marking up the Challenger SRT, but the strategy certainly discourages it.

Dodge Charger Widebody is rumored on its way for 2020

Grab all the salt you have, save the amount you need for your recommended daily allowance. Mopar Insider reports its sources as having confirmed Dodge will unveil a Charger Widebody for the 2020 model year, in SRT Hellcat and R/T Scat Pack trims. Such a move would copy the trim and aesthetic formula used — to excellent affect — on the Dodge Challenger. The Charger widebodies would get also get unique suspension tuning, and the same 305/35 ZR 20 Pirellis as on the Challenger widebodies, but wrapped around unique, dual-five-spoke designs that are 11 inches wide. There has been talk of a widebody Charger for at least two years, many of those conversations carried out in the same way sleuths parse grainy photos of monsters. In April 2017, Instagram user gtpprix caught a standard Dodge Charger wearing Challenger widebody wheels, spaced so that the rubber extended beyond the fenders. A month later, a YouTube account in the name of Sinister Life caught the same car on video. The license plate doesn't appear to be from Michigan, which is where almost all Dodge prototypes get licensed. On the other hand, early spy shots of Challenger widebody prototypes from 2016 featured this same setup — a normal version with protruding tires. The SRT CEO at the time, Tim Kuniskis, joked about testing the Challenger widebody openly, knowing everyone would think it was a prototype Demon. According to Mopar Insider, engines and outputs won't change on the Charger widebody versions. That means sticking with the 485-horsepower, 6.4-liter V8 in the R/T Scat Pack, and the 717-hp, 6.2-liter V8 in the Charger Hellcat. Looks would change, however, with new front and rear fascias to differentiate the model and cohere with the new lines. That includes a new dual-snorkel hood grille and repositioned intakes, plus tweaked side sills. If it's really on the way, we should know this summer. Such a model would also support recent comments from Steve Beahm, head of Dodge, Fiat, and Chrysler brands, when Automobile asked about how the company will maintain any momentum in difficult days for sedans. Beahm said, "[Our] our job was to [ask,] 'How do we differentiate within the brands that are going to remain passenger-car brands?' ... What we do is we try to make our vehicles look different." Related Video: