Dodge will retire its long-running Durango SUV after 2024 and replace it with a 3-row SUV with “an all-new, modern look,” according to Motor Trend’s Alisa Priddle. The Durango’s replacement will not get an all-new name. It will resurrect one from the company’s past: the Dodge Stealth.
The original Stealth was a sport coupe introduced for the 1991 model year and phased out after 1996. It was a Mitsubishi 3000GT with a Dodge badge and competed with the Mitsubishi in the market.
Priddle predicts the Stealth name will reappear on a 3-row SUV built on the same platform as the Jeep Grand Cherokee. That leaves room for a larger SUV built on the same platform as the Jeep Wagoneer. Priddle writes that one will come later and may wear the Durango name.
Today’s Durango is a car that divides critics and shoppers. Our expert reviewers give it just 3.1 stars, while consumers give it 4.7. It’s known for power. While most manufacturers have moved away from V8 engines in midsize SUVs, Dodge offers a choice of three. The most powerful, found in the Durango SRT Hellcat model, puts down a jaw-dropping 710 horsepower.
But last year, the Durango fell out of the list of the 25 best-selling SUVs in America. Dodge needs a hit to take its place. The Durango remains its second best-selling product. But much of its current lineup is short on time.
The company, long known for brawn and muscle, is on the verge of a makeover that could threaten the image that has made it successful.
Its two big rear-wheel drive cars, the Charger and Challenger, are on a farewell tour in 2023. Each gets a series of special editions to say goodbye, but they’ll disappear after 2023. Dodge hasn’t shown off the production models that will take their place. But the company has debuted an electric muscle car in concept form that shows its future design direction.
The Stealth will not be electric, Priddle says. Instead, “The new Hurricane 3.0-liter twin-turbo I-6 will make up for the loss of an available Hemi V-8.”
