In a recent interview with The Drive, Dodge CEO Matt McAlear discussed the possibility of producing a new entry-level performance car for the masses. In the wide-ranging interview, McAlear touched on the idea of a new performance car that’s (much) more affordable than a Viper.
“Is there a need? I don’t know if there’s a need,” McAlear said when asked whether there’s a need for a Viper-like halo car for the Dodge brand. “Is there a want, a desire, and a market? I think, yeah. I think there’s a market for two things. There’s a market for an entry-level halo and a top-of-the-line halo.”
2017 Dodge Viper ACR
“I don’t know what I’d compare it to,” he said when pressed about an “entry-level halo.” “I think there’s inspiration in seeing what some of the powersports companies have done. Not only the crazy side-by-sides but the three-wheelers, the Slingshots, I think there’s something there.”
McAlear was referring to the three-wheeled Polaris Slingshot and UTVs like the high-performance variants of the Polaris RZR, Can-Am Maverick, and Honda Talon. Vehicles like these provide fun, raw, open-air driving experiences and are affordable compared to most performance cars because they aren’t beholden to the same safety and emissions requirements. But since the Dodge brand isn’t in the business of UTVs or autocycles, what would be a comparable car?
“I think there’s some kind of entry-level, back to that sub-$30,000 mark,” he said. “I think there’s a market for people who just want to have that weekend car again, who would like a Viper, but don’t have that $100 or $120K. Something that doesn’t need all the safety features, doesn’t need the heated seats. Just a car.”
2007 Dodge Demon Concept
The Drive rightly speculates that McAlear is referring to a simple, affordable, two-seater roadster in the vein of the Mazda MX-5 Miata, a beloved sports car with surprisingly few direct rivals. In decades past, the 2007 Dodge Demon concept and the 1997 Dodge Copperhead concept were pitched as more affordable alternatives to the Dodge Viper. They followed a Miata-like formula with two seats, a drop-top, a manual transmission, and an engine with fewer than 10 cylinders, all with Viper-inspired styling. Had it made it to production, the Dodge Demon would’ve gone toe-to-toe with the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.
Later in the interview, McAlear specifically named an iconic duo of Chevy performance cars. “If we’re gonna do future products, we need to get original like the Viper. It’s gotta come to market and be unique and different and Dodge. Not a Corvette fighter, not a Mustang fighter. That’s why we’ve never said we want to go after Mustang or Camaro, right? We’ve always been in a straight line, different kind of performance.”
2007 Dodge Demon Concept
Indeed, the Dodge Viper and Dodge Challenger were a little different than the Corvette and Camaro, even though they competed in the same respective classes. The V10-powered Viper was always a bit more brutish than the more refined Corvette, and the Challenger was more of an old-school muscle car than the Camaro; plus, the Challenger was a bigger car with a bench back seat you could actually use.
“Having a value play just to get people on the showroom floor is important, and I think we have to do a better job making our vehicles affordable for the masses. But it’s not just doing a vehicle to do a vehicle,” McAlear continued. “Dodge doesn’t have to be everything to everybody.”
Dodge Hornet
“One of the things we’ve always done well at Dodge is knowing we have to be different, stand out, have best-in-class claims, we have to have performance first,” he said. “Even with Hornet, we have best-in-class performance for a compact utility vehicle. You look at the R/T, the plug-in hybrid; it has V8-like torque. So price is absolutely important, but we’re not in the business of doing commoditized products just to be in the segment to do it in price only.”
So, the boss of Dodge is emphasizing the brand’s values of performance and being something different while admitting it needs more affordable cars in its lineup. It would appear that signs are pointing to some kind of affordable performance car from Dodge. While a compact roadster could bring new buyers to the brand who would normally never consider a Dodge, it could also alienate the devoted fans of the Hemi-powered Charger and Challenger who are disappointed at the lack of V8 muscle cars from the brand they love.
When reading this interview, we can’t help but be reminded of our recent coverage of what could be a seventh-generation Chevy Camaro. According to our sources, there’s an effort underway to make a next-gen Camaro that’s “affordable and attainable,” which could mean slimming down to proportions similar to a Miata or Toyota GR86. However, a proposal for just such a car was recently “blown apart” because of what was perceived as a not-good-enough business case.
Comments
Irrelevant, since Stellantis shuffles CEOs of it divisions at least monthly.
well their last ceo killed their most popular cars, took away the hemi that hurt their truck brand. so maybe this one is saying these things to drive new buyers to the brand
Carlos Tavares was an effeminate wimp and WEF puppet.
Effeminate wimp. Sounds like someone is insecure with their own masculinity.
And what is this crazy irrational fear and loathing of the WEF? I can’t believe how people have fallen for the anti-WEF propaganda.
Nah, just tired of mentally ill women and weak men turning society into crap. I’ve said it many times here, you can go to the WEF website and watch/read thousands of hours of material for yourself. I personally think their agenda turns the world into a dystopia, the last 4 years were pretty revealing. Hell, look at Germany and the UK still.
Jamie, Effeminate wimp.
President Elonica, and her demented circus monkey Donald.
There is a dire need for entry level sport cars. It’s sad that American automakers have abandoned the sport compact market.
Geoff,
Sport compact market.
AKA chick car.
Waste of effort and money.
They could have rebadged the Solstice as a Chevy … baby Vette. But NO !
Nobody in a White Shirt that smart .
Modern day Austin Healey, Triumph, etc.
Mazda Miata – chick car.
tell that to all the simps autocrossing them
Had a 62 Healey 3000 in my early 20s. Put 50,000 on it in 2 years. Met my wife of 50 years while I had it. Healy Silver Blue. I loved that car.
Now I have a ‘20 Bright Silver/Black Leather Fiat 124 Lusso. Basically a Miata with Pininfarina sheet metal and 1.4 Turbo Fiat engine. Only have 7000 miles and the engine hasn’t blown. It’s as much fun as the Healey … I just wish I still had my wife .
The Camaro and Mustang could, should, can be a $30k sports car. Inflation and corporate greed drove the price up! Along with $tupid consumer spending…
Case in point: Back in 2017, my buddy was down at a dealership and could have driven a brand new fully loaded Camaro ZL1 off the lot for $57K. That same car the past 3 years has been in the mid $80k’s all the way up to almost $100k at some dealerships for convertibles, and nothing has changed on it since 2017. The same year, I could have gotten a fully loaded 2SS Convertible (with magna-ride) for mid $40k’s. Now you can’t hardly find used 2SS Convertibles (Under 10k miles) for under $50k.
Heck even the LT1’s were supposed to be in the mid/lower $35K when they came out in 2020, but that didn’t happen, they shot up into the mid $40k’s in no time.
Gm could make a cloth interior, big V8, back up camera, auto/stick, with magna-ride/and selectable exhaust with a/c, and cruise for way under $35k! (BUT THEY WON”T)
I for one in the past 6 years prefer cloth seats (way more comfortable), and my kids are 15 and 12, so I really don’t need leather anymore because they don’t spill food like they did when toddlers.
Yeah, the auto journalists at places like C&D and Motor Trend, and the Matt Farah’s of the world constantly demanding more high end interiors and features drove the price above what many of the people who actually wanted these cars in the first place could afford.
I actually prefer cloth to leather. Cleans easier, doesn’t sear your tush like a steak in the summer. nothing wrong with a entry level trim interior.
Agreed. Currently you can spec out a SCSB 2WD Silverado with the 5.3 for mid 30’s. Surely you could drop the drivetrain into a smaller body for about the same. Probably not with the alpha platform, but you could return to the F body Camaro chassis which was very competitive, cheap and dynamically hung with full IRS cars, and conceed that it’s a cheap sports car. Maybe add a Corvette grind to the 5.3 to make 400HP and keep the truck intake and exhaust for economies. Add a Z28 with the 6.6 LT 8 crate engine.
SCLB. My bad, no SCSB available in USA, but that acronym was on my mind with the number of sore conversations had on that subject.
Ok Mr CEO. Lets see how you can really figure on doing this. A Camaro at 30K?
#1 what RWD platform? We have an great but expensive Cadillac platform that is it.
#2 The LT engine is not cheap and you will need a V8
#3 Most of the cars have Fake leather. Only the seating surface is leather now.
#4 You want it to compete with the Mustang? You will need options.
Just eliminating leather is not going to get you to 35K. Even if you did get the price that low there would be no profit in the car. $30K will not buy you much today. A good Side by side will be $30K.
It is not greed. The cost to build a car is a lot of money cost of materials are all up and the labor cost took a big jump this last strike. Automakers are looking to partner up at this time not because they are making tons of money.
Today it is not enough to make money but to make the most off the investment you make.
Also the sales of coupes is in the dumpster. Even the Mustang did not clear 50K units. IT sold nearly 680K units in 1966 so 50K is nothing.
Even the Toyota 86. It was made to be cheap like you want. Yet it sells 11K units. No V8 at this price.
Time you you to really get an education on just what it takes to build and finance a new car platform. Also to understand the market and where the sales really are.
If there really was good money in these models they would have 4 different versions of them like the CUV models. Why do they make CUV models? Because they sell and they make money.
I would want a Camaro as much as anyone but the formula of building a sporty car on an economy car platform and putting a large engine in it are long gone. That is just the cold hard truth. Like building a Model T for $500 it is a thing of the past.
The 2020 LT1 Camaro was $32K with no options. It could be done alpha 2 today without costing much more.
Small block V8’s are cheap. They offer mid 30’s V8 trucks, which have a significantly more intense and expensive frame, as well as a multi-part body which is expensive.
Platform you are correct, and the Alpha 2 might not cut it because it’s a little pricey, but totally achievable.
Chevys V8’s are really cheap to make vs Ford, who is severely underwater despite both Ford and GM dropping fortunes on EV’s. Chevy however offsets that with trucks sales as the Chevy 8 costs a fraction of a coyote or Ecoboost, and no aluminum body.
Camaro (and Mustang) should go back to their roots. Offer everything from a entry level vehicle with a small engine and no frills to the high end editions they currently offer.
Your buddy apparently had a good hook-up, since base MSRP on the ZL1 was $63,435 with no options.
GM actually kept price increases well below inflation here. Here are the MSRPs for a ZL1 coupe each model year in the generation, followed by the 2017 price adjusted for inflation:
2017: $63,435
2018: $63,795 (64,984)
2019: $64,195 (66,162)
2020: $64,695 (66,978)
2021: $65,695 (70,125)
2022: $65,845 (75,737)
2023: $68,895 (78,854)
2024: $75,395 (81,180)
Probably not the answer for Dodge. Aspiring to build a car to compete with a car that only sold 8,900 units in a year isn’t a winning formula. Building a $80,000 EV so called muscle car isn’t a winner either. Rebranding their trucks to Ram wasn’t needed. Like several other car brands, one has to wonder if Dodge will be around in ten years.
I’d also argue though that the MX-5 isn’t as sexy as the older miatas were, and doesn’t offer much over a used Miata. A large part of the point is drawing a crowd to segment that largely gets overlooked, and grow the segment.
There is a market for this! This is the market that the pony cars abandoned when they Boomer priced everything and also went more towards the BMW crowd (in gm’s case).
Gen Z would love one of these and making it affordable to young people early in their careers and/or for young parents to have an affordable fun car instead of just old folks that have had 4+ decades of wealth building is essential.
I think there could be a pretty decent sized market for the following type of vehicle.
A Miata clone but with a Dual Clutch Transmission. I know Manual is preferred but this will open up the market to way more people. I know of at least three that want a Miata but will not pull the trigger. The reason is they do not want a Manual (Two of them Know how to drive) but also do not want the Slush box that Mazda offers. And the other reason is the horribly outdated Mazda infotainment system.
You make a simple roadster with the awesome top of the Miata and add DCT Trans and modern Technology you might have a winner.
How about a trade, Bara for McAlear.
Building sports cars around basic ideas is the key to success in that market. Remember what Mustang did for Ford in just two short years.
Dodge and Mitsubishi brought the Talon/Eclipse and the 3000GT/Stealth. At that moment in time I was very excited. AWD, turbos, what was not to love. Had so much fun. What is great about Dodge, is they do radical things, just to do them. Like the Prowler, and who made the Daytona? Yep. And a V10 Viper ?? So bring it, a simple , fun, affordable, radical car. We will enjoy it. Now that we make 500 to 1000hp cars, we also learned they are a beast to manage and enjoy. No place can you really open it up. But in a smaller car you can take it to its limits, and still have big fun , and not break the bank. I enjoy the Daytona ScatPac and the Hellcat, and the new Corvettes. But they do more than you can even enjoy in daily driving, in a way. So maybe a well tuned go-cart handling car is what we need for the daily.
If you’re going to build a sports car, build one. Don’t build some entry level poser.
There is a market, but it’s not large. Something to remember is that GMA is a website for auto enthusiasts, whose opinions do not necessarily reflect the average car buyer. Keep in mind that the sedan market has been shrinking for years now. Even today, there are sporty vehicles under $40k: the Miata, GR86, Forte/K4 GT, K5 GT, Elantra N, Sonata N, WRX, BRZ, GR Corolla, Mustang, VW GTI. None of these models are world beaters in terms of sales.
The enthusiast market will always be smaller with respect to the average buyer, who just wants something reliable to get from point A to point B with enough space for them and their passengers/belongings. As material/labor costs increase and emissions standards get tighter, this has led OEMs to prioritize safe, monotonous, 3-4cyl S/CUVs since those are what is selling. Consider that, with inflation outpacing wages, people also have less disposable income for fun vehicles and instead are prioritizing utility.
As an enthusiast myself, I would love more affordable fun vehicles; however, considering the trend of environmental regulations and the economy, it’s likely this will continue to be a small market for the foreseeable future.
ditch the epa, problem solved
Too bad GM didn’t realize they had 2 awesome little sports cars on the late 2000’s. The Saturn Sky and the Pontiac Solstice in the $25000 range. Another bad decision by GM execs not to erode sales of the late Camaro (again) and the Corvette. Everything other than Chevy and GMC get all the intention and Cadillac and especially Buick are neglected. Profitable but market share at 17%! GM needs car people to lead in technology and looks and stop being a follower.
GM knew they had two nice cars. They fought to sell the Solstice at $19,999 per Lutz decree. It was difficult but they got to that price. It was on par with the Miata.
But people wanted content and to make money options were added. They never expected to sell a ton of cars as there are only so many people willing to buy a two seat car as a third car in most cases.
The truth is GMC and Chevy in this country make most of the money. Cadillac too. Buick gets attention where they make money in China. The sales here are just add on.
GM is leading in tech but it cost money. There is little growth in market share outside price and EV.
You want to grow a cheaper model is the way to go. GM is now doing cars like
the Trax where they are just FWD to lower the chassis content of unused parts to make them cheaper. It is working as sales are doing well. Also the EV is still the area of growth globally. They will market these where they are required.
GM will also improve and reskin their present platforms to lower cost of new product. They have some good platforms now but they need updated. The new NOX and Terrain are examples of the reskin. I dove one last week and it was nice. I still would like a 2.0 offered as an option.
Not buying or selling, just an fyi: $25k in 2009 is $37,600 in 2025 due to inflation.
This car will never be built and if it it will not last 5 years. There is just no money in it at that price. Even the Toyota 86 sells 11K units a year in America. Its time will be soon coming to an end with numbers like this.
I loved the Copperhead in 1997 and it still looks great today! Long-live two seat convertible sports cars with manual transmissions! Driving them hard keeps old people young!!
If a new affordable Pony Car is to be built it will be Ford’s task to build it. Something the kids will want and their parents can afford to buy for them. GM just doesn’t have the people, talent or will to accomplish such a vehicle anymore.
gm can’t even build an engine (l87) now days much less anything new.
Take the lead and build it. Maybe call is a Cuda? Sign me up….
The Prowler was almost it , but shoulda had a V/8 !!!I have a ‘ 05 SSR W/ 38 K great truck, sport car ,Convert able , W/ 6.0 v/8 425 hp with tweaks !
So, GM could build something like this and call it the next Camaro. And give it enough power!! If you build it they will come.
The Dodge Copperhead (the car in the top picture) was such a missed opportunity for Chrysler. It was such a beautiful car and a nice Viper on the cheap. I had a model of it too in that same color.
85ZingoGTR,
You manufacturer a vehicle in the cheap, and that’s what you get, a cheap vehicle.
I wouldn’t waste any of my money on a cheaply built vehicle.
An enthusiast based vehicle will ALWAYS be second fiddle to the car that the average buyer NEEDS. Our society has determined that need is a practical, four seat, tech and safety laden, that uses increasingly less fuel and produces increasingly less exhaust.
The result – jellybean shaped CUV.
What are those costing? Average – $40K. The cheapest $30K for a FWD, base interior, and an inline 3 cylinder. If that is the floor, adding things like a WAY bigger engine will add cost, which federally mandated safety features are you going to cut to make up the cost difference AND pay for the CAFE penalty?
The enthusiast car price is thus considerably higher.
Car manufactures only build what the government will allow, that we will pay for, that they will profit off of.
Ford’s Mustang is a prime example of struggling to pay for itself. Look at how extreme the models are becoming trying to extract more money from the same platform. They NEED things like the (whatever that monstrosity they paraded around the Nürburgring) to extract more profit from the same chassis. They’ll only be able to skin so much off the lower models.
government always screwing things up, always.
I have been a big supporter of GM. I told my daughter, whom I bought three GM cars for her before she left High School and eventually law school. Stay with GM you can trust them. I still feel that way. But I assure you if a new low cost, popular sport car gets built it will have a Blue Oval on it.
There’s also a market for a 2-door, long-bed, V8 base pick-up….but you can’t make the required margin on them.
This just proves Chrysler can’t attract good leadership to navigate the company for the future.
He has to be referencing badging an (FCA/Stellantis) Fiat 124 as a Dodge. It means the Miata is on shakey ground. Read between the lines.
A cheaper and authentic Camaro, with platform mates that embarrass most Asian sporty cars, kills them off in this economy.
I’m guessing Ford is very tempted to have future Mustangs compete more with the Corvette, instead of being in the Pony class with any potential Camaro.
Things we don’t need save wt and money 14 way driver /passenger seats with memory, power tilt fold mirrors, power adjust pedals with memory, drivers seat , radio , mirror settings, heat a/c settings with memory etc…. Auto dimmer inside mirrors massive moonroof, 18” I pad glued to the dash thing we want rear wheel drive , n/a engines , small car one can reach over and unlock the door
Get me Bob Lutz on the phone !…..
Yep! Give car companies back to Car Guys!