Dodge's CEO Says Everyone Needs To Reconsider The Definition Of "Cheap Car"

Dodge almost exclusively sells the Durango SUV at this point. Almost 90% of the brand's sales came from it last quarter. Coming in under $40,000, it's pretty cheap as far as midsize SUVs go. However, $40,000 is still $40,000, and plenty of Americans simply cannot afford that. So, says CEO Matt McAlear, Dodge has to reevaluate exactly what an affordable car looks like, and what features it'll have to take out to get smaller models to a more paletable price point.

McAlear told The Drive: “I think the biggest thing that we need to start doing is challenging the industry on what the expectations are from an entry-level base vehicle. And I don’t mean that from the word cheap or less—I mean that from that of ‘back-to-the-basics.’ Analog gauges. Do you need a radio? Do you just have speakers that you Bluetooth to?”

The CEO talks about carving a niche for something incredibly cheap. Think: four wheels and a box. More than that, it's not just Dodge that needs to reckon with this approach; it's the industry as a whole. He's got a point: the average transaction price for a new vehicle has hovered around $50K for the last few years.

“We need to push forward and maybe make people uncomfortable, but give them something they don’t realize that they want,” he continued. “And I think that’s an industry-wide thing, that it’s time to always—you have to be evolutionary in so many of your mainstream segments, but you take brands like Dodge, you take something like that. We’re a brand that can absolutely turn a segment on its head and bring something to market that no one saw coming. We’ve done it before over the years. We did it with the first Viper.”

Right now, Dodge doesn't need another Viper, or even another sports car. Instead, it needs a lineup of appealing crossovers and SUVs to replace or supplement the aging Durango. The Hornet was a first attempt, but the brand has yet to find its niche in other segments. How quickly it can do that, and whether it'll be able to deliver on that super cheap car no one knows they want yet, will determine the brand's future.