“The Dart had no built-in customer base.”įCA made it easy for customers to ignore the Dart, launching the car with ho-hum fuel economy and performance. “People don’t have a history of going to Dodge dealerships for small cars,” Edmunds senior analyst Jessica Caldwell says. It was not the clear leader in any area that drives customer demand. I’ve driven Darts thousands of satisfying miles, but there was never a moment when the Dodge declared itself to be the best car in its class. The Dart had appealing looks, a roomy interior, fine handling and a very good navigation and voice-recognition system. Much better than the inept Dodge Caliber that preceded it. It launched into headwinds that would slow a great car, and the Dart was far from great. The Dart was the wrong car, at the wrong time, from the wrong brand. ►Related: Dodge pumps up muscle with new Challenger, Chargerĭeveloped to compete with cars that regularly sell 200,000 to 300,000 units a year like the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corolla, the Dart managed just 87,392 sales in its best year, 2015. ► Mark Phelan: The inside story of the 707-hp Dodge Hellcat engine Few people other than Dodge dealers are likely to notice when production ends this month. Less than four and a half years later, the Dart is a footnote. FCA touted it as using a modified Alfa Romeo architecture developed to underpin a family of vehicles that would take Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep to new heights. FCA promised a new kind of small car that combined American design, comfort and technology with Italian flair, sportiness and fuel economy. The Dart was supposed to signal a fresh start for Fiat Chrysler, the newly created automaker risen from the rubble of the Great Recession. What went wrong with the Dodge Dart? Born with fanfare and optimism in June 2012, the compact sedan will die this month in virtual anonymity, a failure that never came close to meeting Fiat Chrysler’s expectations.
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