In the world of new cars, the Dodge Durango is essentially ancient. The SUV’s last full redesign hit the market during President Barack Obama’s first term.
Occupy Wall Street was a thing. The Green Bay Packers had just won the Super Bowl. Instagram was in its infancy.
More than 15 years later, the Detroit-built three-row family hauler is, somehow, having its best run of sales in two decades — dating back to even before the current third generation launched in 2011.
Last year, Stellantis NV sold more than 81,000 Durangos, a 37% year-over-year increase. In the first quarter of this year, it moved more than 20,000, up nearly 50% from the same period a year ago.
Dodge CEO Matt McAlear pointed to a couple of factors: The brand readjusted the Durango’s pricing last year after it crept too high in recent years. And it began offering the popular Hemi V-8 engine across the midsize SUV’s lineup, a change made possible due to looser emissions standards under the Trump administration.
“It’s the only V-8 available in the segment, and it allows it to punch above its weight class,” McAlear said in an interview. “And when I say that, I mean it cross-shops with vehicles in the large (SUV) segment. You know, the larger body-on-frame vehicles. It can match them from a towing capability standpoint, but it’s much easier to drive, it’s much easier to park, it’s garageable.”
Old-school feel
The Durango’s focus on big horsepower, solid driving dynamics and plenty of buttons, knobs and other physical controls comes as many other SUVs have moved aggressively in the opposite direction.
Its midsize SUV competitors have increasingly transitioned to smaller and more fuel-efficient hybrid engines and interiors packed with complex touchscreens, digital controls and other technology.
The Durango’s recent sales surge reveals how many shoppers just want a vehicle that’s rewarding to drive without all the other “unnecessary stuff” tacked on, said Karl Brauer, a Dodge and muscle car enthusiast and the executive analyst at iSeeCars.com.
“You could make an argument that this car is the poster child for consumers who have no interest in modern vehicles and all the things that go with them,” he said.
It helps that the sleek exterior style of the Durango hasn’t turned stale. The SUV has undergone a couple of facelifts and interior upgrades in the last 15 years, most recently in 2021, helping to modernize its appearance. But it still retains many of the same sporty lines of the original 2011 model, with design cues that Brauer said trace back to 1990s-era Dodge Ram pickups.
“It’s unique, but it’s not so polarizing, so it doesn’t look dated quickly,” McAlear said of the Durango’s design. “It continues to look fresh.”
Special editions galore
The brand continually pushes out new special editions of the SUV with monikers like “Hammerhead” and “Brass Monkey” to generate buzz.
Last year, it released a “Jailbreak” iteration of its top-of-the-line SRT Hellcat trim, allowing buyers to pick out as many as 6 million potential customization combinations of wheels colors, badges, seating and more for the supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8-powered beast. And at the recent New York International Auto Show, McAlear unveiled a special version celebrating America’s upcoming 250th anniversary.
Dodge late last year announced that the top-end 710-horsepower Durango SRT Hellcat — with an average combined rating of just 13 miles per gallon — would be available in all 50 states, including California, thanks to easing emissions regulations.
That rules change should help keep the SUV’s sales momentum going in 2026, according to McAlear, who added that yet another gas-guzzling iteration of the Hemi-powered Durango — a 6.4-liter version called the R/T 392 Launch Edition — also recently opened for orders and will be sold nationwide.
A Pursuit version of the Durango equipped for police agencies also continues to bolster overall sales, the CEO said, including after a previous Dodge Charger police vehicle was phased out.
Third generation will live on
An all-new Durango offering both gas and electric powertrains was originally expected to start production sometime this year at the SUV’s current manufacturing home, Detroit Assembly Complex-Jefferson, according to the 2023 labor pact between Stellantis and the United Auto Workers.
Now, though, the company has said production of the next-generation SUV won’t start until 2029, following a $130 million investment at the facility.
Dodge dealers said they’re just fine continuing to sell the current Durango as it has picked up in popularity at prices that range from about $40,000 for the entry-level V-6 version, to about $45,000 for the base 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, to north of $80,000 for the SRT Hellcat.
“It is a mature platform, so it doesn’t cost them very much to produce,” said Jim Walen, a Seattle dealer. “Consequently, if you look at the price and positioning, it really is a good value.”
Sean Hogan, a Los Angeles-area Dodge dealer who heads the national Stellantis dealer council, said it’s difficult to find other similarly sized SUVs that have a six-cylinder engine these days, let alone a V-8.
Plenty of the alternatives are well-equipped, he said, but “they’re all super vanilla.” Not the gas-slurping Durango, which can rip off a 0-60 time of around 6 seconds in the basic Hemi version or below 4 seconds in the Hellcat.
“They priced them right, they have good incentives,” Hogan said. “And they stuffed them full of horsepower, which Dodge is great at.”
The third-generation Durango might be ancient, but perhaps in the modern SUV world of touchscreens and turbo four-cylinders, that’s turned into an advantage: “There’s just nothing else quite like it,” McAlear said. The recent sales spree suggests he’s onto something.
lramseth@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: The Dodge Durango, last redesigned in 2011, is selling like crazy
Reporting by Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
