Desperate times call for desperate measures. If you’re struggling, you need to find the quickest way to get you into a better place, even if it might not be the solution you’d choose if you had more time.
It would be an understatement to say that Stellantis could use a sales success these days. If you got a buck every time Matt Hardigee wrote a Morning Dump with a headline like “Stellantis Is In Trouble” you’d have enough to buy a rather nice lunch by now. Other than RAM trucks and Jeep Wranglers, many of their other models are hurting in the marketplace with months of supply of seemingly also-ran products or niche vehicles with limited demand. This isn’t a situation they’re unfamiliar with; they’ve been there before.
Chrysler was in peril back in the dark days of the mid-seventies, and they found a ray of hope by merely dressing up a Dodge Monaco for the then-hot personal luxury coupe segment and having Ricardo Montalban hawking it as the “Cordoba.” Over 150,000 of these things found buyers in the first year (with 165,000 the next), proving that you don’t necessarily need a clean-sheet-of-paper answer to your problems. The Cordoba wasn’t even the best car in its class, but offering something reasonably competitive at a reasonable price was by far better for Chrysler than having nothing at all.
History can repeat itself. What’s the hottest selling car or type of vehicle that Stellantis could attempt to crib with what they have to work with today? It’s actually a Ford product, and it isn’t a car: the Maverick unibody pickup.
Mustang, Taurus… Maverick?
Despite it being attributed to him, there is no evidence that Henry Ford ever said “if you had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.'” Regardless, it’s a true statement, and Ford has occasionally given us new categories of vehicles over the years that really got buyers to grab their checkbooks. The Blue Oval brought us the “pony” car with the Mustang and gave Euro-style aero cars to the masses with the Taurus (they also brought us the concept of the minivan, but Henry II fired the guys that did it and they took it to Chrysler). Recently, Ford presented the public with the unibody compact truck, a pickup for people who had never considered purchasing a pickup before.
While nobody was looking and with none of the hoopla that surrounded things like that first ‘Stang, Ford has quietly sold the living shit out of the Maverick. Ford sold 74,370 Mavericks in the pickup’s debut year of 2022, with sales climbing to 91,882 in 2023. This year, they’re on pace to sell over 140,000 units. Most “hot” selling cars move off lots well the first year and then sales slowly start to drop as everyone that wanted one essentially already bought one. The Maverick just can’t stop finding new buyers.
With the kind of sales success the Maverick has had, you would think that marketing meetings in every large car company would have big image of this little Ford on screen with higher-ups yelling “where the hell is our competitor for this?”Despite the fact that the Maverick came out three years ago, nobody has anything to answer for it, or at least not really.
Could Stellantis change that on the cheap?
Too Truckish, Not Truckish Enough?
There’s been a lot of talk about the compact truck Stellantis is making for Brazil, somewhat redundantly named the RAM Rampage. It very much looks like a ¾ scale RAM 1500, and it’s caused quite a stir with media and others that think it might be the perfect competitor for the Ford Maverick.
Needless to say, there are some hurdles to this ever happening. First of all, a vehicle made for the South American market likely hasn’t been designed and engineered to the stringent regulations of the NHTSA and EPA; quite possibly they would have to start from the beginning with an American version. The bigger issue might be that the Rampage quite possibly isn’t the answer to Stellantis prayers that many think it is after all.
Why not? Well, people shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the compact car-like SUV platform the Maverick is built on and its non-aggressive appearance is likely the key to its overwhelming acceptance by the marketplace and those that likely never, ever considered a pickup truck before (or had a spouse that said absolutely-no-trucks). Do you like the Brazilian Rampage’s tough big-rig appearance and overall demeanor? If so, you’ve just proved that it’s a bit too much like a truck to really give the Maverick a run for its money. Honestly, many reports have the Americanized Rampage coming in as a larger mid-sized truck to compete with the likes of a Ford Ranger; this sounds more logical as a path for this truck but it’s missing the cash grab that is the Maverick.
On the other hand, the Hyundai Santa Cruz seems to miss the bogey that is the Maverick for the opposite reason. With a rather small bed and too-swoopy styling, the Subaru Baja-like Santa Cruz has found a niche market but nowhere near the demand that Ford is having trouble keeping up with. It just isn’t truckish enough. Also, it’s too expensive.
No, what is needed is something that takes the Maverick’s middle-of-the-road formula and improves upon it. There might be a shortcut for Stellantis to get this rather quickly.
Why You Hating?
It’s time to play contrarian. I’m almost getting bored from reading bad news about Dodge’s compact crossover, the Dodge Hornet. There must be a silver lining.
The Hornet has been at the top of the list of “slowest-selling vehicles” recently. In September there was a 428-day supply of units in inventory, and only 1,536 had recently left dealerships. Why is this thing so saleproof?
Critics have found the interior tight and cargo space rather limited for its class, as well as somewhat poor interior materials and even NVH issues with some of the powertrain options. The bigger problem might be reported reliability issues that some would say are befitting a car that’s made in Italy as a rebadged Alfa Romeo. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
The play actually wasn’t bad. As an Alfa-in-disguise, the Hornet possesses reasonable performance and rather fine road manners that a safer bet like the RAV4 or Nissan Rogue couldn’t match. Styling of the Hornet isn’t horrible either, and there is a hybrid version on offer.
Stellantis has to fix the inherent quality and reliability problems of the Hornet, which will doom even the best-designed car to a market death. That’s a tall order, but even if they do rectify those issues, the cargo space deficiency will remain unless they were to do something radical like throw a cargo bed on the back of the thing.
Wait a minute–is that the answer?
You Want More Cargo Room? I’ll Give You More Cargo Room
Don’t laugh. The Hornet isn’t that far off in size from the Ford Escape on which the hot-selling Maverick is based. Could Stellantis pull off an El Camino-ized unibody pickup successfully from this struggling crossover?
I certainly think so. The Maverick is built on the same platform as the Ford Escape and Bronco Sport, both of which are similar in size and intent to the Dodge Hornet; why not make a pickup version? We’ll call it the RAM Scamp. Here’s a side-by-side comparison if we make these things similar in length and wheelbase:
Surprisingly, the styling seems to hold together on a quick concept rendering which I’ve dubbed the RAM Scamp. The RAM grille in front fits pretty wall, and somehow it works better on the rather blunt nose of the Hornet than the original face. I haven’t even changed the rear door glass, merely added black trim pieces to continue the greenhouse visually.
Here’s an animation to show the changes:
In back, a tailgate naturally replaces the hatch, and step bumper blends nicely into the original shape.
So far, so good, but the Hornet needs that one feature to create true one-upmanship on the Maverick. Currently, Ford’s unibody truck does not offer any form of midgate to complement its rather short bed, though as Jason pointed out recently there’s a patent floating around that indicates Ford is ready to fix that. Still, the midgate in the patent images is quite small; really just a pass-through under that glass for boards or thin objects. I bet Jason’s infamous canoe would be too tall to fit. Also, the midgate in the patent drawings has to fit into a small pit in the bed that is space wasting in an area that could be used for things like additional batteries on hybrid models.
The Scamp’s solution is the liftgate rear. Pull the release and the rear window and back wall of the bed lift up like a hatchback; once fully raised you can extend little struts to lock it in place so that it doesn’t bounce over bumps. Simple to use, and no space wasted in the bed or interior. Also, you’ll have part of the bed covered by the raised hatch like a sunshade.
One would imagine that the Scamp would be rather fun to drive, likely even more so than the rather staid Maverick. They’d need to get the quality and reliability improved over the current Italian-built Hornet. Actually, they’d probably have to build the whole thing here anyway or else this thing might be subject to the “Chicken Tax” or any other import tariffs.
Can You Carry Natty In The Bed Of An Alfa Pickup?
Even if there was a pickup version of the Hornet’s twin, the Alfa Tonale, it would likely need to be made here. Wait, an Alfa pickup? Are you kidding?
Surprisingly, Alfa Romeo trucks and pickups have already been made. From 1954 to 1983 there were commercial vehicles from this brand, and interestingly enough the ones made up to 1966 were called “Alfa Romeo Romeo.” Don’t laugh- Chevrolet had a Chevrolet Chevy Van so that’s just as bad:
So the Tonale-based Alfa Camioncino (Italian for pickup truck) would not be the first one to bear the badge of the serpent.
It doesn’t look bad, and it would be just as entertaining to run as the Scamp (if not more so). BMW has claimed that they will never make a pickup and I’m sure other high-end European brands have said the same thing at least internally. I say screw them; why not? Honestly, one advantage of having nothing to lose (and, let’s face it, Stellantis is nearly at that point) is taking chances. Nobody raises an eyebrow at a Cayenne now; it has to start somewhere. Wouldn’t it be great to have a sport luxury truck to carry your bales of hay or alfalfa (sorry about that)?
Run What You Brung, Guys
Does the Scamp ignore some of the shortcomings of the Hornet/Tonale to make a quick buck? Some might say that, but a lot can be improved upon in those basic designs. They’re salvageable products and, truth be told, Stellantis can’t realistically start from scratch.
Is the Scamp a bit of a lash-up, as in taking a less-than-stellar competitor in one segment and trying to make it into something else? If it is, it wouldn’t be the first. Ford took the sort of dull and clunky Falcon and turned into the Mustang. General Motors modified a Chevy Nova and built what was then the most expensive Cadillac regular sedan you could buy with the 1975 Seville. Neither of those were perfect, but they could barely make them fast enough. The chin scratchers might scoff at these creations, but sales are far more important than critical acclaim.
Come on, Stellantis. It’s far better to have something than nothing at all.
Maybe People Really Just Hate The ‘Big’ Part Of Big Luxury Trucks – The Autopian
One Year With The Ford Maverick: An Almost Perfect Truck – The Autopian
Patent Suggests Ford May Finally Give The Maverick The One Thing It Truly Needs – The Autopian
If you look at the last year of sales of the 2011 Ford Ranger, and last couple years of sales of the Ford Maverick, the market never went away, and with the Maverick being a 4 door that can get over 30mpg it just makes even more sense than the old Ranger.
The current Ranger’s cost and mpg don’t really justify getting it over a full size, but the Maverick is in the old sweet spot the Ranger used to be in, and also is a Ford ‘truck’. The Santa Cruz is more expensive, no hybrid option, looks are polarizing, and doesn’t even offer a nice metallic silver like the concept, and is an unknown.
Not sure this Dodge one would do much better than a Santa Cruz, the Hornet’s are still starting at over $30k, I’m sure they’d think a truck version is worth at least $40k, and the plug-in version probably over $50k, getting near F150 Lightning Pro territory there.
I think importing hybridized versions of the South American trucks they sell would probably work out better in the long run, for GM too. Safety-wise as a truck they probably would pass, then it’s just a matter of economy but they’re can take the car engines so maybe 40mpg is achievable.
Now I want an Alfa Romeo Romeo and that Alfa truck would be awesome to add metal to look like a VW Bus!
They already make the Ram 700 for other markets, the Fiat Strada. They could use the 700 name here or call it Rampage or Scamp.
And they even rebadge the Mitsubishi Triton/L200 as the Ram 1200. Bring it over here. They can keep the Ram 1200 name or call it Dakota.
https://www.tester.pe/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Ram-700-Atras-copia-1920×1080.jpg
https://di-uploads-pod16.dealerinspire.com/kendalldodgechryslerjeepram1/uploads/2022/03/Ram-1200-Kendall-Dodge.jpg
I mean, when Chrysler redesigned the Dakota, they made it ape the looks of the Ram 1500. The Dakota sold reasonably well and I thing the Rampage would do fine here against the Ranger if sold at a reasonable cost. I think I’d rather see that, than a Maverick competitor because let’s face it, I don’t want a vehicle with the same abysmal quality as the Dart.
Disclaimer: I’m replying before reading what I’m sure is The Bishop’s fine article.
All well and good to have a Tonale/Hornet-based ute or pickup, but it’d still be the same as a Tonale/Hornet for 98% of stuff, meaning it’d have the same problems that they have.
The on-paper IDEAS of the Tonale/Hornet are all well and fine (and quite appealing to me personally) but the execution seems to have been largely awful from every review I’ve read/watched.
Everyone misses the point with the Santa Cruz. We don’t want to pretend we have a “truck”. I just bought an SC, and while it’s a great car it’s certainly not a truck. When does a pickup become a truck? Was the Subaru Brat a truck? Hell no, and neither is a Maverick. Marketing be damned.
You’re proposing that Stellantis take a barely-selling vehicle, and turn it into an even less likely to sell vehicle? They’re stupid, but not THAT stupid. Are they?
Nice concept, but we all know given Stellantis’ track record, it would be overpriced by $10K for its intended market, throw codes in a stiff breeze, be spend more time in service department bays than driveways.
Now that Stellantis is in bed with Leapmotor and slinging Trumpchis in Mexico, why not bring that sweet Chinese PHEV / EREV tech stateside?
Offer vehicle-to-load for power tools and camping gear, give it fast DC charging (almost all PHEV/EREVs in China do), assemble everything in the US to avoid tariffs, and build the hybrid Maverick that Ford refuses to.
Side note, Alfa only offers the 2-litre turbo Tonale in China. The PHEV isn’t coming here. Despite China being one of the hottest PHEV markets of 2024/2025. ????
Make the midgate bowed out to match the shape of the roof, with a retractable window. Then when you fold it up, it can slide into a slot in the roof. That will keep the bed area clear for tall objects, and be a key differentiator from its competitors.
There Dodge – you’re welcome.*
* Yeah, there be some engineering challenges with this, especially with trying to incorporate it into the existing Hornet’s structure. It’s probably not practical.
I believe that the GM mid gates put the glass into a slot on the back of the gate itself to not take up any room.
You lost me at “Dodge….”
The Scamp would do alright I think. I’m still getting a Santa Cruz if it comes down to it and plopping a Santa Cruz MTB in the back. I haven’t seen any in any numbers for a while then in the past couple weeks I’m seeing 3-4 a day, I think they are starting to catch on? Maybe its the shortage of Mavericks pushing the SC numbers up?
I kinda want a hornet just to spite everyone. Can it really be that bad?! I would splurge for the longest bumper to bumper they’ll give me though. Definitely need it in that metallic bile yellow.
I mean, not even 10 years ago Hyundai’s were seizing engines on the highway, I’d like to think this won’t do THAT. And now everyone slobbers Hyundai’s knob.
I mean you can get them really cheap since they’re not moving, but you’d only be spiting yourself for living with it.
I refuse to believe it’s as bad as people say it is. It’s a little loud? Otherwise it’s just another boring ass crossover. Every gearhead has to own an Alfa at some point, would this count?!
I had one as a dealer loaner when I was getting some body work done a couple of months ago. It was a top of the line in a nice metallic blue. It had all the bells and whistles my econobox doesn’t have, apple car play, heated seats, etc… It was fast, although a little torque-steery (nothing horible, just something I noticed). My big complaints are that for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to make it switch from adaptive cruise to regular cruise, rear visibility wasn’t great (the back-up camera helped when backing up), and I don’t see myself driving a CUV in the foreseeable future. For a CUV, the thing looks really good, and for the right price with the right warranty, I think it would make a fine runabout.
Do any vehicles with adaptive cruise control let you switch to “standard cruise?” I have two vehicles with ACC, and that’s what you get, ACC. You can adjust the following distance but that’s it.
Not even sure what benefit this would be as you’d have to manually dick around with standard cruise when there’s traffic in front of you.
Same question – we have a 2021 Toyota Sienna with ACC and sometimes I just want regular cruise control. Cannot find any way to switch, just adjust the following distance.
My parents have a ’21 Sienna, I believe you just press and hold the “CRUISE” button and it will change the icon in the dash. Maybe it already needs to be on and in ACC mode. I have been able to turn off ACC in all Toyota vehicles I’ve interacted with, and I’m pretty sure Hondas let you do the same. That is the limit of my knowledge. I will not buy a vehicle that doesn’t let you turn ACC into regular cruise.
Great, I will check that out. Thanks!
I can confirm that the VW Tiguan allows you to shut ACC off.
I have driven several vehicles with ACC; it’s fine for a two-lane road when you cannot pass. But on a freeway, I do not want my car to slow down when I come up behind someone. Perhaps I am a luddite, but I find it extremely frustrating in any 4-lane+ situation.
So you would rather it ram into the car in front of you at full speed? Help me to understand here. Even with ACC on, you can move over into another lane if there’s a slower car in front of you.
Same. I don’t get it. They’ll be doing the same thing with or without ACC. They just wanna ride the persons ass. Which is only ok in the left lane, and it you need to do that, with ACC you just put your foot on the gas instead of braking, overriding the follow distance. When they move over, you let your foot off the gas and the ACC restores the original speed all without touching anything but the gas pedal.
In their scenario, they’ll need to brake to not hit the person, which turns OFF cruise control, then they’ll need to go back on the gas to ride their ass, hopefully the other person moves over, and then you have to reengage CC. Some people have a really hard time finding the more efficient process that gets the same outcome.
Mazda
The base engine transmission combo should be fine as it’s just the 2.0 that jeep has been using since around 2017ish in the wrangler/cherokee/giulia etc. with the zf 9 speed that they seemed to have worked out, the hybrid versions seem to have the most issues, but now in 2024 it seems like the biggest issue per forums is the battery dying on those new owners.
Honestly with its reputation I feel like it’s just gonna be a “Dart 2 crossover edition” unless they do some crazy hot version that competes with the gr corolla, hyundai ioniq n
Initially tenuous reliability and some low-rent pieces inside seem to be the biggest gripes. Then, there’s the fact that MSRP is about $20k more than reality suggests it should be.
Hyundai gets a lot of attention because they have a lot of attractive vehicles at a lot of price points that are mostly well-dressed with features and are mostly reliable (save for the Theta II.4 cylinder – F that motor with a bazooka at point-blank range). The pricing is pretty decent for what you get.
The Kia/Hyundai/Genesis product lines give a whiff of designers and engineers who really do love cars, embrace innovation, and aren’t above taking some wild risks. They don’t hit the mark every time, but as one of the world’s largest automakers, they’re doing something right.
All this isn’t to say you would be sorry buying a Hornet or even a Tonale, but the stats are not in your favor. This might be one of those cars you’d be better off leasing. The depreciation on one of these at current MSRP is mathematically WOOF.
Plus, you have to deal with Dodge dealerships for warranty repairs. If you buy/lease an Alfa, better make sure you have a dealer within reasonable distance that’s in it for the long haul. As we witnessed with Fiat, those dealerships popped up and died like dandelions.
Oh I’ll never get one. A CUV is extremely low my list.
$20K is a bit of an exaggeration. That would mean the RT, a PHEV, would be $21K. The GT, a gas 2.0T, would be $11k. That would be AMAZING, but, I doubt that’s even their cost.
Hyundais are still seizing engines on the highway, five entire 4 cylinder engines lines made from 2011-2021 are all hot garbage and generated multiple class action lawsuits for premature engine failure and refusal to cover those failures under warranty as they should.
Theta, Theta II, Lambda, Kappa and Nu engine families are affected. Con rod failures, engine fires, main and rod bearings dying prematurely, piston and ring failures, rapid oil consumption, rapid deposit buildup from the GDI systems causing piston failures, bad machininng practices, engine seizures, the works.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/cars/news-blog/hyundai-and-kia-s-decade-of-very-troublesome-engines-continues-44497118
About that Henry Ford quote: most evidence points to him never actually saying it. When I was with Ford (in internal comms,) I even had one of my writers go and chase the origin of the quote, because they use it A LOT, and yet, my spidey sense was telling me it was unsubstantiated. Also, it would have been awesome to find its origin if it was something he actually said, and we could have made a great retro piece about it.
Here’s some more people who weren’t able to find it.
And the most definitive origin I was able to find was that it hit the zeitgeist in the early ’00s and was made up by a journalist for a cruise industry publication.
Stellantis already makes what we’re all asking for. It’s the Ram Rampage, and it’s produced in Brazil. They’d need to move production to at least Mexico (Chicken Tax – USMCA gets around that), they could make it in Toluca alongside the Compass. That kind of move might pick a fight with the UAW, since they’re also moving Ram 1500 production down to Saltillo, thought it’s a smart move for a global automaker looking at an effervescent political situation in the U.S. right now and a deep need for revenue. Mexico’s auto plants deliver outstanding quality (some of the highest quality plants on the North American continent are in MX) for a lower labor cost.
It’d be a good start, anyway – the volumes would be small at first, and there are other assembly locations set up for CUSW, including Belvidere, which could use some good news, as the workforce is antsy for Stellantis to finish doing whatever it’s doing there and reopen so they can go to work.
Shoot, they could even call it the Dakota – since “Rampage” might be a little too on the nose for our wacky culture.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Ram 700/Strada can be the Rampage, while the Ram 1200/Triton/L200 can be the Dakota
So I think the Ram 700 would be a bad fit for our market. Looks neat in pictures, but it’s probably too small, unable to be practically federalized, and based on a platform that isn’t on sale or produced in the U.S. – that’s the thing about the Rampage in Brazil, it’s on the same basic underpinnings as some other stuff we already get (or got) – Cherokee, Renegade, etc.
The Ram 700 is basically a B-segment vehicle. Its engines are too small, and the only choice for an automatic is a CVT; more common these days, but the small engine/CVT combo can really suck.
It’d land with a thud – think EcoSport and you’ve basically got it.
The Ram 1200 is a body-on-frame midsizer, basically. So it’s get its clock cleaned by the Tacoma and Ranger, which I think are the two global leaders in that segment. And they’d encroach on the bottom end of the Ram 1500 price ladder without being all that different.
That’s a crowded segment, even in the U.S. – Taco, Ranger, Colorado/Canyon, Frontier. You’d rob volume from yourself, mostly.
Better to offer something that’s kind of a c-segment pickup and unique from the rest of the lineup.
If I got a dollar every time stellantis was in trouble I’d be on my way to a new for 2023 hornet in about a year
Stellantis has been in trouble since it existed under leadership of Tavares, it makes me wonder what all of these loved car companies could have been doing with all the new money if only they were under good leadership
The fact that “Stellantis” used to Cerberus and also Daimler Chrysler and also a company that Iacocca had to get government guarantees to save says that they’ve been in trouble long before that.
Stellantis used to be FCA, which made a lot of great vehicles, cerberus just bought what daimler dumped behind a dumpster, of which daimlerchrysler used to be the Chrysler Corporation which Lee Iacocca saved with the K car, and started doing pretty well with okay cars in the early 90s, flush with cash until said merger.
Chrysler has always been the most bipolar of the big three, they’re either killing it or on the brink of death, and I would hate for FCA to be their last high point before a sad death at the hands of the executive board of Stellantis. Love them or hate them they’re an important company historically and culturally.
While I don’t hate the design.. I’d rather them hack the back half off the new Charger and make a new version of the old Rampage. Since the El Camino and Ranchero haven’t existed for a while it’s a segment currently completely unoccupied.
The Chargero sounds better than the Horneto.
the problem will still be price and options. the Maverick was limited on production output the first year, probably the second as well. on Paper the 20K version got 42 MPG with a warranty, and you could claim going green because of the Hybrid design.
the pricing is no longer as good and the Hyundai mentioned is much closer in price base for base, though they surprisingly don’t offer a Hybrid or even full Battery version yet and that is a something they could do pretty easily I would think with the existance of the Ioniq boxes on wheels.
Stellantis should do this, but I am not sure they could get the price point to a level that would entice people in, and they probably could not afford the loss leader years to build crowd mentality feelings of FOMO about a ho-hum daily commuter without a trunk. if they could have they really should have done the hornet in the same prices and flavors of the Maverick and I have a feeling they could have seen more sales numbers, just maybe not profits per car.