Dodge makes muscle cars. Americans buy more practical little crossovers. If you’re Dodge, this presents you with a challenge: How do you turn the kind of buyer that wants a functional small SUV into someone that will spend the next few decades identifying with Dominic Toretto and the lifelong fans Dodge calls “the Brotherhood of Muscle”?
Their answer? A gateway drug. A rocks glass of pragmatic compact crossover with a shot of muscle car attitude back. Meet the 2023 Dodge Hornet. Dodge hasn’t revealed the insect’s exact price yet, but, meeting with reporters, CEO Tim Kuniskis called it “the most powerful SUV in the compact segment under $30,000.” That figure likely represents the base model’s sticker price. Read: Dodge discontinues the Challenger and Charger ‘muscle cars’ to steer toward ‘a bright new electrified future’An Alfa Romeo through Dodge-colored glasses First things first – the Hornet is based on the Alfa Romeo Tonale. It wasn’t designed from scratch as a Dodge. But, Kuniskis notes, the original Dodge Charger was built on the Chrysler 300 frame and took on a personality all its own. The Hornet, Dodge believes, will do the same. It does it with a muscular Dodge front fascia grafted onto the Euro curves of the Tonale. Deep character lines in the hood draw back from a pair of horizontal slits (Dodge calls them “heat extractors”) above a grille that could fit on any Dodge muscle car from the last 10 years. A single taillight stretc …