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| Dodge Hornet 2023 - Dodge Starts Electrified Journey With Compact, Hybrid Hornet SUV |
The 2023 Dodge Hornet will offer customers a smaller alternative to the current Dodge lineup made up of larger vehicles like the Durango SUV.
Overview
The five-seat Hornet will put Dodge, a brand that’s quick to tout its muscle car credentials, on a new playing field, in the compact SUV segment, with a first for the brand, a plug-in hybrid electric variant.
The 2023 Dodge Hornet doesn’t have a Hellcat under the hood, but CEO Tim Kuniskis said the Hornet will carve out its own power niche in a place with lots of growth potential.
Dodge is playing up the sporty angle for the new 2023 Hornet and now says it will offer a GLH package that includes several performance upgrades for the SUV. This name, which stands for "Goes Like Hell," is an homage to the Omni GLH hot hatchback from the 1980s. The dealer-installed upgrades will be sold through Dodge's Direct Connection parts program. The car you see pictured here is the Hornet GLH concept and is meant to demonstrate what's possible if you add all the goodies.
Engine, Transmission, and Performance
Kuniskis called compact SUVs the hottest segment in the auto industry.
To its credit, the Hornet is clearly aiming to be the spicy one among the myriad small SUVs on offer today. It comes only in two flavors: GT and R/T. Both have all-wheel drive standard, and the base powertrain in the GT is a turbocharged, two-liter four-cylinder producing 265 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque mated to a nine-speed transmission — segment-leading numbers, Dodge is quick to highlight. It’ll supposedly start below $30K.
The R/T also has a nifty feature called PowerShot that can add an extra 25 horsepower for 15 seconds that’s repeatable after a 15-second cooldown. It’ll drop the 0-60 mph time by a second to 6.1, which is faster than the GT’s 6.5, according to the company.
Dodge Hornet 2023 Price
We also don't yet know pricing for these extras, but Dodge says the GLH upgrades will be "stackable," meaning you will likely be able to add one, some, or all of these options to your Hornet. We'd guess there will be an all-in price for the GLH package if you want everything. The Direct Connection parts will be covered under the vehicle's warranty if you have them installed by a designated dealership, which Dodge calls a "Power Broker." Eventually, Direct Connection will also offer performance parts for the more powerful Hornet R/T plug-in-hybrid model, but we don't know details on those yet.
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| Dodge Hornet 2023 - Dodge Starts Electrified Journey With Compact, Hybrid Hornet SUV |
As with the Charger and Challenger, Dodge is pushing factory-backed upgrades hard with the Hornet. To illustrate this, the brand brought a Hornet GLH “concept” to Speed Week, inspired by the Shelby-upgraded Omni GLH of the ’80s.
This one-off has suspension and exhaust upgrades as well as GLH graphics, all of which will be available to consumers. It’s nice that an owner could make their own GLH if they so choose, but it’s disappointing Dodge isn’t simply offering this package straight from the factory. You’d think with all those new special editions coming for the Charger and Challenger’s final run, they’d stock the GLH on dealer lots.
Warranty and Maintenance Coverage
Dodge offers a fairly typical warranty with all new Hornet models; extended warranties are available for purchase through participating dealerships. The Seltos has the Dodge beat with a 10-year warranty and the Taos comes with two years of complimentary scheduled maintenance.
- Limited warranty covers three years or 36,000 miles
- Powertrain warranty covers five years or 60,000 miles
- No complimentary scheduled maintenance
Dodge unveiled the Hornet as part of its Speed Week celebrations in Michigan on Tuesday night. The brand considers the Alfa Romeo Tonale-based compact crossover its “gateway muscle” product, which would sound like more of a stretch if we weren’t living through an industry-wide purge of coupes and sedans.
“This thing is exploding so we really, really want to be in this segment,” Kuniskis told reporters last week at Stellantis’ U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
“This seemed like ... the perfect little politically correct segment for us to go in, (rile) it up and disrupt that segment. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to go in there with something that nobody else is shopping for in that segment,”
The Hornet, which was being unveiled Tuesday as Dodge’s “gateway” vehicle during three days of announcements for the brand, is expected to provide an entry point for new customers by adding a small SUV to the Dodge lineup, currently composed of the larger Durango SUV and the Charger and Challenger muscle cars.
The Hornet, which shares an architecture with the Alfa Romeo Tonale, will be built at the Giambattista Vico Stellantis plant in Pomigliano D’Arco in Naples, Italy.
Its name offers a connection to the automotive past, dating to the Hudson Hornets of the 1950s – think Doc Hudson in the movie, “Cars.” The plug-in Hornet R/T – there's also a gas-only GT – will push the brand toward the electrified future.
All-wheel drive is standard for both versions. Driver attention assist, to detect fatigue, and intelligent adaptive cruise control are a couple of the available advanced driver assistance safety features. Hornet also gets the Uconnect 5 infotainment system.
The company touts the vehicle’s exterior as one that brings the Dodge attitude to life, noting that “the hood features integrated heat extractors for a performance-focused appearance while the front also incorporates a ‘mail slot’-style grille opening sculpted into the fascia.” Plus, there’s a Hornet badge on the fender.
Look for more info on the GLH upgrades later this year, as the Hornet GT is scheduled to arrive at dealerships in December.
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