Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis said in August that Dodge has carved out its own space in the utility segment with its focus on performance. After the Hellcat model that tops the lineup, the vehicle offers a 475-hp SRT trim along with the R/T and Citadel trims that get 360 hp from the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8.
Kuniskis said the brand calls the Durango the “three-row Charger.”
With the Durango, Dodge has been “leaning into the performance and the attitude of that [and] making it different in that segment,” Kuniskis told Automotive News during the Roadkill Nights drag racing event in Pontiac, Mich. “It does two things: No. 1, it separates us in the showroom, which is very important, and two, it separates us from everything else in the marketplace.
“We’re not competing on what I call the spreadsheet,” he said. “We’re not competing on price, value, fuel economy, things like that. It’s ‘I want a Durango or I don’t,’ and that’s really how you carve out a unique space in the segment.”
