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Dodge 2015: A Surprisingly Wide Range (and High Sales)
Oct 27, 2025
A decade later, we look back at the full Dodge line, and we do mean FULL line! From the Dart to the Viper, Dodge had a pretty wide range of cars—and some of them were pretty big sellers.
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0:00
In 2015, the big news for Dodge was the
0:02
now familiar, then shocking Hellcat V8.
0:06
Packing 707 horsepower, it was a
0:09
stunning boost over anything mainstream
0:11
automakers had. Far more powerful than
0:13
the already daunting engines in the
0:14
Corvette and Viper, and well beyond the
0:16
incredible 485 horsepower of the 392
0:19
Hemi, which had already eclipsed the
0:21
legendary 426 Hemi. The Hellcat wasn't
0:23
just about horsepower with 650 lb feet
0:26
of torque. It used the Viper's six-speed
0:29
manual transmission to handle all that
0:31
power, or a special version of the
0:33
ZF8-speed automatic. The body was tuned
0:36
as well as it could be, too, so that the
0:37
Hellcat was easy to control. I took it
0:40
on a wet track and was surprised by its
0:42
stability, and its fast return to
0:44
control after starting to skid. The
0:46
Hellcat Challenger and Charger were the
0:48
complete package, not just a straight
0:50
line wonder. Excellent cooling systems
0:53
stopped them from losing power as they
0:55
got hot. The Corvette might run out of
0:57
steam as heat built up, but not the
0:59
Challenger or 200MP charger. For 2015,
1:02
both the Dodge Charger and Challenger
1:04
also got a 7in color trip computer, new
1:07
steering wheel buttons, and new
1:08
headlights. The 8-speed automatic was
1:11
finally standard on every engine, not
1:13
just the V6. The Challenger body moved
1:16
to new dimensions on the LA platform,
1:18
while the Charger gained a sleek new
1:20
front end. The Durango stayed on its
1:22
modified Grand Cherokee platform. First
1:24
launched for 2011, it wasn't really a
1:26
muscle truck yet with a base V6 rated at
1:29
290 horsepower and the optional 5.7 Hemi
1:32
good for 360 horsepower. The 392 and
1:35
Hellcat Durango were both still in the
1:38
future. Today, the Dodge story would end
1:40
there, but what a difference 10 years
1:42
makes. Dodge was already embracing
1:44
muscle, but it wasn't rejecting any
1:46
other buyers. It was still Chrysler's
1:48
Chevrolet with a quite wide range of
1:50
cars from the entry-level Dart up to the
1:52
Viper. Hard to believe, but the Dart
1:55
outs sold the Challenger. And the
1:57
brand's best seller was the Humble
1:58
Journey. So, Dodge started with the Dart
2:01
in 2015. Buyers could pick a six-speed
2:04
manual or six-speed automatic. The 2.0
2:07
and 2.4 Chrysler engines came with a
2:09
conventional automatic, and the 1.4
2:11
turbo Fiat engine came with Fiat's dual
2:13
clutch setup. All had a manual
2:15
transmission, too. The Dart gets a bad
2:18
rap, but in 2015 it had been improved
2:20
quite a bit, and there are lots of them
2:22
on the road today. They sold 87,392
2:26
of them in 2015 in the USA. Next up was
2:29
the Avenger, a very comfortable sedan
2:31
with a four-cylinder, and the Pentastar
2:34
V6, which was quite quick in the light
2:35
midsized Avenger. A lot of people liked
2:38
that car, but it was dropped in 2014,
2:40
and just over a,000 leftovers were sold
2:42
in 2014. The Chrysler 200 picked up all
2:46
its sales in 2015, boasting a N-speed
2:48
automatic and more nimble chassis, but
2:51
less space and a higher price. The
2:53
Charger was next up in interior volume
2:55
with the same engine range as the
2:56
Challenger and that nice new shape,
2:58
which made it look more modern and more
3:00
nimble. Sales didn't change much between
3:03
2014 and 2015 with 94,725
3:07
sold in 2015. Despite the new Hellcat,
3:10
you couldn't get the manual transmission
3:12
in the Charger. That was a Challenger
3:14
exclusive. The Challenger sales went up
3:16
quite a bit. 266 now 365 for the year.
3:20
Again, sales are US only. Next up was
3:23
the Journey, Dodge's best seller. It was
3:26
mainly sold on value, but the 2011
3:28
Journey had been a vast improvement over
3:30
the original cars. Like the Avenger and
3:32
Sebring, the Journey was based on a
3:34
Mitsubishi platform, and the first
3:36
Dameler design had been pretty bad. Even
3:38
before they started selling it, they
3:40
started working on a new improved
3:42
version. Critics didn't seem to notice,
3:43
but over a 100,000 journeys changed
3:45
hands in 2015. The next bestseller was
3:48
the Caravan. Oddly, its SSLAS had
3:51
plummeted since 2014, dropping by 28% to
3:54
97,141.
3:57
The Caravan's about as far from a muscle
3:59
car as you can get, but it was still the
4:01
second bestselling Dodge. Then we have
4:03
the Durango with its 64,186
4:06
sales. It was closely related to the
4:08
Grand Cherokee at that point and they
4:10
sold nearly 200,000 grand. Durango sales
4:14
may have been limited by factory
4:15
capacity at that point. Finally, the
4:17
Dodge Viper stuck around with just 676
4:21
sales in its final incarnation as a
4:23
luxury sports car. Still with the V10
4:25
and manual transmission and no
4:27
automatic, it was reportedly much easier
4:30
to handle than previous Vipers, but cost
4:32
more because of the luxurious interior.
4:35
They did a good job on this generation
4:37
by all accounts, but it seems the
4:39
Viper's time was done. So that's the
4:41
story of Dodge in 2015, 10 years ago
4:44
now, when the Mark had a full range from
4:46
compact car to big SUV to V10 sports
4:49
car. As Dodge enters a year when it will
4:51
have one big car and one antique big
4:53
SUV, I have to wonder where we would be
4:56
if Dodge still had a full range.
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