The Dodge Hornet Needs to be the Sizzling Hatch of Small Crossovers

The place have been you the final time Dodge launched a brand new automotive? I had barely began school, it was a decade in the past. It’s taken Dodge what looks like an eternity to interchange the ill-received Dart, so the 2023 Hornet higher give Stellantis’ muscle makers a viable entry-level nameplate — for actual this time.

Dodge unveiled the Hornet as a part of its Pace Week celebrations in Michigan on Tuesday night time. The model considers the Alfa Romeo Tonale-based compact crossover its “gateway muscle” product, which might sound like extra of a stretch if we weren’t dwelling via an industry-wide purge of coupes and sedans.

To its credit score, the Hornet is clearly aiming to be the spicy one among the many myriad small crossovers on provide as we speak. It solely is available in two flavors: GT and R/T. Each have all-wheel drive normal, and the bottom powertrain within 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 fast to spotlight. It’ll supposedly begin under $30K.

In the meantime, the range-topping R/T plug-in hybrid boosts output to 285 HP and 383 lb-ft, combining a 1.3-liter engine with a 90 kW electrical motor turning the rear axle, routed via a six-speed auto. It’ll hit 60 mph from a standstill in 6.1 seconds, supplied you employ the automotive’s “PowerShot” function — a brief 25-hp enhance activated by miserable each paddle shifters and the accelerator. The R/T can even journey on battery alone for about 30 miles.

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Power’s only part of the equation here. Every Hornet benefits from fully independent front and rear suspension, dynamic torque vectoring and an electronic limited-slip differential when Sport Mode is active. Brembo four-piston front fixed calipers are standard on the R/T and optional on the GT, while driver-selectable damping is available through the Track Pack option for both trims.

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 these new particular editions coming for the Charger and Challenger’s closing run, they’d inventory the GLH on vendor heaps.

Prefer it or not, entry-level small crossovers just like the Hornet and the Kona N are the modern-day sizzling hatches. There aren’t very many gamers within the phase but although, not less than on our facet of the pond the place we miss out on the Ford Puma ST and Cupra Formentor. It’ll be attention-grabbing to see how a lot muscle Dodge can stuff into a grocery-getter bundle — not less than till we get a real SRT model. That’s one thing the Dart by no means had.