I like it. Want to know why they didn't build it.
Of course I own a Miata and have had lots of British Roadsters in the past.
Before the founding of FCA in 2014 and before the relaunch of the Challenger in 2008, Dodge was taking aim at small sports cars like the Mazda Miata back in 2007.
Called the Dodge Demon, this little two-seater was planned to be powered by a 2.4-liter inline-four that was said to be good for 172 horsepower and 165 lb.-ft. of torque. (For perspective, the 2007 Mazda Miata was powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder good for 170 horsepower and 140 lb.-ft. of torque.)
That power would then be sent to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. All that with an estimated curb weight of 2600 pounds.
Perhaps the best way to sum up this concept was from the words of its Principal Interior Designer Dan Zimmermann: “In the manner of timeless British sports cars, the interior of the Dodge Demon is purposely functional, not frivolous. Everything relating to the driving experience is emphasized, while that which is not is made visually secondary.”
At any rate, if this had made it to production, would you have given it a test drive? Do you think it would have been a worthy contender against the Miata, as well as the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky?
We were even able to track down the original press release, which can be read here.
Like what you're reading? We rely on your financial support. For as little as $3, you can support Grassroots Motorsports by becoming a Patron today.
I like it. Want to know why they didn't build it.
Of course I own a Miata and have had lots of British Roadsters in the past.
Looks like a 350Z was molested by a Charger.
While the emotional part of me wishes it had been built, the rational part of me understands why it wasn't. The bean counters likely looked at current Miata sales figures at the time and even with a healthy amount of parts bin sharing, simply couldn't make the numbers add up. Something GM failed to do with the Solstice/Sky platform.
Mr_Asa said:Looks like a 350Z was molested by a Charger.
It looks like someone tried to put a charger body kit on a solstice
I don't hate it, and I like the idea.. but the sky/solstice were quickly retired as others have said. I think the miata struggles to get about double digit htousand sales numbers..
The Miata only makes sense to Mazda if you realize it's their halo car. Did Dodge have a platform they could use for this thing, or was it going to require a lot of engineering?
Miata sales in the US (note that it does well in other countries):
2005 9,801
2006 16,897
2007 15,075
2008 10,977
2009 7,917
2010 6,380
2011 5,674
2012 6,739
2013 5,780
2014 4,745
2015 8,591
2016 9,465
2017 11,294
2018 8,971
2019 7,753
2020 4,320
This thing with the Caliber SRT-4 engine would have been a spicy unit. And if it had survived to today, Dodge would have found a way to cram a Hellcat motor in it somehow. The one that I was said didn't come to pass was the Chrysler Firepower, which was a swanky Chrysler sport coupe on the Viper chassis with 6.1L Hemi motivation. Woulda been a damn sight better than the stupid Crossfire.
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :
My rough understanding is the Miata is a bit of a fluke. The first generation sold so well and was so profitable, it has sort of paid for every revision built since. Or made it so each generation has less amortized engineering costs to cover, despite the relatively low sales. Plus, the platforms tend to stick around for quite awhile. The ND still looks like a current car, despite being sold 5 years ago (my ex- picked up her Launch Edition 5 years ago around this time). It doesn't really look dated yet, so I can see it sticking around for at least another 3 years. That's a good amount of time for a model to spread out engineering costs.
Put a Hemi in it.
Putting a Hellcat in it would make it a totally different animal. Sort of like a modern day Shelby Cobra.
Nobody makes anything like that today.
Displaying 1-10 of 68 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums
You'll need to log in to post.
