Are Dodge cars sold in Australia?

American brand slips quietly into hibernation as Fiat Chrysler Australia pins hopes on muscle car revival

The Dodge Journey has reached its final destination in Australia as the American brand prepares to go into hibernation - again.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia's new Managing Director, Steve Zanlunghi, told Australian media this week that the company is "running out" the remaining examples of the seven-seat people mover in local showrooms.

When they go, so will the Dodge brand as the Journey was the only model sold locally.

However, Zanlunghi admits FCAA is still working on convincing its American parent company to develop future Dodge models, such as the next-generation Challenger coupe and Charger sedan, in right-hand drive to be revive the brand as a muscle car specialist.

"We're in the process right now of running out of final vehicle, which is the Journey. And we're looking at different business cases to bring other models to Australia in the future," he said.

Existing Dodge owners won't be left in the lurch though, as the company will maintain service arrangements through its current dealer network that will continue to offer Chrysler, Fiat and Jeep models.

While Dodge will disappear, Zanlunghi says there is still a viable position in Australia for sister brand Chrysler with its hulking 300 sedan, even though sales of large cars continue to slide, as he indicated there is potential to grow the product line-up in the future.

"Chrysler right now we have good business with the 300C and we have some other models in the pipeline that we're looking at," he said.

"I'm looking at everything that will move our business forward and that would be well received by our customers."

Zanlunghi was less enthusiastic than his predecessor, Pat Dougherty, on the potential to introduce the smaller Ram 1500 series to Australia, saying "it is under review".

As Editor in Chief of the Drive Network, Amac is one of Australia's most experienced automotive journalists with more than 25 years experience in newspapers, magazines, broadcasting and digital media.

Read more about Andrew Maclean

Dodge dates back to the beginning of the motor industry in America, first as a supplier of parts to Ford before going on to build cars in its own right. The brand was first seen in Australia in 1915 when S.A. Cheney began importing them. It became part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the seventh largest carmaker in the world, when Fiat acquired Chrysler from Daimler-Benz in 2014. The brand is sold here under the banner of Fiat Chrysler Australia, which sells two versions of the Journey crossover wagon, the SXT and the R/T. Both are five-seaters with a seven-seat option, and have V6 petrol engines.

Browse Dodge Models by bodytype

Latest Dodge News

The Ford Mustang has quickly become one of the bestselling performance cars in the Australian market and this pony car popularity has many Aussie fans of American muscle cars hoping that the Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro will soon join the Mustang in the local dealership network. Unfortunately, it sounds like there will soon be no chance of the Challenger or Charger being sold Down Under in any form – Hellcat or otherwise – as according to Allpar, the Dodge brand could be ending its Aussie operations.

Australian Boss on Dodge’s Future
FCA Australia CEO Steve Zanlunghi only took the position around 2 months ago, but he has already been forced to deliver some painful news to the local Mopar fans – the Dodge brand is on its way out of the country.

Currently, the only Dodge sold in Australia is the Journey, which moved just 28 units August. Dodge has sold more Vipers than that in the US, every month that the current generation has existed – just for comparison. As you can probably imagine, with less than 30 vehicles sold per month, it is hard to justify keeping the brand around in the future.

Of course, local Mopar fans might insist that introducing more vehicles that buyers want – like the Challenger and Charger – might play a big part in improving Dodge sales, but the closely related Chrysler 300 is available in a few different forms (including the SRT 392 model) and with just 34 examples sold in August, sales of the rear wheel drive sedan aren’t very good either.

While there are most certainly some prospective buyers in Australia who would like to be able to buy a new Dodge Challenger or Charger at their local dealership, the fact that so few people are buying the Chrysler 300 doesn’t bode well for the future of the other rear-drive performance models Down Under.

It should be noted that while Chrysler 300 sales are slow, it isn’t due to a lack of interest in a rear-drive American performance car. Through September, Ford has sold 4,621 Mustangs in Australia, leading to an average of 514 cars sold per month. Based on 300 sales, the market might not be as interested in a big sedan (although the Aussie market has typically embraced high performance sedans), but they are most certainly interested in the Ford Mustang – so perhaps the rear wheel drive 2-door is the way to go.

Based on that train of thought, the Dodge Challenger might prove to be super popular in Australia, but we might not ever find out if FCA decides to axe the Dodge brand Down Under.

Source: Allpar

Can I buy a Dodge in Australia?

What is Dodge called in Australia?

Why is Dodge no longer in Australia?

Is Dodge coming to Australia?