Let us wind the clock back to November 2016. We wrote a piece in the rumorpile saying that the next-generation Dodge Challenger and Charger had been pushed back to 2021. It was unclear as to why the models were being pushed back, but there was the interesting tidbit that they would be using the new Giorgio platform - what underpins the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio. But there may be a chance that the next-generation models could use a heavily upgraded version of the current platform which can trace its roots back to the 1990s from Mercedes-Benz.
"We may not necessarily have to go as far as the Giorgio architecture for Dodge as long as we are willing to commit to a significant upgrade to the current architecture to make it competitive. That's something that's already started," said FCA Sergio Marchionne during last Friday's five-year presentation.
"Certainly by the time we finish with that architecture, you will not recognize its origins. We may maintain its bare-bones structure."
Obvious question: Why not Giorgio?
"The problem with Giorgio is from size and capability standpoint it reflects much more of a European performance requirement than it does the American heritage of Dodge," said Marchionne.
We read this one of two ways. Either the current incarnation of Giorgio cannot fit a HEMI V8 or is unable to handle the power output of high-performance versions like the Hellcat.
As for the Chrysler 300, Marchionne hinted that it might not make a return.
Source: Motor Authority
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