Dodge's All-New Avenger Concept

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Dodge Avenger Concept Makes Bold, Powerful Style Statement

Paris, Sep 20, 2006 -

Dodge is looking to spin the global D-segment with the all-new Dodge Avenger concept — a bold, styling statement that does away with the idea that a functional mid-size car is automatically boring. Avenger’s Dodge branded styling makes a definite statement in the D-segment, commanding attention and evoking attributes that define the Dodge brand: bold, powerful, capable and street smart.

This Avenger concept, finished in a striking Inferno Red, will appeal to car buyers around the world who need the practicality, functionality and fuel efficiency of a mid-size sedan, but want more, including a vehicle with pizzazz that stands out and makes a statement. Avenger’s bold Dodge styling, innovative features and solid performance would allow them to do just that. The Avenger concept hints at the next-generation global D-segment vehicle from Dodge.

“This Avenger concept is another expression of where the Dodge brand is headed,” said Trevor Creed, Senior Vice President – Design, Chrysler Group. “Avenger brings Dodge brand American muscle car heritage into the global mid-size car segment. It does for the global D-segment what Caliber has done in the global C-segment — it offers a unique alternative to the competition.”

From the front, there’s no mistaking the bold presence of Dodge’s heritage cues in Avenger’s crisp and edgy exterior design. Large, modern quad headlamps surrounded by black housings create the distinctive glare that forms Avenger’s face and surround the signature Dodge crosshair grille, which features body-color accents. Fog lamps are positioned in the outer corners of the front fascia and surround a diamond mesh texture that runs the length of the fascia. The lower fascia splitter is punctuated by two fairings. A stamped formation in the center of the hood carries the vertical lines of the crosshair grille.

Avenger’s side profile is distinguished by a long hood, short deck lid proportions with muscular rear shoulders and sleek rear spoiler. This concept’s long greenhouse is created by the use of a high-gloss black B-pillar and aerodynamic inspired rear door appliqués, which make this mid-size sedan look like it’s pouncing forward, even when it’s at a standstill. A strong character line stamped in the sheet metal accentuates Avenger’s chiseled profile.

With its wide stance, lowered ride height and deep side sills, the Avenger concept is firmly planted on the road. Nineteen-inch five-spoke painted Satin Silver wheels and all-season performance tires add to the Avenger concept’s sporty look. Deep red brake calipers gleam from the wheels. Body-color door handles and fold-away mirrors add to Avenger’s sport appearance, keeping the side profile clean and sharp.

From the rear, the large, expressive taillamps placed at the corners frame the deck lid. A finely-tuned body-color spoiler is sleekly integrated in the deck lid. An integrated lower rear diffuser reduces drag and improves fuel efficiency. Chrome-tipped dual exhaust outlets communicate the performance capability of the Avenger concept’s 2.0-liter turbo diesel engine, which could be sold in markets outside North America.

(Article and photos courtesy of Chrysler Group Media.)

More photos, including some interesting design sketches in next post. Please do not post until all images are up. Thanks.

Edited September 20, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[Guest YellowJacket894]

More images (courtesy of Chrysler Group Media Services).

Design sketches up next. Please do not post until all images are up. Thanks.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Now here comes the fun part (images courtesy of Chrysler Group Media Services). . .

Enjoy and post away!

[pow]

Nice... I like the baby Charger looks.

[KaliRover]

Thanks for the drop Yellowjacket, this car is hot!

I think they abandoned a few great design cues that could have really made this car so much better then it already is. But I'm still happy with how it turned out.

[DetroitNut90]

I've said earlier, sooo much better than the Sebring. A longer deck would make the car look even better.

[BrewSwillis]

Looks pretty cool.....but I wish it looked more like this drawing:

I think the drawing has less of the dog-leg kick up, and a slicker transition of the back glass into the rear decklid. The drawing also looks longer and lower slung.....as concept drawings usually do.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

I think this car looks great. It's a rather handsome design and mostly clean and I appreciate what cues that are shared with the Charger. I also think that the connection with the Charger is a good thing and will help people forget about the old Cloud Cars (ever driven a Charger and a Sebring back-to back?).

The design is polarizing and can't be mistaken for anything but an American. It is rather bold and the design is certainly brash -- these things will help this car stand out throughout Europe and America. You can't mistake it for anything Japanese, that's for sure. The only weak spot is around the rear of the car, but what is there isn't offensive.

There are concepts in the sketches I posted I would have liked to have seen. But most of the concepts sketched were used and I'm happy with that.

I will say that silver is a no-go color choice on this car from the leaked production photos we've seen.

I actually wouldn't mind owning one (although I prefer the Charger and it's rear-drive setup).

Moving to another note, if this car starts at more than sixteen or seventeen grand, it'll look redundant next to the Charger. However, I don't see why Chrysler Group would charge more for the new Avenger than the new Sebring, which starts out at eighteen grand, I think.

I say this car will sell good when it comes to design.

* * *

KaliRover: You're welcome. I'm just glad I have Media Access so I could get all of this good stuff.

Edited September 21, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[04monteintimidator]

wow would you look at that... it still looks awful...

one thing i particularily hate is the redundancy in the rear quarters... the "kick" thing over the rear wheel well AND the fender flare... make for some kind of odd grotesque mayan temple look that i cant stand...

i really just hate the over all feel of the design... which is saying to me "hey look we threw all our recent good ideas into a blender and came out with one really bad one!"

theres some stuff in the concept sketches that im drooling over... like the rear end that has the taillamps colored red... my god that is such a sexy rear end... why didnt they use that???? and the front end drawn in red to the left and bottom of the large silver front end... that looks eons better than the one they used...

using those two peices... they couldve made a very distinctive american looking car that didnt look like crap... so i dont know why they went with the direction they did

just goes to show that its not that chrysler doesnt have the right design ideas... its just that their engineers and managment are stupid

[CSpec]

Is Chrysler too scared to show the interior?

[KaliRover]

Looks pretty cool.....but I wish it looked more like this drawing:

I think the drawing has less of the dog-leg kick up, and a slicker transition of the back glass into the rear decklid.  The drawing also looks longer and lower slung.....as concept drawings usually do.

195986[/snapback]

I was thinking the same... maybe if this ever got a hybrid version... they could always use that shell lol. But it would be cool-er if they had gotten this version... nothing wrong with what we got, only that it could have looked that much better. I don't know, thats just me.

[ocnblu]

Chunky. Hot. Unmistakable.

[lakefire]

I assume it's FWD? If it was RWD, I'd consider it.

[Robert Hall]

It looks pretty good... the proportions de-emphasize the FWD nature, I think... I like the rear fender kickup--so many modern cars have almost no defintion to the rear quarter..it's strong and distinctive and looks nothing like it's Sebring sibling...the grille and quad headlight treatment is a retro touch that reminds me of the '80s Dodge Lancer (which was one of the better looking '80s FWD Dodges, IMHO)...

Edited September 21, 2006 by moltar

[Flybrian]

The grille ruins it.

[regfootball]

Is Chrysler too scared to show the interior?

196016[/snapback]

NO! here are some just released photos of the interior plastics undergoing prototype testing......

i think Dr. Z will give you the lid if you ask nicely though.......

[loki]

looks better than the stratus, imo

[regfootball]

as far as the car it is a big improvement over the sebring. maybe too judge dredd for my tastes, but i could see where those who need the cheaper male extender than the 300 would like it. i would have kept the stratus name.

Edited September 21, 2006 by regfootball

[regfootball]

Looks pretty cool.....but I wish it looked more like this drawing:

195986[/snapback]

i see some small galant overtones in the rear kick up and door glass. small. does this thing share the galant platform, at one time it was supposed to.

[Robert Hall]

as far as the car it is a big improvement over the sebring.  maybe too judge dredd for my tastes, but i could see where those who need the cheaper male extender than the 300 would like it.  i would have kept the stratus name.

196112[/snapback]

I liked the Stratus name...maybe they felt Avenger went better with Caliber and Charger (all violent, agressive names). Stratus went better with Neon and Intrepid, I guess....

[Guest YellowJacket894]

i see some small galant overtones in the rear kick up and door glass.  small.  does this thing share the galant platform, at one time it was supposed to.

If I'm not mistaken, I think it actually shares an enlarged, DCX version of the 2008 Lancer platform.

I liked the Stratus name...maybe they felt Avenger went better with Caliber and Charger (all violent, agressive names). Stratus went better with Neon and Intrepid, I guess....

Well, Avenger was a name for the first-generation Cloud Car coupe. The only other coupe in 1995, the year the first Avenger came out, was the Stealth. And I guess those two names just seemed to go hand in hand, like it does with the current line up. And that means you're right about the name sounding agressive and dominant.

Stratus and Neon sound like boring, cheeky little names. I'm glad they're both gone.

I'm surprised no one thinks that Intrepid is an agressive name. After all, the car derived it's name from the aircraft carrier. And war devices are pretty agressive things.

I guess in that case it all came down to the car the name was glued to.

Edited September 21, 2006 by YellowJacket894

[the_yellow_dart]

The new photos do look much better, I must say.

[Mule Bakersdozen LS]

I just saw this Google video on Design Insight-even more great sketches (I love those!)-does anyone know how to still Videos into pics? Here's the Google video link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6...docidfeed&hl=en

[!!!TED!!!]

I just saw this Google video on Design Insight-even more great sketches (I love those!)-does anyone know how to still Videos into pics? Here's the Google video link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6...docidfeed&hl=en

196235[/snapback]

Oh sweet!

Print-Screen!

[frogger]

I like it but the front skirt looks like its going to be a victim of curbs.

Edited September 21, 2006 by frogger

[csaba1218]

I really think this new avenger should have been a coupe, that tiny rear window just looks awful to me , and it's basically just a smaller charger. Overall i guess it's ok i just wish they would have made it a 2 door.

[!!!TED!!!]

I personaly like the more agressive, slanted forward headlights shown here (top sketch). All the drawings show a grille with chunky bars, yet the real car has weak, tiny bars.

[mjdecker]

I don't mind it.. I just hate... no, despise the indent in the front bumper.

I also like the headlights in this sketch [bottom] how the turn signals line up with the horizontal grill bar

[mustang84]

I think it looks pretty hot overall, except I like the hump in the concept drawing is better than how it actually turned out. The rear deck needs to be longer. Dodge sure has injected some venom into the midsize segment.

Although, I'm not so sure about the name "Avenger CRD." We all know what has happened with TRD (TuRD), I can just forsee CRuD being thrown around.

Edited September 21, 2006 by mustang84

[Cory Wolfe]

Well... those pics certainly do make it look better. However, I'm still far from being in love with the design. It's not bland by any means, I will give it that. However... The grill, the wheel flares, the greenhouse, the doglegs, and the taillights... all ugly to me.

That is what we call ugly.

That is what we call bland, yet ugly.

This is what we call attractive, minus the front clip. Now, add the front clip of the final design onto that. Design a whole new grill which would look more integrated and smooth (think upside down Charger grill). For the rear, design new taillights that look more aggressive and bold (like the headlights) while making the rear flow into them. And presto! Insta-Attractive-Avenger!

For Dodge...

Well, Avenger was a name for the first-generation Cloud Car coupe.

FYI, the original Avenger wasn't a "Cloud Car". It was based on the Galant platform, just like its replacement the Status coupe (as well as the Sebring coupe). This is why it shared many parts with Eclipse (doors, dash, etc).

Is Chrysler too scared to show the interior?

Must be... It's either going to follow the Sebring and actually stray away from typical DCX interiors, or the Caliber and such and just bring more of the same old crappy interiors. Do you want to know what I expect? Edited September 22, 2006 by blackviper8891

[Guest YellowJacket894]

FYI, the original Avenger wasn't a "Cloud Car". It was based on the Galant platform, just like its replacement the Status coupe (as well as the Sebring coupe). This is why it shared many parts with Eclipse (doors, dash, etc).

Right, right. I know that the 2001 Stratus and Sebring coupe shared parts with the Eclipse, but I forgot about the first-generation Avenger sharing parts with it. I guess I was thinking that the coupe and sedan were linked somehow; the Eclipse and Avenger looked pretty different from one another in photos, etc., and the only way to pick out the likenesses is to park them side by side.

And, hey BV, if you've got some free time, why not sketch out your idea for the Avenger. I'd like to see it.

[Cory Wolfe]

And, hey BV, if you've got some free time, why not sketch out your idea for the Avenger. I'd like to see it. 

196876[/snapback]

Well... after I get my den cleaned, including getting my desk cleared of junk, and after I finished some other things I'm working on, maybe then I'll give it a try. But since I've learned from the past that I'm not very reliable... I'm not promising anything.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Well... after I get my den cleaned, including getting my desk cleared of junk, and after I finished some other things I'm working on, maybe then I'll give it a try. But since I've learned from the past that I'm not very reliable... I'm not promising anything.

197202[/snapback]

Whenever you get the chance.

In the meantime, we'll just look at this sketch then.