All-New Dodge Charger Won't Come Until After 2020: Report

The venerable rear-drive LX platform will soldier on underneath the Dodge Charger into the next decade, according to sources close to the company.

A platform swap planned for late 2018 won’t come until after 2020, with a styling refresh serving to stretch the lifespan of the current generation, a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles insider told Automotive News.

When the Dodge Charger eventually switches to a modified Alfa Romeo Giulia platform, expect a big weight reduction (up to 500 pounds) and a twin-turbocharged “Hurricane” four cylinder in the engine mix. That mill, bound for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, is said to make in the area of 300 horsepower.

This report is the first mention of the engine being a twin-turbo unit.

FCA’s 2014–2018 product plan showed the Dodge Charger and Challenger’s current generation ending in late 2018, but that plan clearly wasn’t set in stone. Last year, reports surfaced of the automaker’s plans to delay the introduction of several new models, including the LX platform full-sizers.

The current generation of the Charger, Challenger and Chrysler 300 dates to 2011, with the last styling refresh coming in 2014. The LX platform carried all models since their birth.

It seems that debt-laden FCA wants to squeeze as much life out of its products as it can. Last week, a report said the Dodge Grand Caravan, slated for extinction in 2017, would live until 2019.

Panic reportedly broke out earlier this month at FCA’s aging Brampton, Ontario assembly plant after CEO Sergio Marchionne mused that the next-generation 300 could use a Chrysler Pacifica platform. The source cited by Automotive News didn’t mention the 300, however — just the Charger.

When it eventually shows up, reports say the next-generation Charger might resemble the 1999 Charger R/T concept car. That design study sported coupe-like styling more closely aligned with the model’s heritage.

[Image: ©2015 Mark Stevenson/The Truth About Cars]