Dodge Caliber Sedan

3,743
United States
Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
So, apparently this is a real thing.

The “Dodge Lancer” was spotted 12 years ago in 2010 at “lot 27” of the Chrysler Technology Center in Auburn Hills, Michigan, by an ex-worker at Dodge who is known on Reddit after the username @lostboyz. While he found it noteworthy and took the time to photograph it, he didn’t want to get into trouble by revealing a well-kept secret. However many years have passed since and when he rediscovered the pictures on a hard drive, he thought it would be safe to share them with the world. As he wrote on a Reddit post: “I could never find out an answer for why this existed and it eventually disappeared”. He also suggested that a hypothetical Dodge Caliber SRT4 twin of the Mitsubishi Evo X would make sense.

Rumor has it that back in 2004 Chrysler was working with Mitsubishi on a compact sedan named Rebel that would succeed the Dodge Neon. As the car was ready for its debut, the project got canceled and Dodge opted for a model with a crossover-style hatchback silhouette. As a result, the Caliber was unveiled in 2005 in concept form, with the production version following in 2006. Mitsubishi continued the development of the four-door variant, introducing the Lancer in 2007.

In reality, if Dodge went down the rebadging route for its compact sedan, it could potentially save millions of dollars in R&D, design, and tooling investments. However, the automaker would risk losing market share and damaging the brand’s status compared to the independently designed proposal scenario that prevailed.





 
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