2010 dodge hornet
With kicky concept-inspired looks, high fuel thrift, and a Versa-tile package, the Nissan-built Hornet could be the big-buzz seller Chrysler desperately needs.  Check out the Versa photos and review.

Consumer Guide's Impressions of the 2010 Dodge Hornet

Update 05.09.2011

Dodge no longer has plans to build the Hornet. Click here for more information on Dodge cars, trucks, and SUVs.

Japan wins over China as the country of origin for a new Dodge compact car. With kicky concept-inspired looks, high fuel thrift, and a Versa-tile package, the Nissan-built Hornet could be the big-buzz seller Chrysler desperately needs.

What We Know About the 2010 Dodge Hornet

Tough times often put paid to even the best-laid plans, and so it is with Chrysler's promised new compact car, the Dodge Hornet, in today's dour U.S. economy. Expected to bow as a 2010 model, the Hornet will now be essentially a reskinned version of the popular front-wheel-drive Nissan Versa and built alongside it in Japan. Styling will borrow elements of the ugly-cute 2006 Hornet hatchback concept, but the rest of the package will be mainly Nissan.

Originally, the 2010 Dodge Hornet was to be sourced from China through a tie-up between Chrysler and Chery Automobile Co., one of the fastest-rising vehicle makers in that fast-rising country. The hope was to take advantage of China's much lower production costs for a car that Chrysler couldn't design and build profitably on its own. Trouble was, Chery was short on plant capacity, and promises of a major expansion still left doubts that it could supply as many Hornets as Chrysler might need, let alone build them with acceptable quality. The doubts increased with Chrysler's takeover in August 2007 by equity-investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, and seemed to grow stronger once the wily Jim Press was recruited from Toyota North America to be Chrysler co-president.

Finding another partner seemed to be the only option, as Chrysler needs the 2010 Dodge Hornet in the worst way. Though the current economic storm is also battering Ford, General Motors, and even powerhouse Toyota, Chrysler has suffered the biggest year-to-year sales losses of any major carmaker, off some 25 percent for the first eight months of 2008. Moreover, Ford and GM are able to tap their overseas branches for the smaller, thriftier vehicles that are now in such high demand, whereas Chrysler has no such resource. Worse, its lineup is top-heavy with hard-to-sell gas-guzzlers, while its economy models aren't selling as well as might be expected at a time when gas costs so much.

Enter Nissan, another of Japan's economy-car experts and whose CEO Carlos Ghosn is usually open to doing deals. The first with Chrysler involved supplying Versas for sale in South America under the Chrysler or Dodge label. That led to further talks and the more ambitious idea of a product swap for North America. Nissan would handle the 2010 Dodge Hornet, while Chrysler would return the favor by designing and building a new large pickup truck to replace the slow-selling Nissan Titan. Presto! Each company lends its special expertise to erase a competitive deficit at the other, and both save big bucks to boot. But will either of these products be a winner? That's the billion-dollar question.

Updated by Jennifer Geiger 05.09.2011

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