http://www.autoblog.com/2012/12/05/d...entory-mounts/

November was a rough month for the Dodge Dart. All told, Chrysler managed to deliver 4,489 units, down from 5,455 in October, but perhaps more telling is the sizable inventory Dodge now has on hand. Chrysler added a third shift to the Belvidere, Illinois plant that produces the new compact in order to satiate projected demand, and as a result, Dodge now has a 112-day supply of Dart models. That equates to 23,446 units waiting for a new home. Automakers typically average a supply of around 73 days.

 

That's too bad. As a previous Neon owner this is the car they should have sold after the Neon. I personally think it's a great little car and if I were in the market for a vehicle of this type it and the Focus would really be the only two vehicles I'd look at in this class/price range.

 

Seems to be a nice enough car, and that's perhaps the problem, just nice enough but short of anything truly compelling. Hopefully they'll release an R/T version soon enough with some actual horsepower, well beyond some "good enough" levels that mark the current models. If I were Dodge, I'd bump even the mid-range power numbers to make this kind of an overachiever in class in that regard -- it needs something to distinguish itself.

 

Very true. I really think they need to do a two door as well.

 

Fiat sort of made the same mistake when first releasing the 500 by not also simultaneously rolling out the hot Abarth version, as Mini did with the Cooper S alongside the standard Cooper. Result, no real enthusiast bait to drum up interest and word of mouth for a new model and resultant meh sales. Same thing seems to be happening here. Dodge/Fiat should make it a policy to roll out the hot model alongside the bread and butter versions.

Oh, that and having some ultra hot model like Catrinel Menghia to ply your wares:

I'd buy a well-used wheelbarrow from her.

 

the dart is a total miss. The interior is from 1995.. the models you see on the dealer lot are all pretty base. Using the dart name makes people think sports car and then they get to the dealer and its a newer neon thats not as cool as the old SRT4..

 

I don't think that's a good idea.

Ford rarely introduces special editions the same year when the new model comes out and that strategy has been working out pretty well.
Lets take the Fiesta for an example.
Its 4 years old and its starting to show its age. Since the Fiesta came out, most of competition introduced newer models (especially in Europe), so Fiesta is no longer a big hit that it was back in 2008.
However, by introducing the sporty ST model now, all of the sudden Fiesta is in a center of attention again and Ford will sell many base models because of it.

By waiting to introduce special editions few years after the rest of the lineup, Ford was able to extend the life of most of their vehicles to additional two or three years.

 

I've seen 2 on the road...that's it.
Not very popular

 

I've seen a couple around, I'm actually surprised they're having trouble moving 'em. There are plenty of worse vehicles on the market, and it looks fairly decent.

 

^^^
Same here.

 

Local dodge dealer here has a sea of em, and I've only seen one on the road that wasn't a dealer demo.

Another question I have for dodge is why are they continuing to make the avenger? It's a terrible car.

 

The replacement is not ready yet ...

It will be based on the 2014 Alfa Rome Giulia.