Following the sales bank fiasco of this past year and the market shift away from trucks, Dodge has suddenly found itself with a dearth of desirable cars in its lineup. Okay, it’s got the popular Charger, the recently-introduced Avenger (itself a mini-Charger clone), and the surprisingly strong-selling Caliber.

Following the sales bank fiasco of this past year and the market shift away from trucks, Dodge has suddenly found itself with a dearth of desirable cars in its lineup. Okay, it’s got the popular Charger, the recently-introduced Avenger (itself a mini-Charger clone), and the surprisingly strong-selling Caliber.

But in recent years, Dodge has been all about swagger, muscle, and bang-for-the-buck fun. Sensing that Dodge fans that want something other than a truck might feel a tad neglected, Chrysler’s rough-and-tumble brand pulled the wraps off a tasty little treat called the Demon.

With mini-Viper styling, a minimalist interior, and a claimed weight of only 2,600 pounds, it seems like the designers went down an enthusiast’s wish list for a compact roadster and checked each box. What’s especially encouraging about the Demon is very little on it looks concept-car outlandish. For example: the interior specifically looks like it was looted from the corporate parts bin (which I don’t mean this as an insult). I think the designers deliberately made it realistic and–eminently–”buildable.”

The concept featured a normally-aspirated 2.4 GEMA engine with 172 horsepower and 165 lb-ft. Until I saw the projected 2,600 pound weight, I was a little disappointed. But that’s quite a favorable power-to-weight ratio. That being said, I would not be at all opposed to a Demon SRT with the hot-rod Caliber’s 300-horse turbocharged mill. Figure it packing on 100-150 extra pounds for beefed-up hardware to handle the boosted engine, and you’re still talking about about a power-to-weight ratio well below 10:1. Can you say “heck yes!”?

The icing on the cake? In the material for the concept vehicle, it appears the rear suspension was specifically designed to give the Demon a usable rear trunk, top up or down, something its domestic counterparts, the
Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, are sorely lacking. The rear suspension componentry supposedly came from the Crossfire (or last-gen SLK). Who cares if it’s two generations old? As long as it works. For that matter, some auto journalists have said they prefer the chassis dynamics of the LY cars over the latest Mercedes E-Class. If your hand-me-downs are coming from a car that costs twice as much, you’re not doing too bad.

While the stated target price of $15,000-ish might be a little ambitious, I think $18,000 would be a realistic and feasible target price for a base model, with the SRT going for $25,000. At that price, I’d have to give the Demon a close look. Let’s hope, though, it is not just a stillborn tease like the Copperhead concept from years past.

- Edward A. Sanchez