The Dodge Dart Has Been Dead Since 2016, But Six ‘New’ Ones Just Sold
Stellantis might be the king of selling dead cars, as it also sold a ‘new’ Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Journey, and Fiat 500L.
2016 dodge dart driving
Dodge
Stellantis has released its third-quarter sales results, which interestingly included six Dodge Darts.
Dodge’s compact car has been out of production since the 2016 model year, and it’s one of several other “zombie” cars that Stellantis sold last quarter.
The Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Journey, and Fiat 500L are other newly sold models that have been dead since at least 2020.
Every quarter, automakers release their sales results, breaking down the number of new cars they’ve sold during the past three months. However, all of those “new” cars aren’t always brand-new models from the current or previous model year. While there will be stragglers that have been sitting on dealer lots for over two years, it’s rare to see new cars that are five-plus years old, let alone “zombie” cars such as the Dodge Dart that were discontinued almost a decade ago.
Dodge
Despite being discontinued in 2016, the Stellantis sales numbers show that Dodge sold six Darts sometime between July and September. For those who don’t remember, the Dart was Dodge’s compact car that was built between the 2013 and 2016 model years. Its name will be familiar to fans of the earlier Darts that were sold in the 1960s and ’70s, though some of those were offered with a V-8 engine and qualified as muscle cars. Meanwhile, the newer Darts were powered by four-cylinder engines, and they were based on an Alfa Romeo platform but built at a factory in Belvidere, Illinois. When it was last sold, a new Dodge Dart started around $20K, so it’s worth wondering how much of a discount those six people got on an eight-year-old new car.
Chris Doane Automotive|Car and Driver
Michael Simari|Car and Driver
The Dart wasn’t the only zombie car that Dodge sold over the past few months. The Stellantis sales results also listed a Caravan and Journey, moving eight and 13 copies, respectively. Both of those nameplates were sent to the automotive graveyard after the 2020 model year, so it’s more surprising to see them on the list than, say, the Chrysler 300 (71 sold) or the Fiat 500X (31 sold), as both of them were axed after the 2023 model year. And speaking of Fiat, the brand also moved two new 500L models—killed after 2020—in the third quarter, according to the Stellantis sales numbers. And that begs the question: Is Stellantis the king of selling dead cars? We’ll have to wait and see what the fourth quarter brings.
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Eric Stafford
Managing Editor, News
Eric Stafford’s automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since
2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual ’97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a ’90 Honda CRX Si.