Dodge will unveil the all-new 2014 Durango SUV at the 2013 New York Auto Show on Thursday, at 11:40 a.m.
A robust full-size SUV forged in the belly of Motown, USA, the Durango is designed specifically to suit the North American market.
For the 2014 model year, the Dodge Durango will receive a number of fundamental improvements including a significant increase in fuel economy and creature comforts. The new Durango will feature a new eight-speed transmission supplied for German supplier ZF Group. Chrysler builds the new gearbox in Kokomo, Indiana. Dodge will carry over its 3.6 liter V6 engine and 5.7-Liter V8 HEMI in a four-wheel-drive layout. Dodge promises a significant boost in fuel effiency with the transmission update alone. The outgoing model is rated 19 mpg and 15 mpg combined for the V6 and V8, respectively.
Dodge significantly refined the design of the Durango as well with a new signature full-width tail lamp with a 192 LED array. The LED design was first implemented on the Dodge Charger and was later applied on the Dodge Dart as well.
Chrysler expects the new Durango to rejuvenate full-size SUV sales for Dodge. After a one-year hiatus, Dodge reintroduced the Durango in 2011 when sales already started to sharply plummet by 17.6 percent in 2012.
"When the Durango was first launched in 1998, it represented a breakthrough in power, size and style," Reid Bigland, CEO of the Dodge brand, said in a statement. "Now for 2014, we're upping the ante by making it our most technologically advanced, fuel-efficient and dramatically styled Durango ever."
While Chrysler reintroduced the Dodge Durango in 2011 after a one-year hiatus, U.S. sales fell 17.6% in 2012 to 42,589. Dodge dealers play up the SUV's seven-passenger seating that is popular with families.
It will be built at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. Production is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2013.
The price of the new model will be announced later.
Catch the 2014 Dodge Durango livestream here:
