Stinged Alfa Romeo Tonale wakes-up as new Dodge Hornet

A nameplate placed on the backburner back in 2006, Stellantis-owned Dodge has finally unveiled the all-new Hornet, albeit in a completely different guise to the concept of 16 years ago.

Shown back then as a mini-MPV type hatch powered by the Brazilian-made 1.6-litre turbocharged Tritec engine used in the Mini Cooper, the production Hornet is an essence a rebadged Alfa Romeo Tonale with the same dimensions and electrified powertrains.

The first completely new Dodge branded vehicle since the Durango bowed in 2011, the Hornet’s visual differences from the Tonale includes a dual-intake Dodge specific grille, new headlights and at the rear, the marque’s corporate logo in place of the Alfa Romeo badge.

Bar the Dodge branded steering wheel, the Hornet’s interior is carried over unchanged from the Tonale, despite the American brand describing it as “distinctly Dodge” and with a “driver-focused design that is a calling card of the Dodge brand vehicle line-up”.

ALSO READ: Out at last: Alfa Romeo finally reveals eagerly awaited Tonale

The Hornet’s most significant adaption from the Tonale lies underneath its skin, where Dodge has revised the suspension and fitted Koni selective dampers and shocks to both available models, the R/T and GT.

Along with an electronic limited slip differential and active torque vectoring, the R/T comes as standard with a four-piston Brembo brake caliper setup at the front and the single at the rear, as well as a brake-by-wire system.

As part of the optional Track Pack available on both models, the Hornet receives not only 20-inch Abyss alloy wheels, but also customisable dual-stage suspension valve dampers.

The standard alloy wheels are 17-inches for the GT and 18-inch Graphite Grey for the R/T, with the optional blacktop pack adding not only gloss black 18-inch Abyss wheels, but gloss black badges, mirrors caps and blackened-out light clusters.

As for the interior itself, both the Hornet R/T and GT feature a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster as standard, along with the 10.25-inch Uconnect touchscreen infotainment system, plus Alcantara seats as part of the Track Pack, rain sense wipers, Blind Spot Monitoring, Autonomous Emergency Braking, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Lane Departure Warning.

The optional Plus package, available on the R/T and GT, adds a 14-speaker Harman Kardon sound system to the mix, together with a wireless smartphone charger, heated seats, red stitched leather seats, a heated steering wheel and electric tailgate.

Specified with the optional Tech Pack, the Hornet gets Traffic Sign Recognition, Driver Attention Alert, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Change Assist and Traffic Jam Assist that allows for Level 2 autonomous driving.

On the power front, the Hornet offers a choice of two engines rather than the Tonale’s four, namely the Brazilian-made and developed 1.3-litre turbo-petrol in the R/T and a 2.0-litre turbo in the GT derived from the Giulia and Stelvio.

Called Firefly, a unit used in a number of South American Fiat models as well as the Jeep Renegade, the 1.3 offers up 210kW/520Nm thanks to the inclusion of a 15.5-kWh lithium-ion battery that powers a 90 kW electric motor.

Chargeable from 0-100% in two-and-a-half hours using the provided 7.4 kW charger, Dodge claims a range of 48 km, to go with a drive mode selector that features three settings; Hybrid, EV and E-Save.

Mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox with drive going to all four corners, the R/T also sports what calls PowerShot.

Effectively and overboost function, the system unleashes an additional 18 kW for 15 seconds by pulling both paddle shifters and depressing the throttle once the PowerShot symbol within the instrument cluster lights up.

At the other end of the spectrum, the GT’s conventional 2.0-litre serves-up 200kW/400Nm transferred to all four corners through a nine-speed automatic box. Despite Dodge not revealing any top speed figures, it did confirm a 6.5 second dash from 0-60 mph (96 km/h).

Now available for ordering, production of the Hornet will take place alongside the Tonale at Alfa Romeo’s Pomigliano d’Arco Plant in Naples with estimated pricing of $30 000 (R496 065).

While a certain no-no for South Africa, the local arm of Stellantis has confirmed availability of the Tonale in the latter half of 2022.