Like that one week your best friend miraculously started for the high school football team, the Dodge Hornet is having a tough time out there. And in the car industry, one rule holds true—when the going gets tough, the prices get going.
Dodge has sold just 1,045 Hornets over the last 45 days. Almost 15,000 remain in dealer lots right now. Right now, that means there is a full 646 days worth of supply just sitting around. As a guide, a popular car, like the Toyota Camry, might only have 30 days supply at best.
What does that mean? It means a bunch of dealers are sick of that Dodge compact SUV sitting on their lot. They want it gone to make space for cars that are actually gonna move, so they’re slashing prices. They’re going so hard, in fact, that you can now get a turbo AWD SUV for Nissan Versa money.
Git ‘Er Gone
Of the Dodge Hornets currently out there, plenty are 2024 models, but a ton of 2023 models are still sitting around too. These are the ones that dealers are most keen to shift. The nuttiest deal I could find was over at David Stanley Dodge in Oklahoma City, OK. As per Cars.com, the dealership is selling a 2023 Dodge Hornet GT Plus AWD for just $26,225. That’s a full $11,600 below MSRP!
For that money, you’re getting a compact SUV with a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine good for 268 horsepower. And you can tell all your friends it’s really an Alfa Romeo underneath! That’s pretty cool, right?
That’s a particularly good deal if you like the Hornet, but it’s not the only one out there. Cook Chrysler Dodge Ram over in Maryland has a 2023 Dodge Hornet GT for $26,500, a full $7,170 under MSRP. There’s a black one in Central Florida for $5,000 off, too, and another in North Carolina for $7,812 under sticker.
2024 models aren’t immune, either. David Stanley Dodge has a 2024 model too, and they’re keen to get rid of it. You can have their 2024 Hornet GT for $10,100 under sticker, because it’s currently listed at just $22,230. As promised, that’s Nissan Versa money right there. Interestingly, the model had cash on the hood from the outset. It was listed at $1,500 under MSRP when it first hit Cars.com in November last year. If you want a higher-end model, you can get a 2024 Hornet GT Plus for $6,470 off if you’re shopping in Virginia. 
I’ve saved the best for last, though. So far, we’ve looked at the GT models, which have the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine. The 2024 model year introduced the hybrid models, which pair a 1.3-liter turbo engine with an electric motor and a 15.5 kWh battery pack. Total combined output is a healthy 285 hp, which will send the Hornet R/T sprinting to 60 mph in around 5.5 seconds.
If you want the peachiest deal, head down to Diehl of Moon down in Pennsylvania. They’ve listed a 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T for just $26,455—a full $15,843 under MSRP. They’ve been trying to shift this thing all year, and they’re clearly getting sick of it. Maybe they just really hate the Blue Bayou finish. Who knows?
Oh wait, it can’t be that, because they’ve got another one in Acapulco Gold at almost $17,000 off. That’s truly bonkers for a car with only delivery mileage on the clock. It looks sharp in that color, no? I just wish they’d offered some flat colors, too. I reckon it would pop more than the metallics.
It’s not just Diehl, though. I’m spotting these things all over the country. Missouri, California, Connecticut – take your pick.
Whoa, Nelly
What you’re seeing is supply and demand in action. Dealers have a ton of supply. So much so, that if Dodge stopped making Hornets right now, they’d have enough cars to last for almost two years of sales at current rates.
The Hornet simply isn’t finding a customer base. Early technical issues haven’t helped its reputation. This may have scared a lot of people off, particularly if they also heard that it was based on an Alfa Romeo. Discovering the new compact Dodge is really an Italian car at heart doesn’t do a lot to inspire confidence.
I think it’s a little sad, in some respects. I’m driving an Alfa Romeo Tonale this week, the car that Dodge so lazily rebadged for itself. It’s kinda neat, and feels really nice inside. But it also doesn’t really feel Italian in the way I’d hoped it would, given this is my first Alfa. You’ll hear more about that later. In any case, if you told me this was a Dodge from the outset, I’d be pretty blown away at how smooth and sophisticated it feels. Plus, I wouldn’t be sorry it didn’t have a screaming V6 that sang like Ariana Grande.
Can Dodge turn this one around? Boy, I don’t know. Price cuts aren’t really shifting these things. Look at the pricing history on Cars.com and you’ll see dealers have tried time and again to shave a few thousand off to get these moving.
Dodge needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat to make these things irresistible. What that looks like, I don’t know. But until it figures something out, you can score a hell of a deal on a Hornet pretty much anywhere in the United States right now. Happy hunting.
Image credits: Dodge, Stellantis, Cars.com via screenshot
Just noticed those mid 90s Galant headlights on the Hornet
$16k off is good, but most people can save $46,715 by buying something else.
I was excited about the Hornet. I want a small CUV with at least 250hp and features at the ventilated seat level. I didn’t think Hornet was terribly overpriced for what you get on paper. Nobody else sells that for under $45k. I’m glad I was waiting for the GLH to come out. By the time I figured out that isn’t a future trim level and is an anticipated semi-aftermarket upgrade package, owners were online talking about what a buggy broken piece of shit it is. I have a history of buying slightly more expensive low-volume selling cars with feature combos most people don’t care about, but even I am not willing to buy a new car that doesn’t work. I live in Los Angeles, where you kind of see every car ever made all the time and I have never seen a Hornet outside of a dealer lot.
If you’re still looking, Mazda’s CX-5 Turbo has >250hp and ventilated seats for $38.8k
My local, Canadian Dodge stores don’t have the same discount but holy balls they were ambitious on the pricing on that thing. All of the ones around me are $50k. In what world am I saying “no, I don’t want a RAV4, I don’t want a CR-V, I don’t want a Mazda CX-5. I want a Dodge that already has a shaky reputation for reliability and I want to pay significantly more for it.”
“I want an Alfa.”
“We have Alfa at home.”