One lasted three model years before a tariff ended it, the other ran for a decade. Both are Italian-built crossovers on Stellantis underpinnings.
The Dodge Hornet was a compact crossover sold in North America for the 2023 to 2025 model years, built in Italy as a rebadged Alfa Romeo Tonale. The Fiat 500X is a subcompact crossover related to the Jeep Renegade and built in Melfi, Italy, from 2014 to 2024.
Dodge sold the Hornet for just three model years, 2023 to 2025, and what ended it was not a design flaw but a customs form. A 25% import tariff arrived in July 2025, production was suspended the following month, and in January 2026 Dodge confirmed the car would not come back. It had been the brand's first new model in more than a decade.
The Hornet and the Fiat 500X sit in different price brackets and wear different badges, yet they have a lot in common. Both are small crossovers built in Italy. Both rest on the same family of Stellantis underpinnings, and each has a close relative from another brand: the Hornet is an Alfa Romeo Tonale in American clothes, and the 500X shares its factory and much of its engineering with the Jeep Renegade.
What is the Dodge Hornet?
The Hornet is a compact crossover SUV that Dodge sold only in North America. Dodge positioned it as the cheapest and smallest car in its range, and it carried the company's first plug-in hybrid. It was revealed in August 2022 as a 2023 model.
The last compact Dodge SUV before it was the Nitro, built on Jeep Liberty underpinnings and dropped in 2011, and the mid-size Journey crossover had left the range more recently. The Hornet therefore filled a gap that had been open for years. Its exterior was drawn under Jeff Gale, whose father Tom Gale was a senior Chrysler design executive.
Why is it called Hornet?
The name has a long American pedigree. The Hudson Hornet of 1951 to 1957 was a full-size car that dominated NASCAR stock car racing in the early 1950s, and the film Cars later brought it to a new audience. When Hudson and Nash merged into American Motors, the Hornet name moved to a compact car sold from 1970 to 1977, a line that also served as the basis for other AMC models.
Chrysler bought AMC in 1987 and inherited the trademark with it. A small five-door mini-MPV concept wore the badge in 2006, built to test interest in a B-segment car for Europe. Then, in 2020, Fiat Chrysler (now Stellantis) filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office to reserve both "Dodge Hornet" and plain "Hornet" for the new crossover.
The Hornet was an Alfa Romeo Tonale in American clothes, and a tariff ended it after three model years.
How is the Dodge Hornet related to the Alfa Romeo Tonale?
Closely. The Hornet was assembled at the Stellantis plant in Pomigliano d'Arco, Italy, on the same line as the Tonale, which makes the two platform mates. Underneath sits the Small Wide 4x4 LWB platform, which the Jeep Compass also uses.
The differences are about market and drivetrain. Every Hornet had all-wheel drive and went on sale in North America alone, whereas the Tonale also comes with front-wheel drive and is sold in other parts of the world. Specifications, pricing and equipment differed between the two as well. Motor Trend observed that Dodge trimmed content in some areas to hold the price down.
Dodge Hornet R/T and GT: engines, trims and performance
Four trims made up the range: GT, GT Plus, R/T and R/T Plus. The GT cars used a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder with a nine-speed automatic gearbox, producing 272 PS (200 kW; 268 hp). Dodge quoted 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 6.1 seconds.
The R/T pairs a 1.3-litre four-cylinder with two electric motors and a six-speed automatic, for a combined 292 PS (215 kW; 288 hp). It was the first plug-in hybrid Dodge had ever sold, and Dodge claims an electric range of more than 48 km (30 miles). A "PowerShot" mode adds a short burst of 19 kW (25 hp; 25 PS), and with it the R/T reaches 60 mph in 5.6 seconds.
| Trim | Powertrain | Output | Gearbox |
|---|---|---|---|
| GT | 2.0-litre turbo four | 272 PS (200 kW; 268 hp) | Nine-speed automatic |
| GT Plus | 2.0-litre turbo four, luxury trim | 272 PS (200 kW; 268 hp) | Nine-speed automatic |
| R/T | 1.3-litre four with two electric motors | 292 PS (215 kW; 288 hp) | Six-speed automatic |
| R/T Plus | Plug-in hybrid, luxury trim | 292 PS (215 kW; 288 hp) | Six-speed automatic |
Car and Driver put a GT Plus through its paces and recorded 5.7 seconds to 60 mph. That was 0.2 seconds slower than the pricier and more powerful R/T Plus it also tested. The plug-in hybrid, in other words, was the quicker car, and it was also the one buyers chose: most Hornet sales were R/T models.
What came with the Hornet?
The base GT has 17-inch aluminium wheels, rain-sensing wipers and dual-zone climate control. Every trim gets Uconnect 5, with a 10.3-inch touchscreen, a 12.3-inch digital instrument display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and Amazon Alexa. Step up to the GT Plus and you add a 14-speaker Harman Kardon stereo and built-in navigation.
Safety kit that came as standard included automatic emergency braking that spots pedestrians and cyclists, blind-spot monitoring and parking sensors. Adaptive cruise control with lane centring needed the Tech package. A Cold Weather Group bundled heated seats, a heated steering wheel and remote start. Upholstery was black cloth and synthetic leather with red stitching on the GT, leather on the GT Plus, and the Track package offered imitation suede or red leather.
What changed for the 2025 Hornet?
The final year brought redesigned LED headlights and two new paint colours. The Track package gained steering-wheel shift paddles, and buyers received a one-day course at Dodge's own driving school, a clear sign of who the car was aimed at. The 2025 R/T got a longer electric range, and the Plus trims moved to an 11.5-inch touchscreen with sharper graphics and quicker response.
Why was the Dodge Hornet discontinued?
Slow sales were part of it. The tariff was the rest. Because the Hornet came from Italy, the 25% import duty introduced in July 2025 landed directly on it, and production stopped in August. At that point it looked possible that the car would simply skip the 2026 model year.
In September 2025 Dodge head Matt McAlear said he would like to see the compact SUV return to the US someday, as the tariff landscape evolves. By January 2026 the decision was final: Dodge announced it would end production.
The Hornet GLH and the Nitrocross rally car
When the production Hornet was launched, Dodge also showed two GLH concepts based on the GT and R/T. Both had stage kits for extra power and lowered suspension. The badge looks back to the Dodge Omni GLH and the Shelby GLH-S, developed with Carroll Shelby between 1983 and 1986.
Dodge CEO Timothy Kuniskis announced a hotter model in late 2022, and the Hornet R/T GLH appeared on 22 March 2023 with lowered springs, 20-inch wheels, special graphics and a louder exhaust. The plan was to sell tuner parts through Dodge's Direct Connection division. In January 2025 McAlear said the GLH would enter production in late 2025, which suggested a 2026 model.
The Hornet name also lived on in a very different machine. The Hornet R/T FC1-X is a rally race car that shares only its headlights and grille with the crossover. Dodge built four of them for the 2024-2025 Nitrocross season, a ten-race tour, in partnership with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. They run in Group E, the top class, on the chassis common to every team, with all-wheel drive from four axial-flux electric motors making 1,087 PS (799 kW; 1,072 hp). The rated 0 to 60 mph time is 1.4 seconds, with almost 2g from a standing start. Courses mix dirt and asphalt and include gap jumps of 61 m (200 ft).
What is the Fiat 500X?
The 500X (Type 334) is a subcompact crossover from Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. It debuted at the 2014 Paris Motor Show as the follow-up to the 500L and ran until 2024, reaching the US from the 2016 model year. It is closely related to the Jeep Renegade, and both are built at the SATA plant in Melfi, Italy.
The 500X is based on the Small Wide 4x4 architecture, an evolution of the GM Fiat Small platform used for the Fiat Grande Punto and the 500L. Hornet and 500X therefore draw on the same engineering family, even though the Hornet sits on the longer-wheelbase version.
Fiat 500X engines and trims
At launch, outside North America, buyers could choose a turbocharged 1.4-litre MultiAir2 petrol engine or one of two MultiJet turbodiesels, 1.6 and 2.0 litres. North American cars got a 1.4-litre turbo four, offered with a six-speed manual but only with front-wheel drive, and a naturally aspirated 2.4-litre four with a nine-speed automatic. That one was front-drive as standard, with all-wheel drive as an option.
In 2022 Fiat added a 1.5-litre Firefly mild hybrid, which uses a 48-volt belt-driven starter-generator and a small 0.8kWh battery to assist the engine.
Trim names differed by continent. In the United States the original line-up was Pop, Easy, Lounge, Trekking and Trekking Plus, with optional all-wheel drive on everything but the Pop. In Europe the range read Pop, Pop Star, Lounge, Cross, Cross Plus and Sport, and all-wheel drive was limited to the 2.0-litre Multijet diesel and the more powerful petrol versions with automatic gearboxes.
Fiat 500X safety ratings
The 500X has ventilated front disc brakes and solid discs at the rear. The ratings it earned depend heavily on which market and specification was tested.
- Euro NCAP gave the standard European car 4 stars in 2015.
- Latin NCAP awarded the most basic Latin American version, with 6 airbags and electronic stability control, 5 stars for adult occupants and 5 stars for toddlers in 2018, plus its Advanced Award.
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named the 2016 500X a 2015 Top Safety Pick+, its highest rating.
Dodge Hornet and Fiat 500X compared
| Dodge Hornet | Fiat 500X | |
|---|---|---|
| Segment | Compact crossover | Subcompact crossover |
| Built in | Pomigliano d'Arco, Italy | Melfi, Italy |
| Platform | Small Wide 4x4 LWB | Small Wide 4x4 |
| Brand relative | Alfa Romeo Tonale | Jeep Renegade |
| Production | 2023 to 2025 model years | 2014 to 2024 |
| Electrified option | Plug-in hybrid R/T | 1.5-litre mild hybrid from 2022 |
Will the Dodge Hornet or Fiat 500X come back?
For the Hornet, the answer is nothing planned. Dodge announced in January 2026 that production was ending. Matt McAlear's September 2025 wish to see the car return is a hope, not a programme, and it depends on how the tariff picture changes. The 500X ended production in 2024.
