--- title: "The V8 Is Keeping the Current Dodge Durango Alive" date: "2025-08-08" modified: "2025-08-08" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/the-v8-is-keeping-the-current-dodge-durango-alive" categories: - "Dodge News" - "News" - "News by Brand" tags: - "dodge" - "Durango" - "Durango SRT" - "suv/crossover" --- # The V8 Is Keeping the Current Dodge Durango Alive ![2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak in Green Machine (front). A Jailbreak Custom Color program will allow select Dodge customers to paint their Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak in nearly any color imaginable, including Stryker Purple (shown at rear).]() *\Stellantis\* The third-generation Dodge Durango has been on sale for 15 years. Every time it seems like Stellantis, née Fiat Chrysler, is ready to move on, the big bruiser sticks around—as has its hardcore Hellcat variant. Now, [Dodge]() is doubling down by [offering a Jailbreak version](), so buyers can customize their 710-horsepower super SUV however they like. Consider it a statement that the Durango will continue to be, as Dodge CEO Matt McAlear put it during an interview*,* a "staple" of the muscle car maker's range going forward. "Durango, I think, has proven itself because it is such a terrific package in a segment that is dominated by CUVs (crossover suvs), for a lack of better word," McAlear said during a roundtable chat attended by *The Drive*. "Durango is the last V8 offered in the segment. It tows and performs like the segment above it, but it has garageability, parkability, drivability, handling characteristics like a segment below it." That combination, McAlear says, has given the Durango a niche practically all to itself, and earned it a lasting place in Dodge's lineup alongside the family's other big names. "We're committed to Durango now and in the future," McAlear added, "And it is a staple. Just like we celebrated, you know, the 60th anniversary of Charger, it's become a staple in the Dodge lineup." ![The 2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak lets customers go wild with customization, including six different wheel options with a choice of four unique Brembo brake colors, six exterior color options, including new-for-2026 Green Machine (shown here), six exterior badge color choices, five exterior dual stripe designs and many more personalization choices.]() *Stellantis* ![The 2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak lets customers go wild with more than six million potential customization combinations, including six different wheel options with a choice of four unique Brembo brake colors, six exterior color options, including new-for-2026 Green Machine (shown here), six exterior badge color choices, five exterior dual stripe designs and many more personalization choices.]() *Stellantis* ![2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak in Green Machine (front). A Jailbreak Custom Color program will allow select Dodge customers to paint their Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak in nearly any color imaginable, including Stryker Purple (shown at rear).]() McAlear also reflected on the regulatory challenges behind the decision to initially make the [Durango SRT Hellcat]() a 2021 model-year vehicle only. The Hellcat took a year off in 2022 but ended up returning in 2023, after some "fiddling with ones and zeroes in the engine's software coding" to meet emissions limits, Dodge [said at the time](). It's remained ever since. "As far as the Hellcat, you know, when we did that—when we came out with the first year—we were anticipating regulatory challenges that weren't going to let us do this for the time that we've been running the Hellcat now, over the last few years," McAlear said. "Things evolved, the markets evolve, regulation evolves. We were excited." The Durango Hellcat Jailbreak presents an opportunity for Dodge to, in the chief executive's words, "give consumers what they've been asking for and what they want." But it also signals perhaps the zenith for the third-gen Durango, before it's finally replaced. ![Interior customization choices for the 2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak include five interior seat colors (Hammerhead Grey shown here) in three different configurations (five-, six- or seven-passenger seating) with a selection of four seat belt colors.]() *Stellantis* ![2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak models feature an exclusive Jailbreak IP badge stamped into standard carbon-fiber interior appliques.]() *Stellantis* ![The 2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak, shown in new Green Machine exterior color, offers more than six million potential customization combinations.]() *Stellantis* McAlear didn't speak on the next Durango during our chat, but it seems the timeline for the current SUV's replacement has shifted considerably over the past several years, at times reportedly including an electric variant as well as a smaller, two-row version supposedly named "Stealth." Recent market and regulatory shifts may have sunk both of those spinoffs, though the fourth-gen Durango is coming; the real question is when. [The UAW said in January]() that it would be built at Detroit Assembly, but [a more recent rumor]() suggests that it might not start rolling off the production line until 2028. That should give lovers of the Hemi-powered SUV plenty of time to get their last calls in. *Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()