2005 Dodge Durango Limited
The demand for Sport Utility Vehicles is ever growing. Every manufacturer that steps foot onto North American soil, except maybe for Ferrari, must offer a family truck alternative. Even smart, owned by Mercedes-Benz, has decided to build one. Chrysler has long since been at the forefront of the SUV battle. For 30 years, Jeep has been making wagon-type trucks available to the masses. In 1984, the Jeep Cherokee began the craze of what has been one of the quickest growing segments in the automotive market. And since then, every new version of the SUVs, regardless from which manufacturer, has made them bigger, heavier and more powerful. Nowadays, it seems as though the sky is the limit for height, and the width of a normal driving lane is no longer a measure for the limits of girth. Dodge was actually late in the SUV ring. Ford and GM already had had their Explorer and Jimmy on the road for more or less 10 years. Chrysler had the Jeep Grand Cherokee pulling some strong sale numbers in the meantime. When the Durango was launched in 1998, Chrysler made sure that it was going to leave its mark by effectively making it larger and more powerful than the other trucks in its price range. 2004 saw the arrival of the redesigned second generation Durango on a brand new chassis that is now shared with the Dodge Dakota.