Dodge Dart (2013) unveiled early

Dodge Dart (2013) revealed early

The US take on the Alfa Giulietta, the 2013 Dodge Dart, has been revealed early after photos leaked out ahead of a debut at the Detroit Auto Show.

The Dodge Dart has been teased in bits by Chrysler ahead of a debut at the Detroit Auto Show next week, but the interwebs have lost patience with the new Dodge tease and have jumped the gun, revealing the Dart in all its glory. And actually, it’s not a bad looking effort.

That said, it’s no Alfa Giulietta with its US take on a compact saloon, with rather generic, although clearly Euro-influenced, design. But despite its potential suitability for European markets, the 2013 Dodge Dart is a purely North America offering, at least as far as we know.

The underpinnings of the Dart are of interest to Europeans, though, as they will form the basis for the expected Alfa Romeo SUV when that arrives. Essentially a Giulietta platform, it’s been stretched to make it longer and wider and gets a catchy little name – Compact US Wide.

At least one of the engines in the Dodge Dart is familiar – the 1.4 litre MultiAir turbo from Fiat which resides in the US 500 – and the others are a 2.0 and 2.4 litre Tigershark lumps, the new Chrysler engines.

The transmission front should be interesting on the Dart (and, we expect, on the Alfa SUV) as apart from the regular offerings of a six speed manual and six speed auto, it’s expected that the Dart will get the new 9-speed ZF auto, if not at launch at least soon after.

If there’s more worth telling on the Dodge Dart we’ll update after its reveal on Monday.