The Dodge Journey, which was to be redesigned on a new platform this fall, instead will soldier on with few changes for at least two more model years, according to a company source.
The three-row crossover was to shift to Fiat Chrysler's CUSW platform, which underpins the Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200 and Jeep Cherokee.
Redesigning the Journey likely would have meant moving its production from Toluca, Mexico, to the United States to share an assembly line with one of those vehicles. But FCA's decision to outsource production of the next-generation Dart and 200 appear to have changed the strategy.
An FCA source said the 2017 and 2018 Journey will maintain the JC body code at least through the 2018 model year. In the company's internal model nomenclature, a vehicle's body code changes when it is redesigned using a different platform.
The 2017 Journey is scheduled to begin production July 25 and the 2018 model will enter production in Toluca on July 17, 2017, the source said.
A Dodge spokeswoman declined to comment.
Details of changes to upcoming models are unavailable, but FCA has been shifting its front-wheel-drive vehicles to more fuel-efficient nine-speed automatic transmissions.
The Journey, which began significant U.S. sales in 2008, has a four-speed automatic in its most fuel-efficient model rated at 19 mpg city/26 highway.
Though the Journey received its last major freshening for the 2011 model year, its U.S. sales have continued to climb. Its 105,400 U.S. sales in 2015 marked the nameplate's fifth consecutive year of sales increases.
