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The Tonale and Hornet are way too similar and share way more parts than Alfa Romeo think is necessary.

Dodge has certainly set the automotive world on fire recently. First off, they launched the new Dodge Charger Daytona SRT, the first in a new generation of all-electric muscle cars, which has excited and divided fans of muscle cars alike. Then we have the new 2023 Dodge Hornet. This is a crossover that has also excited a lot of people, with a lot of people out there already registering interest. It has also caught the eye of Alfa Romeo, although for the wrong reasons.

Alfa Romeo recently launched the Tonale. This is a crucial, crossover model as the brand really tries to relaunch itself within the United States. However, it has angered those at Alfa Romeo as the car bears a lot of similarity to the new Hornet. In fact, it looks like they do indeed share some components. Remember, both these machines fall within the Stellantis umbrella, so it is not surprising there is at least some sharing of components. To understand why Alfa Romeo is so angry, we are going to take a look at the two cars and find out just how similar they are. Spoiler alert, it is very similar!

We’ve already heard the rumors that Dodge effectively used the Tonale as a chance to make a compliance car, ie one that fit in with fuel emissions rules and was a family car versus the usual muscle cars. But it looks like Dodge went beyond that. If we look at the front of the two, they are at least quite different. The Alfa Romeo V grille is not carried over, and the air dam below the grille is smaller than that on the Hornet. Conversely, the Hornet has a smaller grille but a larger aid dam.

It's as we move along the rest of the car that things get…interesting. The hood design is perhaps different enough but a bulge in the middle of the Hornet’s does raise suspicions quickly. The wheel arches are eerily similar, both featuring small black fenders and from what the eye can see, the spacing around the wheels looks pretty close too. In fact, move away from the fenders and back to the front, the area around the front lip and the winglets either side of the front wheels bears a lot of resemblance on the Tonale to the Hornet.

RELATED: What The 2023 Tonale Says About The Future Of Alfa Romeo

But it is across the main body that things are very similar, and why Alfa Romeo are so irritated. The doors are virtually, if not completely, identical. There is no escaping that fact. They look exactly the same on the two cars, although thankfully for Dodge, they at least changed the wing mirrors at the front. The underlying body shape too from the windshield all the way to the back is basically exactly the same as the Alfa Romeo, with the same style windows, the same small window around the rear passenger area and the same sculpted bodywork at the rear-quarter.

Even at the very back of the two cars, things are almost identical too. While the Hornet has a larger rear window, and a larger rear wiper, the fascia design and the light strip across the rear is very, very close to the Tonale. The wider fascia as a whole, below that and around the exhaust area, is also very similar. They are so close in design that, if you were to remove all the branding and put them in the same color, you’d have a hard time differentiating between the two models. No wonder Alfa Romeo are very irritated.

The underlying unibody structure is also an area in which the two cars share parts etc. Dodge effectively kept all the parts deemed to expensive to change, due to tooling, manufacturing etc, to keep costs down and to save time. As we have reported on previously, there wasn’t a budget within Dodge to change more sheet metal and differentiate from the Tonale. Is that poor form though from Dodge? Maybe, especially as the Tonale is a model that Alfa Romeo hopes to reignite the brand with in the United States.

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It is incredibly unfortunate that the new Hornet has all these similarities, and the fact it's set to have a price lower than the Tonale's adds to its appeal. Dodge might have thrown a huge curveball to their fellow Stellantis brand. But can you blame them? There is always going to be some form of part sharing and commonality within brands under one company’s umbrella. But equally, you could argue that Dodge has gone too far, and should have informed Alfa Romeo of its intentions and tried to keep the two cars as separate as possible. The proof of if Dodge went too far though, may well lie in the sales figures for the two cars.

Sources: Stellantis, Alfa Romeo, Dodge

Covering anything from JDM cars to classic jets. Contributed to HotCars since the Autumn of 2018. Writes features, news and list articles.