SHE'S GONNA BLOW! 2007 Dodge Nitro fuels brand expansion.(News)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

Even in these times of declining sport/utility vehicle sales, the big profits are still in SUVs. The problem for Dodge was that it had only one SUV, the Durango, even though the SUV boom had long since boomed and was well into busting. Well, it turns out you can do what's called "platform sharing,'' see, where you take an existing vehicle and with a couple of adjustments here and there, you get a whole new SUV for pennies on the dollar. Who knew?

Sure, Dodge seemed a little slow to realize this, especially because its competitors have, like, six or so SUVs each, but once it figured this out, it got right on it. Dodge took a Jeep Liberty and slapped on new sheetmetal, new interior, slightly longer suspension arms and then, as the Germans say, Achtung!, you got yourself a whole new profit center.

The Dodge Nitro is built on a Liberty that has been stretched four inches, mostly in the wheelbase-the Liberty is 104.3 inches between the wheels, and the Nitro is 108.8. The Nitro tracks about an inch wider, too. While the suspension geometry is basically the same, it is just a little longer in the Nitro. Overhangs are relatively short, so it can probably crawl over a few more rocks than those minivan-based crossover SUVs in the marketplace.

Dodge didn't want this to look like a crossover. Inspiration for the exterior came from the 2002 Detroit auto show pickup truck, the M80. While there was no business case for the M80, design elements from it are plastered all over the new Nitro: Note those pronounced wheel arches, abbreviated overhangs bordering a long wheelbase, squared-off corners and a bold, upright Dodge crosshair grille.

Mechanically, it shares a lot with the Liberty from which it came. The base engine is the Liberty's 3.7-liter V6, basically a 5.2-liter Chrysler V8 with two of the cylinders chopped off. It feels raspy at anything over 3500 rpm but nonetheless makes 210 hp and 235 ...