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Ron Burgundy calls Durango a 'terrible car,' yet his ads help sales climb by 59% [w/videos]

Ron Burgundy was put on this planet to do one thing: to read the news. If that ever falls through, though, the womanizing, scotch-drinking anchorman could have a great career just as a Dodge salesman. Bloomberg points out that sales of the 2014 Dodge Durango have rocketed up 59 percent in the first month of Chrysler's funny new ad campaign (which began in early October). But then again, the entire year has been strong for the big SUV, with year-over-year sales increases in the double and even triple digit percentages - including an increase of 117 percent in August.
Of course, the Durango has also received a wealth of new content and a freshened look for 2014 in addition to the Burgundy campaign, and that has to be helping close sales, too. Whether or not the spots themselves are leading to more sales may be a moot point, since they are definitely getting plenty of attention. Almost two months into the marketing tie-up between Dodge and the movie Anchorman 2, Dodge's YouTube videos have received well over seven million views. More than just YouTube shorts and television commercials, the Durango has even received late-night attention, including when Will Ferrell showed up in character as Ron Burgundy on Conan earlier this week.
In the interview, he calls the Durango a "terrible car" that "cracked in half," a joke that probably had Dodge ad execs squirming uncomfortably in their Barcaloungers. Scroll down to watch the Conan interview as well as some of our favorite Burgundy-pitched Durango ads. And there's still plenty of time to "touch" Ron to win a new Durango.

Dodge Dart getting hatchback variant... sort of

In other parts of the world, Fiat builds and sells a version of the Dodge Dart called the Viaggio, and it appears that in addition to the current sedan bodystyle, a new hatchback version of the car is also in the works. Autocar says that the general manager for China's Guangzhou-Fiat joint venture, John Burton, has confirmed that a new Viaggio hatchback will be revealed by the end of this year before it goes on sale in early 2014.
The Viaggio will soon be joined by the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, which in China will be called the Liberty Light, at the Guangzhou-Fiat plant. While the idea of a Dodge Dart hatchback might be enough to enable most of us to forget about the Dodge Caliber, a North American variant doesn't appear to be in the cards. We reached out to Chrysler PR boss Rick Deneau, and he offered a succinct: "No plans at this time."

Dodge Durango to stay classy with Ron Burgundy as spokesperson [w/video]

The upcoming 2014 Dodge Durango has a lot of things going for it, including its 290-horsepower V6 and 360-hp Hemi V8 engine options, an eight-speed automatic and aggressive looks. And now it will have Ron Burgundy, the fictional television news anchor played by comedian Will Ferrell, as a spokesperson, Adweek reports. He follows in the footsteps of other non-fictional Chrysler brand spokespeople such as Eminem, Clint Eastwood and the late Paul Harvey.
Though the star of 2004's Anchorman and the upcoming Anchorman 2 is wildly popular, we're not sure we see a Dodge spokesperson in Burgundy. (Please, no womanizing or scotchy, scotch, scotch before test test drives). But at this point there's no turning back: Chrysler's chief marketing officer Olivier Francois previewed three ad spots at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Masters of Marketing conference in Phoenix on Friday, and says Chrysler has already filmed 68(!) Durango ads with the fictional newsman.
According to Adweek, one of the ads previewed had Burgundy highlighting the SUV's glovebox size, and in another he compared its horsepower to a white horse standing next to him. Will this help Dodge Durango sales improve? We can only wait and see. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in Comments, and check out the trailer for Anchorman 2 below.