The new face of the Dodge brand: high performance. Over the next few years, Dodge will focus on fast, powerful cars and SUVs, like this 2015 Challenger R/T.

It’s one of the biggest challenges facing automakers: Young people just aren’t that into them.

It sounds funny, but it has a lot of executives worried. Young adults aren’t buying new cars at the rates they did a generation ago. Is this the beginning of a long-term decline?

So far, most automakers have responded by putting more emphasis on the high-tech “infotainment” systems that are especially popular among younger buyers. Ford‘s (NYSE: F) acclaimed voice-activated SYNC system was one of the first, but nearly all automakers now offer something similar.

ALSO READ: Ten Cities Where the Most People Walk to Work

Newly merged Fiat Chrysler (NASDAQOTH: FIATY) has its own touchscreen infotainment system. But now, with its Dodge brand, it’s making a big bet on a much older formula for attracting younger car buyers: horsepower.

Dodge thinks young buyers want more excitement
Over the next five years, Fiat Chrysler will rework nearly all of its brands, it said earlier this month. But Dodge is getting more changes than most.

In a nutshell, Dodge is getting rid of the minivans and mainstream sedans and doubling down on high performance.

Dodge brand CEO Tim Kuniskis thinks the problem is that most modern cars are boring, and that’s turning young people off — a trend that could be reversed by a brand committed to driving excitement, in his view.

This slide from a presentation Kuniskis gave earlier this month sums it up:

Already, he said, Dodge buyers on average are six years younger than the industry average for non-luxury brands. By making Dodge more interesting to younger folks, he hopes to turn that age gap into a long-term advantage.

Just how is Fiat Chrysler going to make Dodge more interesting to younger folks? By reworking nearly everything in its product lineup to emphasize high performance.

Dodge’s lineup is getting a big power boost
We don’t have all the details of what Dodge is going to do over the next half-decade, but we have a pretty good outline. Here’s another slide from Kuniskis’ presentation that shows Dodge’s five-year product plan.

You’ll note that a couple of current Dodge products are missing from this plan. That’s no accident: Production of the midsize Dodge Avenger sedan has already ended — it’s being replaced by the all-new Chrysler 200. The Dodge Grand Caravan minivan will continue on through 2016, when it too will be replaced by an all-new Chrysler.

Other Dodge products will be reworked or redesigned to fit the brand’s new image. The compact Dart, for instance, will get an overhaul in 2016 to “align [its] powertrain to brand DNA,” Fiat Chrysler said. Translation: two new high-horsepower turbo engines.

At about the same time, the Journey crossover will be replaced by a new model that will have some serious horsepower of its own.

ALSO READ: America’s Hottest Selling Cars

They’ll join the handsome Durango SUV, which was refreshed last year; the Viper, new last year; and the big Dodge muscle cars, the Charger sedan and Challenger coupe, which are being refreshed for 2015 with sharpened looks and improved interiors.

The 2015 Dodge Charger will have an all-new front-end design.

Next year, all-new SRT versions of the two rear-wheel-drive stalwarts will include a new supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8 that should deliver well over 500 horsepower.

Will it work?
Fiat Chrysler will consider Dodge’s overhaul a success if its sales in 2018 are about equal to what it sold last year. In other words, if the new Dodge products and the new emphasis on performance can make up for the loss of the minivans and the Avenger, it’s good.

All things considered, that’s a relatively modest goal. So will this plan work?

In the auto business, the bottom line is always this: If the products are good, the buyers will appear.

Dodge’s products haven’t always been good. But like Jeep and Chrysler vehicles, they have come a long way in the last few years. And there’s no question that high-performance vehicles will sell, up to a point. If Fiat Chrysler can sustain that product momentum, and if Dodge’s upcoming new products deliver on that Hemi-powered promise, America’s new high-performance brand has a pretty good chance of success.

Special free report: Top dividend stocks for the next decade
The smartest investors know that dividend stocks simply crush their non-dividend paying counterparts over the long term. That’s beyond dispute. They also know that a well-constructed dividend portfolio creates wealth steadily, while still allowing you to sleep like a baby. Knowing how valuable such a portfolio might be, our top analysts put together a report on a group of high-yielding stocks that should be in any income investor’s portfolio. To see our free report on these stocks, just click here now.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.