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Dodge’s all-new, 2008 Avenger midsize sedan is rolling into dealerships now, giving the automaker perhaps its best shot yet at competing head-to-head with the segment leaders.

Anyone contemplating the purchase of a plain vanilla Japanese-brand midsize sedan might want to take a look at the Avenger first.

That’s because the Dodge offers compelling styling in this well-engineered, cleverly outfitted, fun-to-drive sport sedan.

While there are some bold designs among the Japanese sedans – the new Nissan Altima, for example – the Avenger’s styling, based on its big brother, the Dodge Charger, is exponentially more interesting than that of the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry.

It’s also eons ahead of the vehicle it replaces in the Dodge lineup, the rather mediocre Stratus, which has never been a serious contender in this class.

The dilemma Dodge’s parent, the Chrysler Group, faces in marketing the Avenger is that its Chrysler sibling, the redesigned 2007 Sebring, is just as good. Choosing between the two might boil down to a game of eeny, meeny, miney, mo for some consumers.

Both cars have strong styling, and even though they’re virtually identical underneath, the Sebring and Avenger have enough exterior differences that they aren’t clones of each other.

If one were forced to choose a short description of each to differentiate them, the Avenger might be called sporty and the Sebring elegant. But the Avenger has its own elegance, and the Sebring isn’t exactly devoid of sportiness, either.

Their sticker prices are nearly identical, as well, so the choice between the two might come down to external factors, such as which dealer is closer or which one offers the best price or service.

The point is, you can’t go wrong with either of these vehicles.

Chrysler rolled out the Sebring in the fall, giving it a few months’ head start over the Avenger. Chrysler stores also got the 300 sedan before Dodge dealers got the Charger, but in that case, the delay was much longer – a couple of years.

My theory is that Chrysler Group couldn’t afford to wait that long to replace the Stratus, especially when a car as sharp as the Avenger was waiting in the wings. The midsize sedan market accounts for about 1.9 million sales annually in the United States, making it the most-important car segment. The leader is the Camry, which accounts for more than 400,000 sales per year; Stratus in its best years has topped out around 100,000.

Stratus sales dropped nearly half during 2006 from 2005, with a total of 51,393 units sold vs. 99,648 in ’05; combined with the Sebring, whose sales totaled 69,357 for 2006 (down 23 percent), Chrysler Group sold just 110,750 midsize sedans last year.

While Chrysler officials declined to predict sales of the Avenger, the company probably would be happy just to get above 100,000. And if the Sebring were to do as well, that would give the company nearly double its ’06 sales of midsize cars.

But sales could do much better than that. The company sold 114,201 of the full-size Charger and 143,647 of its sibling, the Chrysler 300, last year, for a total of 257,848. Similar figures for combined sales of the Sebring and Avenger would be considered a success.

During this past week’s national media introduction of the Avenger in Scottsdale, Chrysler Group officials said bringing the Avenger to market is part of a push to revitalize the group’s car offerings after years of letting them languish as the company concentrated on higher-profit truck products.

The same revitalization of the car business is under way at Ford and General Motors, as well. The so-called Detroit Big Three virtually ceded their car business to the Japanese and South Korean automakers over the past decade and a half as consumers got caught up in the sport utility vehicle craze.

Traditional SUVs are falling out of favor with consumers, who are moving back into cars and carlike products – such as the so-called crossover utility vehicles. That has forced the Big Three to scramble to bring cars to market that can compete with the Asian automakers’ top models.

The Avenger is just such a vehicle.

“We want to bring our cars back in the right way,” said Jim Yetter, senior manager of Dodge car marketing. “They must be capable, powerful, fun to drive, and not be appliances or vanilla.”

The typical Avenger buyer, he said, will be age 30-45 with a child or children. “They are people who care about style, about looking good,” he said. “These are people looking for the Charger version of a midsize car.”

The car’s youthful look is the product of Avenger lead designer Ryan Nagode, himself just three-and-a-half years out of design school. He said the front end design he created for the Avenger was inspired by a particularly cool pair of sunglasses that he likes to wear.

He called the styling a mix of “bold, powerful, capable and street-smart.”

Its “full-mouth grille,” he said, “is the new face of Dodge.” The side profile, with its muscular shoulders, is copied from the Charger.

And the car’s headlights, which are partially tucked up under the hood, help give the car a “sinister look,” Nagode said. Flares in the outer bumpers under the headlights are designed to look almost like boxing gloves to give the car an aggressive stance, he added. The car is four inches taller and 1.2 inches wider than the Stratus, and is built on a completely new chassis that is considerably stiffer than that of the Stratus.

Three trim levels are offered. The base model is the SE, which comes with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, four-speed automatic transmission, and 16-inch wheels, for a starting price of $18,895, including freight.

Next is the SXT, with the same 2.4-liter engine and four-speed transmission, but with 17-inch machined-aluminum wheels, for $19,795. A 2.7-liter V-6 is optional, and an SXT with a special sport appearance package lists for $21,695.

There are two versions of the top-of-the-line R/T model, which comes with a 3.5-liter V-6, 18-inch machined-aluminum wheels, and a six-speed automatic with manual-shift feature. The front-drive version starts at $23,545; an all-wheel-drive version, which arrives in May, is $25,545.

The R/T comes with dual three-and-a-half-inch chrome exhaust tips and a rear spoiler. Optional are 18-inch chrome wheels and a two-tone leather interior.

Standard on all models is the Chill Zone glove box at the top front of the dash on the passenger side. It can hold several beverage cans, and uses the vehicle’s air conditioning and ventilation system to keep the drinks cool. Optional is a cupholder between the two front bucket seats that can heat a drink to 140 degrees or cool it to 35 degrees.

Other Avenger options include Chrysler’s new MyGIG audio/navigation system with its own 20-gigabyte hard drive that stores up to 1,600 songs; and a rear-seat entertainment center that includes a DVD player screen that pops up from the back of the front center console.

The rear seat has a 60/40 split-folding feature to increase cargo space, and even the front passenger seat can be folded forward to extend cargo into that area. The folded front seatback also can be used as a desk for a mobile office, Nagode said. It’s big enough for a laptop computer.

The 2.4-liter four-cylinder is Chrysler’s new “world engine,” said Dave Lauzun, Dodge senior manager for vehicle development. It’s rated at 173 horsepower and 166 foot-pounds of torque. EPA fuel-economy ratings are 21 miles per gallon city/30 highway, using the new formula for computing mileage. The 2007 mileage ratings for this engine, using the old computation rules, were 24 city/32 highway, Lauzun said.

The 2.7-liter V-6 produces 189 horsepower and 191 foot-pounds of torque. Fuel-economy ratings are 19 city/27 highway (22/30 for 2007).

The 3.5-liter V-6 is rated at 235 horsepower and 232 foot-pounds of torque. Mileage estimates are 16 city/26 highway (18/28 for 2007).

Yetter said about 1,500 of the new Avenger have already been shipped to dealers, and about 6,000 should be in dealers’ inventories when the marketing campaign for the car begins in early March.