We examine some nontrivial consequences that emerge from interpreting a position-dependent mass (PDM)-driven Duffing oscillator in the presence of a quartic potential. The propagation dynamics is numerically studied and the sensitivity to the PDM-index is noted. Remarkable transitions from a limit cycle to chaos through period doubling and from a chaotic to a regular motion through intermediate periodic and chaotic routes are demonstrated. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.