Dodge, maybe alone amongst modern automakers, has seen immense success in translating the archaic Twentieth-century Muscle Automobile method into the twenty first. It has completed this by stuffing more and more outrageous iterations of its fashionable Hemi V8 into practically each car in its product line. Its fervent Hellcat-ing has been sufficient, surprisingly, to take care of steadily vigorous gross sales of its Challenger coupe and Charger sedan, 20-year-old vehicles aping 55-year-old designs and driving on platforms developed greater than 30 years in the past.
However these autos are lastly going away. They are going to be changed by flexible-powertrain two- and four-door fashions, each known as Charger, that will likely be motivated, at launch in early 2025, solely by a 100.5 kWh battery pack and a pair of electrical motors. (And for those who’re a Mopar nut however are dedicated to inner combustion, your muscle-car future means an inline-six engine, as for those who had been a type of guys whose whole wardrobe consists of ///M attire. Are you able to think about?) So how does Mopar’s methylized muscle-maker plan to persuade potential shoppers to purchase into such a blasphemous switcheroo?
Photograph by: InsideEVs
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV
To get fans’ “butts-in-seats” and help with this electron baptism, Dodge is planning an entire collection of occasions within the upcoming 12 months, stated Matt McAlear, the model’s CEO. It is going to take its new EV muscle vehicles on tour within the first quarter of 2025 to coach its gross sales and dealership employees and display the autos’ capabilities. It’s launching a courtesy transportation program whereby it should ship EVs to sellers to make use of for short-term client check drives, or as 96-hour loaners when clients are available to have their car serviced. It is going to host consumer-facing “Thrill Experience” drive occasions at upcoming Mecum and Barrett-Jackson basic automotive auctions, and at its drifting/drag racing “Roadkill Nights” stay occasions in the summertime–—prime websites for the gathering of Hemis of all vintages.
“Dodge is at all times greatest as a model when it does one thing completely different,” McAlear stated, referencing the automaker’s advertising slogan from the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, Dodge Completely different. And he’s actually proper about convincing folks with precise seat time and never simply adverts. Research after examine signifies that after folks expertise EVs for themselves, or hear from family and friends who do, they’re much more more likely to pull the set off themselves.
Plus, he stated, this EV has the bona fides. “This car, it is a muscle automotive first. Should you have a look at the specs, the design, the potential, and take powertrain out of it, it’s a greater muscle automotive on paper than the vehicles it replaces,” he famous. “So whereas there’s a polarizing, controversial facet to this—that it occurs to have an EV powertrain as one of many powertrains that’s going to energy it—nobody can argue the battery electrical know-how permits terrific efficiency, and that is what we’re bringing to market with this.”
Photograph by: InsideEVs
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV
To enunciate this level, McAlear identified that even after Dodge introduces ICE-powered iterations of the Charger within the second half of 2025, gasoline energy will symbolize “the entry-level autos from a efficiency standpoint.” So if a possible client wishes a automotive with the quickest acceleration (0-60 in 3.3 seconds) they’ll be taught that that functionality is a battery-only possibility.
This powertrain rollout and hierarchy is a said a part of Dodge’s technique for muscling the muscle automotive trustworthy towards EVs, in line with McAlear. One other prong on this program is to give attention to added utility and each day drivability, to create what Stellantis design chief Ralph Gilles known as “emotional alibis” to guide shoppers towards acceptance of this new product.
Photograph by: InsideEVs
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV
McAlear listed a set of capabilities that may present such cowl for what quantities to a extremely irrational and emotional buy. “All-wheel-drive, for example, helps us compete extra within the North as a each day driver,” he stated, referencing its all-weather functionality. “A hidden hatchback functionality provides you wonderful cargo house that you simply didn’t have in your previous car. The brand new Charger two-door now has extra rear-seat legroom than the outgoing four-door,” he stated. “So this turns into far more of a each day driver than any of the muscle vehicles that we have had prior.”
Will this litany of added performance persuade Dodge die-hards, who will obtain a defeatable artificial exhaust observe that’s as boisterous as that of the outgoing automotive, however no scent of unburned gas or means to smoke the rear tires from a standstill?
Photograph by: InsideEVs
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV
“Most likely not instantly out of the gate,” McAlear stated. “It may take a while. It may take them seeing one on the road. It may take them stepping into for service and testing one whereas they’re getting an oil change. However I’ve seen these folks get behind the wheel and are available out with modified opinions.”
Nevertheless, convincing the trustworthy might not be the best tactic for furthering this automotive’s market penetration. “Although a muscle automotive and an electrical car appear diametrically opposed, there is a chance for electrification to enlarge the thought, advantages, and aspirational nature of the muscle automotive,” stated Alexander Edwards, president of Strategic Imaginative and prescient, a Southern California automotive analysis and consulting agency. “Nevertheless, the conversion of these from the previous, I don’t imagine is the most effective technique. As a substitute, a brand new era of muscle vehicles can discover success with youthful people who suppose they like muscle vehicles.”
Because it seems, Dodge has simply such shoppers in its targets. “Should you have a look at our present demographic immediately, now we have the youngest demographic within the mainstream auto business,” stated McAlear. “We’ve the best proportion of Gen Z and Millennials. And people clients have the best propensity to be keen to undertake electrification. In order that units us up.”
Photograph by: InsideEVs
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV
Dodge is perhaps onto one thing right here. Although muscle automotive looks like an anachronistic class to anybody who isn’t a Boomer, analysis reveals that these autos have and preserve broader attraction. “The fascinating factor with these vehicles, I believe, is that they’re much more long-lived than vehicles like tri-five [1955-57] Chevys, or different American vehicles of the period,” stated Brian Rabold, vice chairman of valuation for Hagerty, the world’s largest insurer of collectible autos. “There are much more entry factors for youthful generations to grow to be excited about them—by means of driving video video games, by means of motion pictures just like the Quick and Livid franchise.” As Rabold notes, pop cultural publicity conjures curiosity and want, and interprets into purchases, whether or not these be previous Polaras and Highway Runners, or newer Fox Physique Mustangs and fourth-gen Firebirds.
Nonetheless, rumors have persevered that curiosity in Dodge’s new muscular EV is much less sturdy than the model initially suspected and that it’s thus dashing the inline-six-powered iterations to complement this engagement. McAlear denies this categorically.
“That is what you name an city legend,” he stated. “Somebody put one factor on the Web. And if it is on the Web, it is true, proper?” He laughed, underlining his sarcasm. “We’re at all times making an attempt to convey each new car to market as rapidly as doable,” he continued. “It would not do us any good from an R&D and a capital expenditure standpoint to carry gross sales any longer than now we have to. So nothing has modified with our timing.”
Photograph by: InsideEVs
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV
General, as soon as each powertrains are in the marketplace, McAlear expects the combo of Charger patrons to phase about evenly: half electrical, half fuel. This aligns with Dodge’s present mixture of high-test Hemi- versus lesser-powered Challengers and Chargers. “If we glance traditionally at our V6 versus our efficiency V8, it was roughly 50/50,” McAlear stated. “So I nonetheless suppose there’s a possibility, over time—as adoption continues to occur, and as infrastructure is available in throughout the U.S. by way of charging functionality—I believe there’s the power for this [EV] to beat a 50/50 combine.” (Dodge officers declined to deal with questions on demand or pre-orders, however stated they plan to stay versatile by way of manufacturing based mostly on client demand.)
If any marque is positioned to succeed with an electrical muscle automotive, it appears to be Mopar’s efficiency model. “Shoppers who personal the Charger and Challenger normally love their autos,” stated Edwards, whose agency conducts tons of of 1000’s of in-depth psychographic surveys with new automotive patrons yearly. “Even those that by no means purchase a Dodge can typically agree that Dodge is an thrilling model that has so much to supply. If Dodge takes the place that they’re innovating pleasure, then this subsequent step may very well be a doorway for Dodge’s electrical future.” He added one additional provision. “They only should get the messaging proper.”
Photograph by: InsideEVs
2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV
McAlear and his groups appear to be fascinated with this fastidiously, calibrating their messaging to entice purchasers who could also be concurrently powertrain-aware and -agnostic. “Folks purchase a muscle automotive for a lot extra than simply what powers it. They purchase it due to the way it makes them really feel. It is an extension of their character. It places a smile on their face. They’ve enjoyable being in it. They’ve enjoyable being seen it,” he stated. “So I believe that is what this car does. And it opens this as much as a a lot bigger demographic and viewers.”
After spending a while within the Daytona Charger EV, not too long ago, I felt prefer it succeeded in charting a freshly charged path into the moribund world of muscle vehicles. So Dodge seemingly has the product proper. And it has a historical past of making memorable messaging.
We’ll see if it might discover a magic recipe that yields outcomes from a youthful viewers open to this surprisingly compelling and venerable class.
Brett Berk is a contract automotive author based mostly in New York. He has pushed and reviewed 1000’s of vehicles for Automobile and Driver and Highway & Monitor, the place he’s a contributing editor. He has additionally written for Architectural Digest, Billboard, ELLE Decor, Esquire, GQ, Journey + Leisure and Self-importance Truthful.
