Muscle cars enter their electric era
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The electric 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona. Photo courtesy of Stellantis
With the upcoming launch of the all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona, Stellantis is targeting a skeptical and perhaps even downright hostile audience: muscle car fans.
Why it matters: Electric vehicles (EVs) have already hit the mainstream — even some pickups run on battery power now. Muscle cars represent the last bastion of the gasoline era.
Driving the news: The new electric Charger made its debut Tuesday in an online video channeling the rebellious spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge.
- Dismissing other "compliance" EVs built to satisfy government regulators, Stellantis said the next-generation Charger is still the world's quickest and most powerful muscle car.
- It will also be the loudest, thanks to a patent-pending "Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system" — a speaker box that replicates the deafening burble of Dodge's Hellcat V8 engine (no typical EV whine here).
By the numbers: The electric 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack delivers 670 horsepower, goes 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds and runs the quarter-mile in an estimated 11.5 seconds.
- Performance features include standard all-wheel-drive, along with a PowerShot feature that delivers a jolt of 40 extra horsepower, and selectable Drag, Track, Drift and Donut modes.
- There's even a "drive experience recorder" that lets you show your friends how crazy you are.
Reality check: Lots of other carmakers have built performance EVs that are fast and fun to drive.
- And just last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a bold, believe-it-when-we-see-it claim that the next-generation Roadster will go 0-60 mph in under 1 second — which would be insane.
Between the lines: EVs are finally becoming relevant for a niche group of muscle car buyers who only care about what's under the hood.
- They want noisy V8s and manual transmissions and like to show off by screaming past you on the interstate or doing donuts and squealing their tires at intersections.
- "For some people, the performative aspect of a muscle car is as important as its performance on the road," Mark Phelan, veteran automotive critic at the Detroit Free Press, tells Axios.
Purists, take heart: Other Charger models will follow in early 2025, including two gasoline versions.
The bottom line: Stellantis knows what Dodge buyers want.
