Strange things are happening as the electric vehicle (EV) industry sits in limbo ahead of the incoming Trump administration’s plans to end tax incentives on EV purchases and production.
The latest example comes from Dodge, which is launching a marketing campaign ahead of the 2025 release of its first fully electric EV, the Daytona Charger.
The campaign, called “Save the Planet,” features a video with a view of Planet Earth, city skylines, oceans, and green open fields.
We aren’t building electric vehicles because it’s trendy,” the video’s voice-over says. “We’re building them to make a difference.”
As the new electric Dodge Charger Daytona roars into action, the script goes on to say its goal is to save the planet from “all those lame, soulless, weak-looking, self-driving sleep pods everyone keeps polluting our streets with. That’s why we’re doing it.”
In a press release, Dodge further says the campaign wants to maintain the brand’s “irreverence.
Even in EV form, Dodge has marketed the new Charger as an all-American “muscle car,” reminiscent of the 1960s version featured in the classic movie Bullitt and the Dukes of Hazzard TV series.
Dodge’s swipe at “self-driving sleep pods” might very well be aimed at least in part at Tesla. CEO Elon Musk, now a close adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, has endorsed ending the Biden administration’s EV incentives.
Musk, while acknowledging that ending EV rebates may hurt Tesla, has said it would be “devastating” to its competitors. At the same time, he has consistently pushed forward his belief that “the future is autonomous,” referring to the recent launch of its Robotaxi self-driving vehicle.
Meanwhile, Dodge parent Stellantis has said it will adopt the Tesla North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector for its EVs.
2024 Dodge Charger Daytona reinvents the muscle car for the EV era
Dodge is finally getting into the EV game, and what better way to start than with a new version of the Charger? While seemingly tailor-made for an electric car, the Charger name also carries the weight of heritage. That led Dodge to take a very different approach with its first EV.
Arriving later this year (with pricing to be determined), the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona is the replacement for the old gasoline Charger sedan and Dodge Challenger coupe. It tries to appeal to fans of those cars with retro styling, muscle-car sound effects, and an emphasis on performance over efficiency. And if that doesn’t work, Dodge plans to sell a gasoline version as well.
Dodge claims the new Charger wasn’t intended as a carbon copy of the classic 1968 Charger made famous in the movie Bullitt, The Dukes of Hazzard TV show, and the Fast & Furious franchise, but that’s pretty much what we have here. The silhouette is unmistakably that of a classic Charger — and pretty much unchanged from the Charger Daytona SRT concept unveiled in 2022 as the first preview of this new model.
Classic Chargers were all two-door coupes, but Dodge has been selling the Charger as a four-door sedan since 2005. With this redesign, those two identities are finally reconciled. The new Charger launches as a coupe (taking over the Challenger’s spot in the lineup) but will also be available as a sedan starting in 2025. Electric and gasoline powertrains will be available in both body styles. And even the coupe has a useful 37.3 cubic feet of cargo space with its rear seats folded.
The Charger Daytona debuts the STLA Large platform, one of four EV platforms unveiled by Dodge parent Stellantis in 2021. In this case, the platform houses a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain tuned for different outputs.
Dodge will launch the Charger Daytona in R/T and Scat Pack configurations, with standard Direct Connection Stage 1 and Stage 2 performance packages, respectively. The Direct Connection packages, which will be extra-cost options following the first batch of production cars, give the R/T 496 horsepower and 404 pound-feet of torque and the Scat Pack 670 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque. However, maximum horsepower is only available in short bursts by pressing the PowerShot button on the steering wheel.
Dodge expects the R/T Stage 1 to do zero to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and run the quarter mile in 13.1 seconds, while the Scat Pack Stage 2 should be good for zero to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and an 11.5-second quarter mile. None of these figures are earth-shattering by EV standards, but Dodge has an even more powerful SRT Banshee model on the way. Stellantis has also said the Charger’s STLA Large platform can support zero to 60 mph acceleration in the 2.0-second range. Watch this space.
In 2025, Dodge will also add a gasoline powertrain to the lineup. The 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six engine, dubbed Hurricane, is already used in the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs and is making its way into the Ram 1500 pickup truck for 2025 as well. In the Charger, it will make 420 hp or 550 hp.
Definitely different
The Charger Daytona is a different kind of EV, and that’s exactly how Dodge wanted it. In a presentation ahead of the car’s reveal, Kuniskis said the electric Charger “fights the system” by appealing to fans of the brand’s gasoline muscle cars rather than EV enthusiasts. But the Charger Daytona is far from the only EV designed to convince skeptical customers not sold on electrification.
EVs like the Ford F-150 Lightning and GMC Hummer EV have already brought electric power to market segments also populated by customers who weren’t exactly running out to buy Teslas. Big pickup trucks and SUVs also happen to be among the bestselling and most profitable vehicles for the American automakers. So yes, the Charger Daytona does fight the system — but it does so by not being just another big truck.
