Featured Image Credit: Dodge
When you think of a classic American muscle car, you might well think of the Dodge Charger.
However, like basically every major carmaker out there, Dodge has read the tea leaves and accepted that the future of cars looks electric.
So, after years of build-up, it's just unveiled the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona, its first ever fully electric vehicle, and one that does its best to keep muscle car heritage alive, but with a very different type of engine.
The Next Era of Dodge Muscle. pic.twitter.com/fENuOslr5b
— Dodge (@Dodge) March 5, 2024
The 2024 Charger Daytona looks for all the world like a Charger, so from a design point of view it hopefully won't be upsetting anyone - it has the same classic silhouette, just a bit modernized.
This is most obvious where its headlights and taillights and concerned, since they're far clearer and do have an 'EV' look to them.
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There are two versions of the car, too - a standard model that will come with 496 horsepower or a more powerful Scat Pack version that uses a twin motor system to get a whopping 670 horsepower.
That means you should get some rapid acceleration and top speeds, just as you'd hope for a muscle car.
When you're trying to convince someone to get an EV instead of a traditional car, one of the most classic objections is range anxiety, and Dodge has clearly worked hard on that. It estimates 317 miles of range for the 2024 Charger Daytona and 260 miles for the Scat Pack, which are extremely respectable numbers in the market.
With muscle cars an emotional topic for many US drivers, the post on X announcing the car has attracted plenty of comments, some positive and others less so.
One reply said: "I actually love the look of the new Charger," while another agreed: "I’m excited for the Charger Daytona!"
However, there were probably a few more people voicing concerns, including one who wrote: "EV? I only consider a muscle car as gas-powered. A muscle car needs noise coming from the engine."
That's a sentiment echoed by quite a lot of the responses, with people reminiscing about the golden years of US muscle car production.
Still, with some time before the car actually hits the road - slated to be mid-2024 - it'll be interesting to see how popular it is. Particularly as Dodge is also going to sell a version with a traditional engine, there will still be an option out there for those who still want to forego electrification.
