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Dodge Will Reveal EV Muscle Cars By 2022
By Dave Ashton
Dodge has been promising/threatening to reveal the concepts of their next generation of electric muscle cars for some time. In a recent interview with Automotive News, Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis discussed how future plans will be announced in the latter part of 2021, with a possible concept vehicle being revealed in 2022. The timing also coincides with the launch of a plug-in hybrid from Dodge, along the lines of the Alfa Romeo Tonale compact crossover. A possible nametag for this crossover could be the Hornet. (The Hornet name was originally from the Hudson and Nash Hudson Hornet, then morphing into the AMC Hornet of the 1970s)
Other juicy nuggets which emerged from the interview include the potential for future Dodge vehicles to pump out 1200hp. However, the initial run of cars will probably have less output to make them more affordable to the average user. Around $40,000 to $50,000, the probable pricing sweet spot, as muscle cars have traditionally been more affordable than their supercar counterparts. This isn’t going to stop Dodge from producing ICE vehicles past 2024, most likely to see how the winds of change progress over the next decade.
‘The new platform comes in 2024, we didn’t say that the current cars are going to die in 2024.’ ‘There might be a little overlap, but you’re not going to have years and years and years of the classic and the new one at the same time.’
Possible Electric Platforms
Dodge now has access to the full range of EV platforms from its parent company Stellantis. These include the STLA small, medium, large, and frame for different sized vehicles. Each of these platforms can be used for front, rear and all-wheel drive setups along with hybrids. Most likely, the STLA setup will be used for a muscle car design.
Future electric muscle cars won’t have the same soundtrack as a beloved V8 engine. But instant, full-on torque from an EV should at least swing some of the initial muscle car votes.
An Uphill Battle for Dodge…
When an all-new version of any car is announced, most fans have excited, eager anticipation of its release. In the case of Dodge releasing its first EV muscle car, everyone’s a critic is a huge understatement. Decades of illustrious V8 enjoyment will now be replaced with the whirring sound of an electric motor. It’s a bit like owning a huge sound system for decades for listening to your tunes, then being made to only use a smart speaker. The latter may be smaller, just as powerful, but it’s just not the same thing.
However, change is inevitable in the car industry. It’s just that with muscle cars, the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ template has been enjoyed for longer than most. Therefore, Dodge has to really impress and be the first out of the blocks with the first and best EV muscle car. Not an easy challenge when you’re full fan base is currently sitting on the sidelines, chin-scratching.
Up to this point, biofuels, hydrogen, and anything else that could keep the V8 going would have been a more popular option. However, the world is going electric, rightly or wrongly, with Dodge and the other muscle car makers having to swing with times.
At the very least, for the first time ever, eco. friendly websites are starting to talk about muscle cars(obviously only in electric form and still mostly in a dissenting tone.) But the release of electric muscle cars will also quash the usual negatives thrown at the breed.
In years to come, muscle cars will be as environmentally friendly as any other electric vehicle (obviously ignoring where all the electricity and precious metals come from…ahem). Muscle cars will have the same or better levels of instant torque, instant traction, also with heaping’s of raw, reckless abandon as they should. Hopefully, with not as much of the digital and clinical persona of the way things are going.
We hope that future electric muscle cars will allow their owners to have their cake and eat it. The same levels of power and emotion that we currently enjoy, while also pleasing the eco. brigade. Could a future V8 stand for 8 million volts? Recharge your Challenger and watch the city’s lights go out? I hope so.
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