Dodge Charger will live on as a new EV and a gas-powered muscle car

DETROIT — Dodge won’t abandon its traditional, gearhead, high-octane Charger and Challenger owners with its next-generation muscle car.

The automaker on Tuesday revealed the new Dodge Charger as an all-electric vehicle as well as a next-generation gas-powered muscle car. It will be the first all-electric car from Dodge.

The traditional car has been in question since late 2022, when Dodge said production of the longstanding Charger and Challenger would be discontinued at the end of last year. At that time, the company said an EV would replace them, declining to discuss the potential for future gas models.

Offering EV and gas-powered versions of the vehicle will allow Dodge to be more flexible when it comes to production, as sales of all-electric vehicles have been growing more slowly than expected. More gas- and electric-powered Chargers, including a “Banshee” EV, will follow the initial vehicles.

Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis called the EV a “game changer in the industry.” The new gas-powered models, meanwhile, will outperform their V-6 engine predecessors, as well as some of the V-8 variants.

“We’re taking the performance of the ‘golden age’ that you know today that you judge everything by and we’re taking the technology of the future to make sure [the Dodge brothers’] legacy doesn’t die,” Kuniskis said during a media briefing. “The Banshee is going to be our ultimate performer.”

The 2024 Charger EV, known as the Daytona, is expected to go on sale this summer with up to 670 horsepower, 627 foot-pounds of peak torque and a 0-60 mph time of 3.3 seconds.

The two-door EV versions will be first, followed by four-door models during the first quarter of next year. The gas-powered Chargers with a new inline-six engine are expected to go on sale in 2025.