Requiem for the Rebels – Dodge Announces Discontinuation of Charger, Challenger After 2023
By Edward A. Sanchez — Aug. 16, 2022
The news that Stellantis North America was discontinuing the internal-combustion variants of the Dodge Charger and Challenger perhaps isn’t the most shocking development to come out of the automotive industry lately. Most assumed it was a matter of when, not if. But hearing it officially confirmed adds an element of gravitas to the development, and underscores the inevitability of EVs when even the most raucous, rebellious, anti-social performance brand capitulates.
The outgoing ICE models will be sent off in characteristic Mopar flair with special-edition paintjobs, including B5 Blue, Plum Crazy, and Sublime Green. Altogether, the 2023 Charger and Challenger models will offer a total of 14 available exterior colors. All the 2023 models will also get a special “Last Call” plaque under the hood, with “Designed in Auburn Hills” and “Assembled in Brampton” recognizing the vehicles’ design and assembly origins. The 2023 model year will also expand the availability of the popular “Jailbreak” trim.
Those who are steadfastly committed to internal combustion may be shedding a few tears right now, but this in no way signifies the end of performance from Stellantis’ self-proclaimed “Domestic, not Domesticated” bad boy brand. Dodge brand chief Tim Kuniskis proclaimed the brand’s commitment to “eMuscle” this time last year, in which an EV muscle car doing a four-wheel burnout was teased, along with the revival of the brand’s “Fratzog” logo, used on the brand’s vehicles from the early ’60s to the mid-’70s, this time repurposed to designate the brand’s electric performance vehicles.
Dodge is sending its Challenger (and Charger) lineup out with a bang, boasting various special editions and packages. Expect the company to welcome its forthcoming EV muscle-car lineup with similar pageantry.
This transition will be an interesting and delicate one, considering the Dodge and SRT brand’s close association with the MotorTrend Group’s “Roadkill Nights” series of muscle car performance events, a brand and events nearly synonymous with grassroots enthusiast internal-combustion performance.
But knowing Dodge, and the image the brand has carefully crafted over the past decade, going electric doesn’t mean the brand will revert to making tame commuter pods. As alluded to last summer, Kuniskis promises levels of performance that will meet or exceed that of even the wildest of the current models, which reached its pinnacle with the 840 hp 2018 Challenger Demon.
I would put my money on 1,000+ hp, and a Plaid-rivaling 0-60 and quarter-mile time. This top performance model could very well top $100,000, but being the poster-child of blue-collar performance, count on at least a few models in the $60-70,000 range, with maybe around 800 hp.
These new models may not have the snarling bellow of the Hellcat-powered models, but Dodge promises a unique sonic signature for its next-generation EV models, even if it is artificially generated and projected.
Will hood scoops, wild colors, and wide fenders make it to the EV iterations of Dodge’s muscle cars? We hope so.
The future of performance may sound different, and certainly smell different (or not at all), but the Model S Plaid’s dominance at the drag strip among the production class, and its purported role in the NRHA’s rules change to allow sub 10-second cars to compete without a mandatory roll cage have decisively demonstrated EV’s objective performance capability. So while the ICE loyalists and old timers may pine for the “good ol’ days” of raw, explosive exhaust smells and sounds, enthusiasts 30 years hence will likely see the internal combustion models as interesting historic examples and museum pieces, but heartily embrace electrified performance as the established standard.
(Main image courtesy Dodge)
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