The Dodge Charger and Challenger Are About to Die. Here’s What’s Will Replace Them

The “eMuscle” era is arriving sooner than we thought.

Published September 3, 2023

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The times, they are a-changing at Dodge. After years of carving out a niche as the purveyor of slightly politically incorrect tire-shredding performance machines for the everyday American, the brand — like most of the automotive world — is going electric.

The Hellcat motors that have defined the brand for a decade are heading out to pasture by 2024; that’s the word from Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis. But the Charger and Challenger that have been the most iconic users of that engine are shuffling off this mortal coil before that. Here’s what you need to know about their demise … and what’s set to follow.

The Challenger and Charger are officially dead come December, but they might as well be dead now

Production on the existing Charger and Challenger will absolutely, positively be wrapped up no later than December 31st of this year, Dodge told dealers earlier this summer. Of course, that’s effectively academic, because Dodge also told dealers that they needed to submit all remaining orders for the muscle cars by July 31st. If you’re reading this now, it’s too late.

To be fair, it’s been a good run for both models. While they’ve received moderate to heavy updates multiple times over the years, the Charger and Challenger’s bones are still basically the same as the models that debuted back in 2006 and 2008, respectively … and those bones, in turn, used quite a few parts from the Mercedes-Benz E-Class that debuted in 2002.

To commemorate the end of the era, Dodge has rolled out seven limited edition “Last Call” models, ranging from the clinically ludicrous (the 1,025-horsepower Challenger SRT Demon 170) to the slightly tacky (the fake-alligator-skin-graphic equipped Challenger Black Ghost).

Dodge’s first electric muscle car is called the Charger Daytona SRT (at least, for now)

After teasing its first electric muscle car for months, as is the Dodge way, the brand finally unwrapped it in concept form in August 2022 as the Charger Daytona SRT. In spite of sharing its name with the outgoing sedan, the new Charger is a coupe — though it certainly appears big enough to have a sizable back seat.

Instead of eight cylinders, the new electric Charger packs an 800-volt electrical system, which the carmaker refers to as “Banshee,” combined with Stellantis’s STLA Large architecture designed for large vehicles that don’t use body-on-frame construction. (Think big crossovers, sedans and wagons, not off-roaders and pickup trucks.)

The Charger Daytona SRT boasts all-wheel-drive, suggesting at least two electric motors will be at play for maximum accelerative potential … and, if you like, four-wheel burnouts. Dodge has promised the EV will outperform the outgoing Hellcats “in all key performance measures,” so expect a 0-60-mph time of under 3.5 seconds and, potentially, a quarter-mile time in the nines. Stellantis has promised the STLA Large platform will deliver up to 500 miles of driving range, but presumably, that’s in more efficient models than this tire-shredding machine.

The Charger Daytona SRT packs a couple features not seen on most electric cars, however. Dodge says the car has a “multi-speed” transmission — presumably, a two-speed automatic much like that found in the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT, unless the brand has something truly odd up its sleeve. Perhaps more importantly to the crop of current muscle car owners, however, it also has what Dodge calls a “Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust,” which amplifies the sound of the electric motors up to a Hellcat-matching 126-dB scream.

The production Charger EV should reach the streets by 2024, with three models

According to CarBuzz, the production EV will go by the name “Charger Daytona,” much like the concept; unlike the concept, however, it’ll allegedly be a four-door sedan, albeit one with proportions much like a coupe. Much as the outgoing Charger was twinned with the Chrysler 300, the new one will reportedly also have a Chrysler sibling, though it’ll purportedly arrive a year later.

Buyers will be able to choose from a trio of electric Chargers when it finally reaches the streets in the next year or two. The entry-level model will be dubbed Charger 340, while the mid-range will be called Charger 440; the numbers refer to their power in kilowatts, which works out to 455 and 590 horsepower, respectively. These models will use a 400-volt power system, not the 800-volt setup; it’s unclear whether they’ll be rear- or all-wheel-drive, but we wouldn’t be shocked if the 340 only spun the back tires and the 440 sent power to all four.

Dodge will also offer over-the-air updates for extra power, should you grow weary of the existing output. For the Charger 340, send Dodge your credit card info, and the brand will beam instructions to the car to unlock extra ponies — bringing output to 495 or 530 horses. You’ll also received a so-called “DC Crystal Key” to authenticate the update, as well as new fender badges, because, y’know, you want people to know.

At the top will be the SRT Banshee, which will be most similar to the Charger Daytona SRT concept, with the 800-volt high-performance electrical system. Given the outputs of the other models (and the need to look better than the Hellcat), we’d expect it to crank out at least 750 horsepower.

But there may be a new six-cylinder gas muscle car, too

Dodge hasn’t completely ruled out a future for internal combustion power, however. CEO Kuniskis told CarScoops that the modularity of the STLA Large means it can accept fuel-burning powerplants if so desired.

“I can put an ICE engine in there,” Kuniskis said. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to. We’re certainly not launching with anything like that. If someday we wanted to add ICE to that car, could we? It’s totally [possible].”

That engine would almost certainly be Stellantis’s new Hurricane turbocharged inline-six, currently found under the hood of the Wagoneer / Grand Wagoneer and expected to soon be found under the hoods of everything from the next Ram 1500 to the Dodge Durango’s replacement, reportedly named “Stealth.”

Despite the fact it boasts less than half the displacement and two fewer cylinders than the 6.1-liter supercharged eight-pot found under the hoods of the most potent Challengers and Chargers today, engineers are reportedly aiming to match those engines’ levels of power with the 3.0-liter Hurricane. The existing version already makes 510 horses and 500 lb-ft, outpacing the 6.4-liter naturally aspirated V8; scooping Hellcat-like power levels out of it seems quite possible, even if it ultimately might require adding an electric motor into the mix.

Further adding fuel to the internal combustion fire: Dodge secretly ran a Hurricane-powered Charger dragster at the brand’s “Roadkill Nights” drag racing event this summer. Mopar has been teasing the Hurricane as a crate engine since 2022, suggesting the brand sees a serious role for it in performance applications; whether that includes under the hoods of muscle cars as they roll off the factory line remains to be seen.