It seems even Dodge, the purveyor of some the most ridiculously fast production muscle cars ever to come from an American automaker, can’t outrun the march of progress. In an interview with Motor Trend, Dodge’s Brand CEO Tim Kuniskis revealed the company will phase out its gasoline-powered Charger and Challenger by 2024.
We already knew that Dodge would have its first EV appear in 2024, but Kuniskis revealed it will debut a high-performance, driveable EV muscle car concept next year, as well as a PHEV car (not a crossover) and a third as-yet unknown vehicle that Kuniskis calls ‘very, very, very significant’. It’s all part of a two-year plan called Never Lift, where Dodge will move from its fire-breathing ICE vehicles towards electric cars, all while trying to appease its performance-minded customer base. “For 24 months we are feeding the beast,” Kuniskis told Motor Trend.
The 2022 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 is a drag-oriented, street-legal muscle car designed with the grassroots drag racer in mind running the quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds at 115 mph, shown here in White Knuckle.
“These cars that you know today will go out of production by the time we get to 2024,” he added. Both the Charger and Challenger are built in Brampton, ON.
A division of the Stellantis group, Dodge will use one of four EV platforms available from the umbrella company for its EVs. And all will wear a special triangular badge the company calls a Fratzog to differentiate them from ICE-powered vehicles.
Dodge won’t abandon its combustion-powered roots entirely, though, as it will still build cars that appeal to the traditional performance-minded fans while it transitions to electrification. “Some of the buzz models, to the person who is excited about it, they will be super pumped. To the average person it won’t be that big of a deal,” Kuniskis said. Which is a good thing for Kuniskis, considering he’s already received actual death threats from people not happy with Dodge’s move towards EVs.
“I’m juggling knives because I’ve gotta keep two different huge factions happy because at some point those two factions will converge. The problem is no one knows when they will converge. My job is to provide confidence, over the next 24 months, that we’re gonna do this.”
