During last night’s unveiling of the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT concept, CEO Tim Kuniskis acknowledged the carpocalypse by saying “no one wants cars anymore.”
While that might seem overly dramatic, it’s the sad truth as Kuniskis noted trucks and SUVs outsell cars by a margin of four to one. Given that, it’s not surprising that coupes and sedans have fallen by the wayside as countless automakers have trimmed their lineups or exited the segments altogether.
However, Dodge isn’t throwing in the towel as the company believes emotional design and extreme performance will keep muscle cars alive for years to come. The Charger Daytona SRT concept is the embodiment of this idea as it’s a retro-futuristic muscle car that is bound to turn heads.
Also Read: Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept EV Packs ‘Banshee’ Power And Retro Styling
The current Charger and Challenger were always going to be a hard act to follow, but designers were given an almost impossible brief with occasionally conflicting goals. In particular, the concept had to be aerodynamic while also recalling the brick-like muscle cars from Dodge’s past.
Thankfully, the Charger Daytona SRT concept didn’t turn out looking like the anonymous jelly beans that their former owners are producing. Dodge purposely wanted to avoid this, and while they wanted better aerodynamics, ‘looking badass’ was more important than having the lowest drag coefficient.
The Sound Of Electric Performance
Exterior design is only part of the emotional experience that muscle cars offer as sound also plays an important role. While many EVs embrace silence, Dodge wanted the Charger Daytona SRT concept to be loud and proud.
In order to do this, they developed a Fratzonic chambered exhaust system that “ushes its one-of-a-kind performance sound through an amplifier and tuning chamber located at the rear of the vehicle.” It makes the car impossible to ignore as it screams to 126 dB, which makes the concept as loud as a Hellcat.
The loud exhaust is only part of the story as Dodge developed unique sounds for their electric muscle car. It’s a bit hard to explain but, as you can hear in the video, the car roars to life at startup with an audible grumble. It then settles into a storm-esque sound, which can be interrupted by electric-sounding revs. While this isn’t the noise that many of us are used too, it’s the wave of the performance future.
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