What’s the most hotly anticipated performance car of the year? The new Dodge Charger for 2024 has a good claim to that title and come March 5, we’ll be done with the anticipating. That’s the date Dodge drops all the details about its radical new electric muscle car.
But some of those details have already been teased and leaked, so here’s what we know about what’s in store for Dodge fans now that the Challenger and Charger V8s have gone. Take a look at the intel and then tell us what you’re hoping to see when the full specs are announced.
Design: Replicates the Charger Daytona SRT concept
The Charger Daytona SRT concept was more than a fantasy auto show car. Strip away some of the glitz, the huge wheels, tiny mirrors and fancy rear bucket seats and you’re pretty much looking at the car that’ll go on sale in the second half of 2024, either for the 2024 or 2025 model year.
Related: New Dodge Charger Teased, Here’s How To Watch The Debut On March 5
Credit: Anthony Carter via Facebook
We know this because shots of two-door prototypes testing confirm that the body is all but identical, right down to the air bridge on the nose above the slimline grille. Spy shots also prove the street car will have a liftback, like the concept, and unlike the outgoing Charger and Challenger duo.
Chassis: New STLA platform for fuel flexibility
Under the skin we’re expecting to see the new Stellantis STLA large platform, which has the capability to handle both EV and ICE applications. We know the platform can in theory deliver up to 500 miles (805 km) miles of range, but we doubt the Charger will be quite so long-legged – especially not if it’s driven the way Chargers tend to be driven.
Electric: Zero emissions but a V8 soundtrack
The concept was equipped with an 800-volt tri-motor Banshee EV powertrain whose undisclosed horse count can be assumed to be getting close to four figures, but not every electric Charger will be so muscle-bound, though all are expected to feature two motors and come with all-wheel drive.
Dodge has already confirmed that two 400-volt versions of the Charger in the 2025 lineup will be called 340 and 440, those numbers referring to the power in kilowatts (456 hp/462 PS and 590 hp/598 PS respectively), and the names tipping a hat to a couple of famous V8 engines from the Charger’s past.
And as the GIF below shows, both the 340 and 440 have the option of two Dodge Direct connection eStage power upgrades, taking the milder motor to 370 kW (496 hp/503 PS) or 400 kW (536 hp/544 PS) and the 440 to 470 kW (630 hp/639 PS) or 500 kW (671 hp/680 PS).
The new coupe can even sound a bit like an old V8 thanks to Dodge’s Fratzonic Chambered exhaust system that pushes sound through an amplifier at the Charger’s tail. But wait, there’s more: Stellantis filed a patent filed last year for Active Vibration System Enhancement (AVE), which aims to replicate some of the physical sensations combustion cars deliver. Rolls-Royce and Lexus engineers must be shaking their heads in disbelief.
ICE: There’s a strong possibility, but not a V8
We’ve already mentioned the STLA platform’s ability to handle combustion or hybrid powertrains as well as purely electric ones. And even though Dodge bosses vehemently denied it on multiple occasions in the past, a leaked image of the Charger’s bare body showing a huge transmission tunnel all but confirms ICE options will also be on the menu.
We shouldn’t be surprised by that: it would be sales suicide for Dodge to completely abandon its existing muscle car fans, and offering a combustion engine will allow it to come in at a much lower price point than if it only offered the Charger as an EV.
Sadly, that doesn’t mean the V8 will rise again. Instead, the Charger will likely get versions of the Hurricane inline six fitted to other large Stellantis vehicles like the Jeep Wagoneer. We don’t know whether Dodge will tweak the engines to suit the coupe, but the Hurricane is offered in other Stellantis cars with 400 hp (406 PS) in standard output and 500 hp (507 PS) in high ouptut tune.
While those figures make the six a good match for Dodge’s old naturally asiprated V8s, which produced 370 hp (375 PS) in 5.7-liter guise and 485 hp (492 PS) in 6.2-liter configuration, they don’t come close to matching the punch of the 700+hp (710 PS) supercharged Hellcat version, so hopefully there’s more to come.
Flexibility: Two- and four-door bodies likely
The new Charger effectively replaces both the old four-door Charger and its two-door Challenger sister, but so far Dodge has only shown (and confirmed) the new Charger as a two-door coupe. That might chime with the Charger’s 1960s heritage, but the market for two-door cars is relatively small these days – even the Golf GTI is only available with four doors and plenty of existing Charger owners will be put off if the new one is sold only as a traditional coupe. We’ve suggested in the past that Dodge will likely add a four-door sedan to the Charger lineup at some point, though as of now, there are no spy shots or confirmations from Dodge to back that claim up.
Interior: Look at the SRT concept for clues
Remember what we said early about the SRT concept being more than a smoke and mirrors auto show car? Same goes for its interior design. It looked way too production ready to have been whipped up just for a one-off. So while we’re not expecting the concept’s four-bucket-seat interior to make it to the street, we do expect to see folding rear seats, a pistol grip shifter (another decades-old Charger motif) and a pair of screens, one for gauge duties and another for infotainment that runs Dodge’s Uconnect system.
Related: Stellantis Patents Vibration System To Mimic Combustion Engines In EVs
And if the production car’s console is anything like the concept’s it’ll have plenty of hard keys to keep button lovers happy. But will the fighter-pilot-style flip-up cap for the ignition switch make the cut? We’ll have to wait and see.
What are you hoping for when Dodge reveals the Charger in full on March 5? Do you want to see a four-door option, an affordable EV model, an ICE engine that’s a match for the old Hellcat, or are you just hoping for a miracle and the return of the V8? Drop a comment below and let us know.