Dodge will discontinue the Challenger and Charger Muscle Cars in an effort to push “a bright new electrified future.”
Dodge will discontinue its gas-powered Challenger and Charger muscle cars at the end of next year, marking the end of an era for the brand as it starts to transition to electric vehicles.
The Charger and Challenger became popular in the 1960s and 1970s.
The two-door Challenger particularly struck a cord of nostalgia with buyers thanks to its retro-inspired styling, while the four-door Charger has managed to achieve notable sales milestones despite consumers flocking from sedans to SUVs in recent years.
Dodge has also been able to juice profits from the vehicles, which have starting prices ranging from the low-$30,000s to nearly $90,000 for its infamous Hellcat models that produce more than 700 horsepower.
Stellantis is the parent company of Dodge as well as Chrysler, Peugeot, Jeep, Maserati, and Citroën.
The announcement was made on Monday that the iconic gas-powered models are “coming to an end.”
In a press release on the Stellantis website, the company announced the news saying,
“The Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger, in their current form, are coming to an end, and the Dodge brand is seizing the opportunity to celebrate in true, over-the-top Dodge style. The Dodge 2023 lineup will pay homage to the muscle car pair with seven special models, the return of a rainbow of heritage colors, an expansion of SRT Jailbreak models, a commemorative “Last Call” underhood plaque for all 2023 Charger and Challenger vehicles, and a new, customer-focused vehicle allocation process.
“We are celebrating the end of an era”
“We are celebrating the end of an era — and the start of a bright new electrified future — by staying true to our brand,” said Tim Kuniskis, chief executive officer of the Dodge brand.”
“At Dodge, we never lift, and the brand will mark the last of our iconic Charger and Challenger nameplates in their current form in the same way that got us here, with a passion both for our products and our enthusiasts that drives us to create as much uniqueness in the muscle car community and marketplace as possible.”
Stellantis announced earlier in August it’s investing $99 million in plants in Michigan and Indiana and in Toronto to retool for the production of hybrid-electric engines.
Dodge unveiled the new electric muscle car concept which will likely replace the discontinued Charger and Challenger.
The concept car features an 800-volt “Banshee” propulsion system.
The 2024 production electric muscle car is expected to launch with 3 different performance levels and will eventually expand to nine.
Dodge declined to release expected performance metrics for the concept car or the yet-to-be-named production muscle car.
The forthcoming EV in 2024 will replace Dodge’s gas-powered Charger and Challenger muscle cars, which the automaker on Monday said would be discontinued at the end of 2023.
“It is exactly what you would expect a Dodge EV two-door to be,” she said.
“It looks the part, it sounds the part and it’s pretty exciting,” she added.
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