Dodge are topping muscle car sales and showing a vision for the future, making them the current muscle car kings.
It is interesting times in the muscle car world at the moment. Chevrolet seems to be letting the Camaro die slowly, while Ford are bringing us an all new version of the Mustang for 2024. One thing that’s remained unchanged over the past year though is that Dodge are the current muscle car kings. Strong sales and a clear future vision have put them way ahead of Chevrolet, and even marginally ahead of Ford as well.
Dodge were firmly ahead of both their rivals sales wise in 2022, but also with the Charger Daytona SRT they showed an electric future for muscle cars. Something that Chevrolet don’t look to be doing, while Ford look set to wait a little bit longer before they do the same. It’s the consistency and clear vision for Dodge that has put them so far ahead.
Dodge Have Shown Muscle Cars Can Go Electric
Perhaps the biggest reason for Dodge’s current success is how they are the only big manufacturer to, so far, unveil an electric muscle car. The Charger Daytona SRT Concept is a clear vision of the future, taking the outgoing ICE Charger and reinventing it for an electric world. Dodge has kept the classic Charger lines while refreshing it slightly. This is with a cleaner front-end, no grille and futuristic LED light bars at the front and rear. The overall shape and proportions though are still the muscular ones of the Charger.
Under the hood of the Charger Daytona isn’t a big V8 now, but a 449 hp electric drivetrain, at base spec, at 340 kW. There is a higher-end version of 582 hp with 440 kW. But even better than that is that the Daytona SRT is still tuneable like your classic muscle cars. Even Banshee 800V versions of the Dodge are on the way. Although, tuning the Charger Daytona would be restricted to official Dodge dealers in the EV world. But Dodge is ensuring they future-proof muscle cars as every other car goes electric. Something that must be hugely applauded, whether you like EVs or not.
Why Dodge Makes The Best-Selling Muscle Cars
Dodge topped the 2022 muscle car sales by a big margin. It sold 55,060 examples of the Challenger, an increase on the 54,314 of 2021. This compared to the solid 47,566 of the Ford Mustang and the woeful 24,652 of the Camaro. Even then, the Mustang sales were a drop on the 52,414 for 2021. A 9.2{da793fdcd3fe679df000853cab620e3a76d4f41f7c86540cc967171bbb315377} decrease to be exact versus the 1{da793fdcd3fe679df000853cab620e3a76d4f41f7c86540cc967171bbb315377} increase for Dodge. What might be driving that is how 2023 will be the last year for ICE powered Doge muscle cars, but also the improvements over the other two.
Chevrolet hasn’t really improved upon the Camaro in the best part of six years, while the 2023 Mustang isn’t quite where people wanted it to be. The 2024 model though looks to have sorted all of that. Dodge, though, keep making incremental improvements with the Challenger and the Charger. Plus, the Challenger is actually a relatively practical muscle car. There is more space internally than the Mustang, Camaro, and even the Charger too. So Dodge are doing a lot of things right, while also potentially capitalizing on the end of an era for the company’s muscle cars.
How Dodge Is Preparing Muscle Cars For The Future
We’ve touched upon it, but Dodge are going in big for future muscle cars. The Charger Daytona EV concept is the first big muscle car to go electric. With the addition of tuning possibilities, another traditional muscle car area will live on. Chevrolet and Ford will no doubt watch the development of the Charger Daytona SRT with great interest. Ford will surely one day introduce an electric Mustang. While strong sales for the Dodge may convince Chevrolet to create an electric Camaro if they aren’t considering it already.
Electric power certainly threatened to kill the muscle car. But with the classic looks and plenty of power, there is clearly still the scope to create them. It’ll be fascinating to see just what the production version of the Charger Daytona SRT is like.
Why Dodge Has The Edge In Muscle Cars Over Ford And GM
Dodge may well stay at the top of the muscle car tree for some time. The new Mustang potentially could topple them, and it looks promising. But Chevrolet seems to be letting the Camaro run its course throughout 2023, and it would need a huge jump in sales to dethrone the Challenger. Dodge are even integrating a V8 soundtrack that can get enabled in the electric Charger, such is their vision for the future. It is a testament to the hard work that Dodge have put in that they are on top with muscle cars. But the competition from Ford looks set to get fiercer than ever.
Sources: Dodge, Ford, Stellantis
