COLUMN | Dodge must redefine itself in the age of electrification

With the Biden administration pushing bigger carbon dioxide reduction targets, Dodge's rumbling V-8 engines could be looking at extinction.

Dodge in recent years has honed its image as a performance brand. It has streamlined its lineup. It's offered its supercharged Hellcat engine in coupes, sedans and SUVs, and it's taken pride in its "brotherhood of muscle" fanbase. Despite its vehicles' aging platforms, sales have remained robust.

But now Dodge may face one of its largest challenges ever to transform the meaning of muscle for an age of electrification.

"Is it a big, rumbling V-8, or just a certain level of capability?" said Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst for market research firm Guidehouse Insights. "If there's one thing we've learned from Tesla, it's that electrification and performance are not at all remotely exclusive. If it can go 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds, anybody can reasonably say that car has muscle."

Still, it's a tough sell for longtime enthusiasts like Scott Spirakes, 67, of Wayne, Ill. They recall the Charger as an icon in pop culture (think General Lee in the 1980s TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard"). For Spirakes, the love affair began in high school with an image in a magazine of the 1968 Charger. Now a founding member of the Chicagoland Mopar Connection club, he owns six Chargers ranging from 1968 to '74 and a '70 Coronet.

If Dodge went fully electric, "they would lose me as a customer, that's for sure," Spirakes said. "I'm old-school. I don't want to be a slave to a charging station somewhere."

It likely won't be anytime soon that Dodge makes a full conversion, but electrified options are coming, according to parent company Stellantis NV. The transatlantic automaker last month said 96% of its U.S. models will have a plug-in hybrid or fully electric option by 2025. All nameplates will have a battery-electric version by 2030.

For 2021, Dodge cut the Journey crossover and Grand Caravan minivan from its lineup. It now sells a two-door Challenger coupe, four-door Charger sedan and Durango SUV. They all offer $70,000-plus Hellcat turbocharged V-8 variants that have become the halos for the brand since the engine's introduction in 2014. They offer more than 700 horsepower and top speeds from 180 mph to more than 200 mph.

For comparison, Tesla Inc.'s Model S Plaid sedan has up to 1,010 horsepower and a top speed of 200 mph, according to the Silicon Valley EV maker. Its retail price is listed as $119,990.

An electrified future is exciting for some Dodge enthusiasts, especially those who have experience with EVs and are younger. Ryan Radcliffe, 23, of Harrison Township, Mich., grew up as a "Mopar guy" thanks to his grandfather's drag racing in the '60s and his dad always fixing up a project car.

"Anybody in an electric vehicle knows it's much faster, more fun to drive, and the torque band is instant, whether it's from a stoplight or you're cruising at 100 miles," said Radcliffe, who works at the Golling Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership in Roseville.

"If I could have my gas car on the weekends for that nostalgia, that would be great. Then for a daily driver, an electric vehicle that would cost me $4 a week to fuel up, to plug into my house with all the range and utility, but I am not spending on it as much, I think it would be cool."

U.S. sales of Dodge's Charger, whose platform dates to 2011, still have regularly topped 80,000 or 90,000 annually, while the 1970s-inspired Challenger, despite last getting a redesign in 2008, has sold more units than General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Camaro each year since 2018. Ford Motor Co.'s Mustang, however, remains the top-seller of two-door coupes from the Detroit rivals.

It's not clear exactly when Dodge could start introducing electrified options. Hybrids make the most sense initially, said Abuelsamid, the analyst, especially since Dodge has an eight-speed transmission for hybrids that has the same package size as the one used in its gas-powered vehicles. The biggest challenge is finding a place for the battery.

"There's no reason you can't do a Hemi V-8 and add a plug-in hybrid to that," he said.

EVs also allow for differentiation just like gas-powered vehicles. Bigger motors and battery configurations that allow for higher output power can provide greater horsepower and faster speeds.

"That's the beauty of electrification," Abuelsamid said. "It's actually really easy to keep turning it up."

In that sense, electrification might actually be the key to preserving muscle cars. The Biden administration last month announced plans to cut carbon emissions at least 50% from 2005 levels by 2030, compared with today's 10% reduction.

And with states like California banning the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035, it will be a difficult balancing act for Stellantis and other manufacturers between consumer demand and mandates, said Matt Browning, president of the Browning automotive dealership group based in Cerritos, Calif., outside of Los Angeles. He doesn't see fully electric vehicles appealing to Dodge's core customers.

"The consumers who are interested, that's not what those consumers are looking for," Browning said. "There's definitely a lot of room for both fuel economy while retaining the brand's performance aspect. We're waiting to see because we don't have much light into that."

Dodge already is offering the Durango SRT Hellcat only for the 2021 model year due to evaporative emission regulations on the SUV's platform. That vehicle comes in at No. 7 on the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's list of the least eco-friendly vehicles on the market. The Dodge Charger SRT Widebody isn't far behind at No. 12. The Ram 1500 TRX also tops the list, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT comes in at No. 8.

"The days of an iron block supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 are numbered," Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis, who was not made available for an interview for this story, told CNBC in January. "They're absolutely numbered because of all the compliance costs. But the performance that those vehicles generate is not numbered."

He added: "I'm super excited about the future of electric, because I think it's what's going to allow us to not fall off the cliff."

Early signs indicate moves toward that electrified future have begun. Stellantis in February integrated the engineers who were part of its SRT - street and racing technology - division into its vehicle brands. There will still be SRT-branded vehicles, but Kuniskis explained to Autoweek in April how this is in preparation for new technologies.

"With the electrification, it would be very, very difficult to make an SRT version after the fact because of constraints with things like a fixed battery pack size and shape, kilowatts per hour, the battery chemistry, and center of gravity," he said. "The inherent challenges will have to be addressed from day one. So integrating the SRT guys in with the base vehicle engineers was a necessity."

Dealers like Dave Kelleher, chairman of Stellantis' U.S. dealer council, have faith in Kuniskis and believe the merger that closed in January between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and French rival Groupe PSA opens up new opportunities and technology for Dodge, though it will require educating buyers.

"The Charger will still be a Charger," Kelleher said, in the age of electrification. "The Challenger will still be a Challenger. You can still make it cool."

Kelleher is preparing for the EV future, adding eight new charging stations to his property as a part of a $6.5 million expansion to his dealership in Glen Mills, Pa.

Anthony Carter, 46, of Columbus, Ohio, enjoys the community around Dodge, the vehicles' handling and bright colors, and that brand executives often show up to events and listen to fans. He's seen ideas be adapted into product offerings. Engagement like that has contributed to Dodge becoming the first domestic brand to top the ranks of J.D. Power's initial quality survey last year.

Carter has started to see EVs at the tracks where he races his 2006 Charger Daytona R/T and '07 Charger SRT.

"You're starting to see maybe these kinds of vehicles can be competitive, kind of fun," Carter said. "You just hit the pedal, and it goes. There's a lot of interest in 'Will the performance suffer with electric and keep that high bar?'"

Upcoming Events