ThelifeDodge will make an electric muscle car by 2024, it said Thursday.- The company stresses it's doing it mainly for the performance gains of electric motors.
- Parent company
Stellantis said its tech will enable its cars to hit 62 mph in as little as two seconds.
You might not expect the company known for stuffing a growling, 700-plus-horsepower V8 engine into just about all its vehicles to make the shift to silent, electric motors. But Dodge is doing just that.
The brand on Thursday announced plans to make an all-electric muscle car in 2024. However, Dodge stresses that the move is mainly about making its already incredibly fast and monstrously powerful cars even faster and even more powerful.
In its presentation, parent company Stellantis said its electric tech will enable future models to hit 62 mph in as little as two seconds. That could easily rival the brand-new Tesla Model S Plaid, currently the world's quickest production car.
That acceleration would indicate specs better than the Dodge Demon, which can hit 60 mph in a blistering 2.3 seconds thanks to an 840-horsepower, supercharged V8. The Plaid Model S, by comparison, can rocket to 60 in just shy of two seconds, Tesla claims and Motortrend confirmed.
The company did not respond to questions about whether that refers to the upcoming muscle car, but that seems like the most likely scenario. It's probably not working on a supercar-fast Fiat 500 or Ram pickup.
Recent reporting seems to confirm the ambitions. The Detroit Bureau reported in June that Dodge is working on an electric car that will be its fastest vehicle ever, citing anonymous employees.
Dodge announced its EV plans in somewhat of a roundabout way, indicating that the company knows its big-engine-loving customers may not be thrilled about the move toward electrification. Or that, at least, they may not be seriously considering
The brand emphasized multiple times that its move to electric power isn't about selling electric cars, it's about selling high-performance one: "[Dodge] will not sell electric cars. [Dodge] will sell American e-muscle," one slide perplexingly read.
"If a charger can make a Charger quicker, we're in," Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis said, referencing the brand's long-running sedan. "Our customers purchase an experience, not a technology."
Stellantis, formed in January through a merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA, is a bit late to the EV party but plans to invest $35 billion in electrification over the next five years.