In August, we finally got a glimpse of Dodge’s vision of what a new-age muscle car would be, stripped of the V8 engine and its attributes. Dodge has long made the V8 engine one of its hallmarks.
If we throw history, Dodge took much longer than other brands to incorporate V8 engines into its catalog. Ford had done it in the 30s, then it was Chevrolet, and Dodge waited for the range 1953 to include its first V8, the Red Ram. It was not his first eight-cylinder engine, since before they were in-line.
During the 1950s and 1960s, V8 engines became extremely important to Dodge’s sales and turned several of its models into muscle cars, like the Charger, Dart, Challenger, etc. During the 1970s, the concept had to be decaffeinated due to emissions regulations and the oil crisis, but they never stopped being there.
However, in recent years, Dodge has offered many V8 engines even within the same model -see the Charger since 2005 and the Challenger since 2008- with different displacements and powers. The SRT Hellcat and Demon have been a best seller while the competition had little to say about it. Even the Dodge Durango has received V8 engines.
Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept
And Dodge now finds itself in that position, a brand that has as one of its sales arguments the benefits associated with V8 engines, has not fallen into the trap of downsizing as did Ford and General Motors. From 2024 the survival of the V8 seems complicated.
Current-gen Chargers and Challengers are going to say goodbye as V8s, and their replacements will already be all-electric. That will suppose the frontal rejection on the part of its clientele, who are going to be left with very little to choose from, at least at first hand. They certainly don’t want a Dodge that’s electric and quiet..
A part of the clientele will be able to try to get into the fold if it is possible to recreate that atmosphere associated with V8 engines, starting with its sound. The prototype unveiled last month, the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept, may be acceptable to some, but others will find it still too artificial.
Classic Dodge Challenger versus its current descendants
In recent years we have seen many models that resort to artificial sound to try to compensate for the exhaust noise that is lost due to increasingly restrictive regulations in that chapter. And it is understandable in a good way, others do not have to hear the noise of a car because of the whim of the driver.
In addition to noise, the prototype also emulates gear changes with an electromechanical system, since electric motors rarely need more than one ratio, due to their inherent characteristics of torque and power from very low speed. That is also difficult to simulate.
The bottom line is that Dodge cuts out a lot without V8s and has to make up for it with artifices. Each profound change always causes a level of rejection, but as on other occasions (such as the end of carburetion) he had no choice but to jump through hoops, because the supply of new carbureted cars disappeared.
The last Dodge Challenger and Charger with V8 engines
Part of the satisfied will have to make do with what has already been sold, and the prices reached by the used units will be the thermometer to measure how much they are missed. Stellantis does not as such have a requirement to stop manufacturing those engines.but if you have to make very few, the prices are going to be uncompetitive anyway.
We have been seeing for some time how manufacturers try to take advantage of the most profitable segments and identify those that have enough volume to be interesting. Niche segments have it tough, whether at the level of bodywork, engines, manual transmissions, etc. Dodge has a lot of work ahead of him not to lose that character that has long been an identity for them.
Other less established brands have no problem convincing customers that the latest is the best. Dodge, in that sense, has it more difficult. It is not enough to offer benefits, but something that maintains an emotional connection with that type of clientele. How they are going to get it remains partly a mystery..