While the Hemi V8 goes away and EVs are coming, auto forecasters say a muscle-car replacement will offer the Hurricane inline-six despite Dodge being less than clear on the topic.
- If a re-engineered car bearing the Charger and/or Challenger name is coming along with an internal-combustion engine in 2024 or 2025, then Dodge has been less than forthcoming about its “Last Call” campaign.
- But if an all-new Dodge muscle car will arrive with a Hurricane six-cylinder engine and a different name—perhaps Barracuda—then the communication strategy makes more sense.
- AutoForecast Solutions also reports the Dodge Durango SUV drives off to the sunset after 2025, without a replacement.
Dodge has made a massive marketing push over the past two months to sell several “Last Call” versions of its current-generation Challenger sedan and Charger coupe before they end production next year. The Stellantis brand has said future Chargers and/or Challengers will be only battery-electric on a new platform, certainly creating an incentive for consumers wanting an outgoing model with Hemi power.
But is it really the end of the line for an internal-combustion Charger and/or Challenger?
The marketing plan for these future muscle cars is as clear as mud.
Dodge has communicated very clearly that the “Challenger and Charger, in the current platform and powertrain as we know it, will be built through 2023. In 2024 we’re moving on, and the new Dodge cars will be fully electric,” springing from Stellantis’ global STLA Large platform.
Previous media reports have indicated that in addition to the battery-electric Challenger and/or Charger, these new vehicles on the new platform will also have a version powered with an internal-combustion engine, perhaps the Hemi V8. In an email to Autoweek, the Dodge PR team has proclaimed those reports to be wrong: “The Hemi-powered Charger and Challenger are going away after 2023.” Of course, that leaves the door open to other engines.
Last Call Chargers and Challengers stayed under cover and loaded on a car hauler during the Speed Week event last month in Pontiac, Michigan.
Tom Murphy
While the outdated (but beloved) Hemi might be going away because of emissions hurdles, two reputable forecasting houses—AutoForecast Solutions and LMC Automotive—report there will be an internal-combustion version of the Charger and/or Challenger replacements available through 2027, although the EV versions will go on sale first. The Dodge and Chrysler brands are scheduled to go all-EV by 2028.
Replacing the Hemi in a new Charger and/or Challenger would be the new Hurricane 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline six-cylinder that is debuting now in the Jeep Wagoneer (the standard-output Hurricane makes 420 hp and 468 lb-ft of torque) and Grand Wagoneer (the high-output Hurricane in this model is rated at 510 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque). Those are solid numbers (besting the output of both the 5.7- and 6.4-liter Hemi V8s), and Stellantis executives positioned the Hurricane as a Hemi replacement when the new engine was revealed earlier this year.
So where does the truth lie in the haze of this marketing-speak? If indeed a re-engineered car bearing the Charger and/or Challenger name is coming along with an internal-combustion engine, then Dodge has been less than forthcoming about its “Last Call” campaign—kind of like the Who staging multiple “farewell tours” since 1982.
If, on the other hand, a Dodge muscle car will arrive with a Hurricane engine and a different name—perhaps called Barracuda in tribute to the Challenger’s platform coupe mate from the Plymouth brand 50 years ago—then the communication strategy makes a bit more sense. But let’s not forget this direct quote from Stellantis PR: “The new Dodge cars will be fully electric.”
It seems unlikely Stellantis will revive the Plymouth badge, and a revived ‘Cuda fits better with Dodge than with Chrysler. And for the communications team to say future cars “will be fully electric” does not preclude the brand from also producing and selling internal-combustion versions of those same vehicles, especially packaged in hybrid or plug-in hybrid configurations.
Let’s dig a little further into the background. While Stellantis says that beyond 2023 future Chargers and/or Challengers will not have Hemi engines, it’s worth noting that 43.8% of Challengers and 53.1% of Chargers sold in the US with 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engines in model year 2021, according to Wards Intelligence data.
Adding intrigue, AutoForecast Solutions reports there may be a turbocharged four-cylinder in the works for future Dodges, as well. Dodge has for years touted the outgoing V6 Charger’s popularity with young families, and replacing that with a four-cylinder turbo or Hurricane I6—especially electrified—would make sense. The forthcoming Dodge Hornet compact crossover, by the way, will have a 265-hp 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that happens to be compatible with Stellantis’ plug-in hybrid system, as in the Jeep Wrangler 4xe.
And while Dodge has never revealed what portion of its annual Charger sales go to police fleets, Hurricane six-equipped versions could continue to serve this buyer segment as well.
Is the Last Call Challenger/Charger an example of clever communication, or a case of smoke-and-mirrors marketing?
Dodge
Kevin Riddell, powertrain analyst at LMC Automotive, says he thinks Dodge’s Last Call marketing move “makes sense,” fits with the brand’s past, and should merely be perceived as an attempt to sell more Hemi muscle cars before they’re gone.
“I expect the new BEVs to feature astounding performance figures at least as strong as the current Hemis, and likely even better,” Riddell says in an email to Autoweek. “This would allow the BEV to be a top-level, sought-after powertrain instead of some green-movement, muscle-car-killing compliance car.”
Riddell says he sees Dodge “priming the pump” with the Hornet CUV featuring the 2.0-liter turbo as part of a 285-hp PHEV powertrain to help consumers “warm to the idea that electrification is not against the grain of the Dodge mantra.”
While the Charger and Challenger question remains open, AutoForecast Solutions also reports the Dodge Durango three-row SUV drives off to the sunset after 2025, with no replacement—this despite some speculation a new Durango will launch in 2024 with internal combustion and plug-in hybrid power and a return to body-on-frame construction.
But Dodge, at least outwardly, is all-in on electrification (including hybrids) for its bare-bones lineup. The “Charger” name clearly works well for a battery-electric vehicle that requires plugging in—kind of like Buick Electra—and a four-door body style will be more practical than a coupe. It’s probably no coincidence that the EV concept bears the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT name.
We’ll have to wait a while before Stellantis fully communicates its Dodge product strategy.
Keyword: Gas-Engine Dodge Charger, Challenger May Yet Come after Last Call