Success rarely ever comes without failure and usually it's failure after failure. Or in a more positive way of putting it, there is no growth without trial, no strength without struggle. With all that was stacked up against them, there was no way this car was destined for a successful debut. First and foremost their CEO Carlos Tavares was hellbent on sabotaging the American brands so he put out this half baked, rushed product that was no where near ready for production. I am not against the EV Charger whatsoever, in fact I love the damn thing unabashedly however I realize where the brand was when this car was being made and this beautiful botched vehicle is the direct product of Stellantis' abysmal leadership at the hands of that miserable human being. At it's very same price point, this car needed to be launched with the 800V system with either dual or tri-motors, the three-speed gearbox and the semi-solid battery pack with all of the kinks worked out of it. It would have never been a muscle car but it would have been one hell of an EV and I think we can all admit that. The truth is, Chrysler should have been the brand to kick of the Mopar EV movement, not Dodge. This was Carlos' way of killing the brand's image to make it fit into the submissions of european ideal. Killing the Rebellious American spirit and dragging Mopar through the mud so people wouldn't buy it anymore. Luckily it backfired and he is no longer with the company, but I digress. Chrysler could have easily launched a 300E, an EV Pacifica, and several EV SUVs and crossovers on the 400V system and no one would have really batted an eye because that brand isn't the eye of performance like Dodge is. Yes, Dodge made the car loud but it lacks that raw feel that a Charger is known for, I think the 3-speed gearbox and E-Rupt technology would have brought alot of that missing feeling to the Charger EV and with a tri-motor system with dual 440hp rear motors and a 335hp front motor you now have a Tesla plaid hunter that can do burnouts and feel like a real car all at the same time and people wouldn't have been upset about the price tag.
Right now, Dodge is scrambling to fix what Carlos tried to destroy. I see no issue with EVs but they should be more Chrysler focused than anything else. Ram is getting ready to have a Hemi Revolution, which makes sense and I really feel like Jeep could be the Mopar Hybrid brand king with the 4Xe powertrains seeing that the new 880RE can be equipped with an even more powerful hybrid system plus the potential of a 300hp Hurricane-4 could go in anything from a Grand Cherokee, Wagoneer-S, Recon or even the Wrangler/Gladiator. As far as the Dodge brand, we know the Durango will be around for quite some time, keeping the Hemi V8 powertrain alive and maybe even improving as time goes on. I'm not going to fan the flames of the rumors of the Hemi coming back to the Charger platform or some N/A 7-liter Hemi fantasy seeing that it's about as tangible as pink elephants on parade at the moment, but this is what I will say. In my heart of hearts, I think Dodge has another V8 car coming but I don't think it will be the the Charger. While a dedicated 2-door Challenger could return as V8 muscle car king on the STLA Large platform with a body dedicated for Hemi engines and all-wheel drive with enough muscle to dethrone the Mustang once and for all, I think the Charger will continue it's mission as a I-6 Twin Turbo car but I think that we're going to see alot more from this powertrain than what may people are expecting. Dodge is no stranger to forced induction and that with both Turbochargers and superchargers and SRT started off with turbochargers. I don't think it would really be far fetched to see Dodge do some Demon or Demon-170 type tuning and upgrading to the Hurricane I-6 with fuel types and things like that. or even routing an AC line into the intercooler for a colder denser intake charge. I don't see it being far fetched to see Direct Connection coming out with a full Stage-2 performance package that could have the Hurricane nearly equaling the horsepower and torque output of the Scat Pack Stage-2. I also don't see it being a stretch to say that a hybrid version of the Hurricane Chargers could be in the not-so distant future. This potentially along side and STLA Large Supercharged Hemi muscle car and an STLA large-2 row Hurricane powered SUV that slots under the Durango along with unique offerings on the STLA Medium platform, hopefully giving us a Gen-2 Hornet and a revised Dart. Only time will tell
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