Dodge Teases Next Generation Of eMuscle Cars During EV Day 2021 Presentation:

With the era of supercharged HEMI engines coming to an end, Stellantis made sure that the Dodge brand was 1 of the 6 brands chosen from the 14 brand portfolio to discuss its future electrified intentions during the company’s EV Day 2021 presentation. In recent interviews, Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis promised a special surprise for Dodge enthusiasts during the event. Instead of an unveiling, we were treated with a bit of information and a teaser of the future of Dodge electrified muscle cars or eMuscle cars as they are calling it.

“… even for a brand that’s known for pushing it a bit too far, we’ve pushed this pedal to the floor”, Kuniskis said during the presentation. “Our engineers are reaching a practical limit of what we can squeeze from internal combustion innovation. They know, we know electric motors can give us more. And if we know of a technology that can give our customers an advantage, we have an obligation to embrace it.”

Kuniskis, who shot is his presentation from the grounds of the Meadowbrook Mansion (the home built by John Dodge’s widow and located just a few seconds from the Chrysler World Headquarters and Technology Center) gave us a very tiny glimpse at part of the front fascia to one of the brand’s upcoming vehicles. That’s right, just a small two-second screenshot of the corner of the front fascia, which featured narrow air intakes similar to the Dodge Durango and a larger lower centrally mounted intake, telling us that internal combustion engines (ICE) are far from dead at the American muscle car brand.

We do know that the all-new turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder under the Global Medium Engine family (called GME-T6) will make it into the lineup. We suspect that the new lighter, the more balanced inline-six powertrain will be paired up to a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) setup for the next generation eMuscle cars.

But Kuniskis also announced that Dodge will bring the brand’s first all-electric muscle car to market in 2024. That means that an all-electric Dodge battery electric vehicle (BEV) will be introduced around the same time as the launch of the new Charger and Challenger.

We did receive a teaser video with a conceptual vehicle featuring a lit-up version of Dodge’s classic “Fratzog” logo. The logo was used by the Dodge brand from the early-1960s until the mid-1970s, during the muscle car era which the brand is based on today. You may be wondering what does Fratzog mean? But it has no meaning, it is just something the design studio whipped up.

Dodge has pulled things from their past before, be we are sure the Fratzog will return for the next generation of Dodge Charger and Challenger.

The teaser showed us what appears to be a Charger or Challenger-based vehicle, with a sculpted hood, squared mirrors, and LED signature lighting around the front end mimicking the shape of classic Dodge muscle cars of the past. The back of the vehicle appears to be much shorter and steeply dropped off than the current Charger and Challenger. 

But the biggest detail of the teaser was that the vehicle was doing a burnout with not just its rear tires, but all four. 

Based on the STLA Large platform, it is expected that the Charger and Challenger will both receive rear and all-wheel-drive configurations similar to the current generation cars. We all know all-wheel-drive models, provide superb traction in both rain and snow, but should also benefit the next generation cars at the drag strip. 

It was said during the presentation by Stellantis Chief Engineering Officer, Harald Wester, that the new platforms were capable of a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in the low 2-second range. That could put a new electrified Dodge muscle car in the realm of the drag racing-oriented Dodge Challenger SRT Demon (which had a 0 to 60 mph time of 2.3-seconds). Impressive for sure.

But not everyone is thrilled about the future of Dodge eMuscle cars. Dodge fans, both young and old took to social media to voice their opinions about the lack of customization, tuning, and HEMI V8 sound from the new electrified machines. It should be interesting to see just how much pushback there is from petrol heads as automakers move towards electrification. 

So what do you think of the Dodge brand’s progression towards electrification? Let us know in the comments below or in the MoparInsiders forums.

Dodge eMuscle Car Teaser Image Gallery:

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