The 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona stands apart from other electric vehicles. This three-door and five-door hatchback embraces all the masculinity of classic muscle cars, ushering the high-performance brand into an electric future. As for range and efficiency, typical bragging points for electric vehicles upon launch, Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis has been straightforward: "I don't care."
"It's not designed to get you 500 miles on a charge," Kuniskis boasted at a media event last week before the global debut on Tuesday. "It's the ultimate performance car until we launch the Banshee, of course."
The Daytona Banshee is set to debut at the end of 2025. The Charger Daytona electric car will hit the market this summer, with the five-door model following in early 2025. Around the same time, Dodge will unveil a Hurricane twin-cylinder car that will leave you awestruck. The Charger Sixpack model features a 3.0-liter inline-six turbocharged engine capable of delivering up to 550 horsepower. While Kuniskis hinted at Challenger plans, the new Charger effectively absorbs the Challenger's two-door slots.
"We're replacing the superchargers and replacing them with kilowatts and Power Shots," Kuniskis said when discussing the Charger's rhythm and hinting at future products, including multi-purpose vehicles. "It was a very adventurous decision when we first started working on this platform. The most efficient electric car platform in the world is a skateboard. We decided to develop multi-energy so that we have multiple vehicles on the same platform."
The 400-volt architecture supports a peak DC fast charging rate of 183 kilowatts, allowing the Daytona's battery to charge from 20% to 80% in about 28 minutes on available 350-kilowatt DC chargers. When plugged into a 240-volt connection at home, the Daytona's 11-kilowatt onboard charger can charge the battery from 20% to 80% in 5.5 hours or from 5% to 80% in approximately 7 hours. A full charge is expected to take 10 hours. Dodge will adopt the NACS protocol from Tesla in 2025.
Standard equipment includes a 10.3-inch digital instrument cluster (or an available 16.0-inch cluster) aligned horizontally with a 12.3-inch touchscreen featuring wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, along with a wireless smartphone charger. Standard driver-assist technologies include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, active lane control, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, blind-spot monitors, and driver attention monitors.
When the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytonas hit the market this summer, we expect the R/T to be priced around $55,000, with the Scat Pack priced below $70,000. Chief analyst Sam Abuelsamid notes that the Charger Daytona is manufactured in Windsor, Ontario, Canada but does not qualify for federal EV tax credits upon purchase in its first year due to importing Samsung battery packs from Korea. However, leasing is an option. The Stellantis-Samsung joint venture factory in Kokomo, Indiana, plans to produce these battery packs at some point in 2025, making them eligible for EV credits upon purchase.
