Dodge's new CEO says a V8 Charger might return

Who could’ve imagined that muscle car lovers might not love an electrified Dodge Charger in nearly the same way as one with a supercharged V8 engine under the hood? Well, here we are.

Although sales figures for the all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona haven’t been disclosed by the brand, it seems the car hasn’t been moving off showroom floors the way the brand had hoped. Even with the radical Fratzonic exhaust sound, it seems traditional muscle car lovers could not be convinced to buy a very quick, very powerful electric Charger.

The new Charger Daytona rolled off the factory line in March of 2024, and Dodge also announced that there would be a gas version known as the Sixpack with the new twin-turbo Hurricane inline-six-cylinder engine. Power was purported to be either 420 or 550 horses, which would be substantially more than the 2023 Charger’s 5.7L Hemi V8, good for 370 horsepower. 

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As we reported last fall, the Sixpack was planned to hit showrooms later this year, but Dodge announced it would fast-track it for delivery a whopping five months sooner in response to customer demand for a Charger with a gas engine. For 2024, Dodge sales were down a mindblowing 29 percent compared to the year before, largely because of the elimination of the Challenger and the gas-powered Charger.

Changing of the guard may revive the V8

Whose idea was it to kill the V8, anyway? Well, you can blame former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, who apparently hated the V8 engine in the old Charger and Challenger. Rumor had it h that had Tavares not been in the Stellantis driver’s seat, the V8 engine might never have left. His failure to read the North American market is now the stuff of legend, and not in a good way. He left Stellantis last year and will be replaced sometime in 2025.

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Meanwhile, Dodge CEO Matt McAlear, who took the helm in June of 2024, gave V8 lovers hope. He spoke with The Drive recently and carefully worded that there was still a chance that a V8-powered Charger could show up in the Dodge lineup.

McAlear stated, “We’re always looking at ways to find best-in-class performance, to build on performance, and to push the boundaries … There will be powertrain variations that continue to come. We haven’t even launched the SRT yet, so we still have to get into that…. and who knows where we go if the business case makes sense and there’s potential…One of the things that’s encouraging is that with the change in leadership, you know, V8s are no longer a bad word around the company.”

This, by no means, equates to a quick turnaround for a V8 Charger because the car was never planned to shoehorn one in. McAlear also recognized the regulatory challenges for Stellantis when it comes to bringing a thirsty set of V8s back into the mix for the Dodge Challenger (and perhaps back under the hood of the Ram 1500, to the predicted delight of pickup truck buyers everywhere). It will take some time to develop it, coupled with dealing with the regulatory side of things.

Final thoughts

The V8 mill was perhaps the most significant reason why Dodge muscle cars sold so well, and the engine’s demise with the supplanted electric powertrain was a big reason why the brand suffered. It sounds like Dodge is listening to its customers, and now that the electrification tsunami has calmed down, the brand is trying to pivot in response. If Dodge can deliver the six-cylinder version soon and the V8 Charger in the next two years, it could turn the tide with not much time to spare. 

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