{"id":26532,"date":"2020-12-30T14:59:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T18:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=26532"},"modified":"2020-12-30T14:59:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T18:59:30","slug":"v-8-to-volts-how-do-american-muscle-brands-transition-to-evs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/v-8-to-volts-how-do-american-muscle-brands-transition-to-evs","title":{"rendered":"V-8 to volts: How do American muscle brands transition to EVs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

From California to New York to Washington, regulators increasingly are looking to phase out gasoline-powered cars in favor of\u00a0electrics. That could pose challenges for some legacy Detroit brands.<\/p>\n

Take Dodge for example.<\/p>\n

The performance brand has built its current lineup on V-8 powered Challenger and Charger muscle cars harkening back to the company\u2019s 1960s muscle-car roots. Dodge’s earth-shaking\u00a0700-horsepower Hellcat engines have\u00a0pulled buyers into showrooms. Even the three-row Durango family-hauler has a Hellcat option.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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But can Dodge convince customers to buy stealthy\u00a0battery-powered machines that announce themselves on cat’s paws instead of with thunder?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really in the infancy of where we\u2019re going to go as an industry,\u201d Dodge marketing chief Matt McAlear said trackside at the Durango Hellcat\u2019s media debut in November.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re not going to be able to change it \u2014\u00a0electrification is the future, and that\u2019s what gets us out of bed is to continue to build this brand and make sure it evolves. Who knows where we are going to go? Maybe sound is piped in, maybe it\u2019s a more modular design on skateboard architectures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodge has bucked the trend of declining sedan sales\u00a0over the last five years by positioning itself as anything but a boring commodity product, McAlear said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand out in a crowd. It\u2019s about our signature sound in our exhaust to our signature colors that you can\u2019t get anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sound is a big challenge. The distinctive melody of the supercharger-fed Hellcat engine is core to the brand. It’s the soundtrack to Dodge\u2019s marketing pitch. But Dodge could follow the lead of other builders of electric performance cars, and broadcast\u00a0the roar of a lusty V-8 into the cockpit via the cars’ sound systems.<\/p>\n

Government and cultural trends in the last decade have pushed automakers to tout their fuel-efficient hybrids and safety qualifications. Dodge has achieved its success, say analysts, by positioning itself as a counterculture brand that thumbs its nose at politeness.\u00a0Dodge\u2019s 459,000 unit sales in 2019 dwarfed the 242,000 of all EVs combined in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have cultivated a position that goes against general trends,\u201d\u00a0said Karl Brauer, executive analyst with ISeeCars.com. \u201cIt has created a brand with very strong identity, with good results in sales and consumer quality ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But states like California are moving counter to the trend. California Gov.\u00a0Gavin Newsom\u00a0signed an executive order ending sales of new cars with internal-combustion engines by 2035. A Biden White House is expected to move toward a more carbon-neutral policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrands like Dodge will be the most threatened,\u201d Brauer said.<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s Mustang muscle-car brand already is experimenting with the transition. It has targeted Tesla\u2019s best-selling Model Y in the compact EV segment with the Mustang Mach-E SUV.<\/p>\n

Ford is banking that Mustang\u2019s performance history will give Mach-E credibility\u00a0against a Tesla brand that has defined green performance since it introduced its \u201cLudicrous\u201d acceleration mode in 2016.<\/p>\n

Its\u00a0signature V-8 bark has always\u00a0set Mustang sports cars apart from\u00a0wispy European turbo-6s. V-8 means Yankee muscle.<\/p>\n

\"Ford<\/p>\n
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The electric Mustang Mach-E seeks to replicate some of that bark.\u00a0In addition to the eerie thrum that all EVs must emit by federal regulation\u00a0in order to alert pedestrians to their\u00a0presence, the Mach-E’s drive modes (Whisper, Engage and Unbridled) pipe in noise through the stereo system to simulate an exhaust note. Unbridled’s low roar is the most distinct.<\/p>\n

Porsche experiments with a similar sound in its first electric, the Taycan.<\/p>\n

But neither EV utters the hair-raising shriek of a V-8 at full throttle. The absence of that soundtrack has turned off some early reviewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Mustang is supposed to be exuberant, unbridled. It’s supposed to make driving an occasion of joy,\u201d\u00a0wrote Road & Track<\/a>. The magazine called the experience of driving the Mach-E “about as exhilarating as shopping for chest freezers.\u201d<\/p>\n

That doesn’t deter Dodge\u2019s McAlear.\u00a0He argues the brand has other signature qualities including color and style: \u201cWhen you see a black-on-black Hellcat coming down the road, usually you hear it. But if not, you see it coming. There\u2019s something about that grille, that stance \u2014\u00a0the air intake in the hood, the vivid colors. This brand is successful on so many aspects of vehicle design.\u201d<\/p>\n

ISeeCar\u2019s Brauer says electric powertrains have inherent qualities \u2014 face-flattening acceleration, low center of gravity \u2014 that dovetail nicely with performance. If used correctly, those attributes could help the transition.<\/p>\n

He points to Ford\u2019s cornerstone\u00a0F-series pickup brand which was largely V-8-powered until five years ago when Ford introduced turbocharged V-6s. Boasting similar capability to V-8s while bettering gas mileage, Ford’s “Ecoboost\u201d V-6s are now part of a buffet of engine offerings including a hybrid.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe F-150 now offers six powertrains, and only one is a V-8,\u201d said Brauer. \u201cIt\u2019s still there because buyers who have been with the brand for 30 years won\u2019t buy a pickup without a V-8. The lesson is, if you don\u2019t abandon your traditional buyers, then you can play with new technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysts expect turbo V-6s in Dodge to replace some V-8s just as F-150 has done. Electrification would be the next step.<\/p>\n

“The reality is those platforms and that technology we used does need to move on. They can\u2019t exist as you get into the middle-2020s,” Fiat Chrysler chief Mike Manley\u00a0told The Detroit News at the 2019 Detroit auto show<\/a>. \u201cAnd we can use electrification to really supplement those vehicles.”<\/p>\n

Dodge and Ford marketers are also looking to racing,\u00a0long a pillar of performance marketing, to help with the transition. NASCAR, where Ford plays, is going hybrid in two years. Drag racing, which suits the Dodge brand, may be a tougher sell with electric dragsters\u00a0an oxymoron in a sport where nitro-burning, eye-watering fuel is at the heart of the sensory experience.<\/p>\n

Traditional brands have a tougher road to drive compared to Tesla which was founded as an electric brand. \u201cDetroit brands are fighting with another image,\u201d Brauer said. \u201cThey are not going to get there overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

But government mandates are unlikely to happen overnight, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia has a long history of setting zero-emission standards \u2014 going back to the 1990s \u2014\u00a0that don\u2019t get met,” continued Brauer.\u00a0“The government comes up to a deadline, and then realize the consumer isn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From California to New York to Washington, regulators increasingly are looking to phase out gasoline-powered cars in favor of\u00a0electrics. That could pose challenges for some legacy Detroit brands. Take Dodge for example. The performance brand has built its current lineup on V-8 powered Challenger and Charger muscle cars harkening back to the company\u2019s 1960s muscle-car […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26533,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26532\/revisions\/26533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}