{"id":29683,"date":"2022-08-22T18:14:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T22:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=29683"},"modified":"2022-08-22T18:14:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T22:14:45","slug":"payne-5-things-about-the-loud-lurid-lectric-dodge-charger-daytona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/payne-5-things-about-the-loud-lurid-lectric-dodge-charger-daytona","title":{"rendered":"Payne: 5 things about the loud, lurid, ‘lectric Dodge Charger Daytona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pontiac<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 It\u2019s That ’70s Show again with the federal government on the warpath to eliminate V-8s, gas-guzzlers\u00a0and fun. But the fun-lovin\u2019 Dodge brand wants to stay a step ahead of the killjoys.<\/p>\n

“It’s like if they decided to ban cows \u2014 but 5% of the population is vegetarian and the rest still wanted beef. The meat industry would figure it out, they’d make Impossible Burgers and other stuff,\u201d said Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis in an interview ahead of the reveal of his brand\u2019s first electric car. \u201cSame for the auto industry, we’ll figure it out. We’ve seen this type of upheaval before in 1972, but this time we were warned the regulations were coming.”<\/p>\n

Dodge is bringing a lot of meat to the EV table.<\/p>\n

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The ferocious, all-electric Charger Daytona\u00a0SRT Concept is the first look at Dodge EVs that will replace the iconic\u00a0V-8-powered Challenger and Charger muscle cars when they go extinct in 2024. With menacing, retro-1960s style, a V-8 soundtrack\u00a0and a\u00a0Banshee logo aft of the front fender where a\u00a0Hellcat used to be, the Charger Daytona SRT intends to electrify the EV era.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the world is going (electric),\u201d said Kuniskis,\u00a0\u201cthen it\u2019s got to look like a Dodge, sound like a Dodge\u00a0and drive like a Dodge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are five notable things about the concept:<\/p>\n

1) The sound.<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, this EV makes noise. A lot of noise. The same insane, 126 decibels of V-8 sound as a 6.2-liter\u00a0supercharged\u00a0V-8 Hellcat engine. Dodge achieves this feat using a patented system called the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s basically a pipe organ hanging under the rear bumper that uses air and valves to create a sci-fi V-8 bellow. Under the Chrysler design dome in Auburn Hills before some media guests, Dodge revved the concept car like a Hellcat. BRAAAP, BRAAAP, BRAAAP.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe worked for a long time to get that sound right, because we wanted a sound that was fresh, new\u00a0and modern. We also wanted something that made you feel comfortable,\u201d said Kuniskis. \u201cThe secret sauce in that sound \u2014 although it sounds like a new, modern thing \u2014 is it is (he knocks on\u00a0the table) the firing order of a V-8 engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nail the throttle and Kuniskis says its multi-speed, electro-mechanical transmission – dubbed eRupt – will upshift like a V-8, too. How many shifts? \u201cWe\u2019re still working on that. More than two.\u201d<\/p>\n

2) Daytona, Romberg & R-wing.<\/strong>\u00a0Like Corvette Stingray or Porsche GTS, Charger Daytona is a special name in the Dodge lexicon. It\u2019s not thrown around casually.<\/p>\n

The brand\u2019s first EV is called the Dodge Daytona in homage to\u00a0the legendary, sleek, late 1960s NASCAR that dominated the sport as the first stock car to hit 200 mph (ultimately evolving into the 1970 Plymouth Superbird). Just 500 production versions were ordered (for homologation purposes) with copies selling for $1.5 million at auction today. Interestingly, the EV adopts an open-frame version of the brooding, horizontal grille of the standard \u201868 Charger \u2013 with the Daytona\u2019s signature, sloped aerodynamic nosecone design slipped in behind the opening to suck the car to the ground – creating a low drag co-efficient that made the NASCAR\u00a0so fast.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe car we always wanted to redo was the 1968 Charger, arguably the most iconic muscle car ever,\u201d said Kuniskis. \u201cBut that was\u00a0going to be a brick. We were going to need a 150 kWh battery (which would cost) $15,000 . . . and that\u2019s not going to be price competitive. So let\u2019s put Gary Romberg\u2019s nose on it. It\u2019s got to look like a melted jelly bean to make the aero guys happy, but it\u2019s got to look like a muscle car. So he built the wing over it so now it looks like a proper muscle car, but hidden in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dodge dubbed the design the R-wing after Romberg, the NASA-trained engineer brought over to work on Charger from Dodge\u2019s then-aerospace division. Rear of the sleek nose, the coke-bottle body echoes the original with muscular hips and a fast back. The \u201969 Charger Daytona\u2019s high wing is conspicuously missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t need it,\u201d smiled\u00a0Kuniskis.<\/p>\n

3) It\u2019s a hatchback.<\/strong> Past Chargers (including the winged Daytona) all came with rear trunks. But in the SUV age, Dodge is determined to offer its new halo car with a touch of ute utility. Thus a sportback found on other premium cars like the Audi A7 and Kia Stinger.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople buy SUVs because they have a command-of-the-road, higher-seating position, all-weather capability, and increased utility,\u201d said Kuniskis. \u201cWe can\u2019t give you command of the road because I\u2019m going to build a muscle car. . . but I\u2019m gonna\u2019 get a plus on its looks because its bad-ass, so I think I\u2019m neutral there. And we\u2019re going to the hatch. It\u2019s huge. When that hatch goes up and the seats fold, you have SUV utility (back) there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The EV concept has bucket seats in the rear. It\u2019s a concept thing. The real car will have a bench rear seat for proper\u00a0fold-down\u00a0cargo utility.<\/p>\n

4) All-wheel-drive.<\/strong>\u00a0The other piece of SUV utility that Charger Daytona brings is all-wheel-drive. Every version of the EV will have power at all four corners\u00a0\u2014 a departure from past Chargers that were rear-wheel-drive, save the last-gen, AWD V-6 engine offering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to give you full-time AWD on all of my cars no matter what it is so I have all-weather capability,\u201d said Dodge\u2019s boss.<\/p>\n

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AWD capability means front and rear electric motors, which will help \u2014 not only in Michigan\u2019s four seasons \u2014 but channel the massive torque coming from Charger Daytona\u2019s big battery.<\/p>\n

How much power? Kuniskis is mum. But expect it to be close to the 100 kWh found in the Tesla Model S Plaid or 93 kWh unit in the Porsche Taycan.<\/p>\n

5) The 400\/800 kWh skateboard.<\/strong>\u00a0Sitting on an all-new skateboard battery platform with up to 800-volt, fast-charge capability like Taycan or Genesis GV60, the Charger EV won\u2019t have an engine up front. Dodge designers use that space for the aerodynamic R-wing \u2014 not a frunk (front trunk) like Tesla or Taycan.<\/p>\n

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With the battery slung low for a low center of gravity and the aerodynamics working top-side, the big Dodge\u2019s handling should impress.<\/p>\n

The wild card is whether Dodge\u2019s \u201cBrotherhood of Muscle\u201d will accept the manufactured V-8 sound and battery range limitations. At Roadkill Nights \u2014 the legal Woodward drag racing sponsored by Dodge over the weekend here \u2014 the faithful were skeptical, taking a wait-and-see attitude.<\/p>\n

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Whatever their opinion, the Charger Daytona will likely\u00a0be the most talked about new EV this year. Just like this fun-lovin\u2019 brand wanted.<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pontiac\u00a0\u2014 It\u2019s That ’70s Show again with the federal government on the warpath to eliminate V-8s, gas-guzzlers\u00a0and fun. But the fun-lovin\u2019 Dodge brand wants to stay a step ahead of the killjoys. “It’s like if they decided to ban cows \u2014 but 5% of the population is vegetarian and the rest still wanted beef. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29683"}],"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=29683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29684,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29683\/revisions\/29684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}