The All-Electric 2025 Dodge Charger First Look: The Future of Muscle Cars? | Cars & Bikes | Forbes

Dodge has taken a bold step into the future, unveiling its first all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona, set to hit the market in early 2025. This new model retains the iconic design elements that have made the Charger a beloved name in the automotive world, while integrating cutting-edge technology and performance features. The new Charger boasts a powerful electric drivetrain, with top models delivering over 600 horsepower, ensuring it lives up to the performance legacy of its predecessors. Inside, the Charger is a blend of heritage and innovation, featuring a driver-centric cabin with ambient lighting, a racing-focused steering wheel, and advanced technology.

Dodge's commitment to performance is evident in the Charger’s design and features. The car includes a lever gear selector for a tactile driving experience, despite being an EV. (The brand has also promised an e-shift function to simulate gear shifting.) The Charger’s interior is designed for visibility and driver engagement, with a lowered driver display and a large multimedia screen. As Dodge prepares for test drives, the big question remains: will this electric Charger convert die-hard fans of its gas-powered predecessors?

Read more on Forbes:

For more from Scotty Reiss:

Subscribe to FORBES

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

Stay Connected

Forbes newsletters

Forbes on Facebook

Forbes Video on Twitter

Forbes Video on Instagram

More From Forbes

Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

What made the 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona one of the hottest cars to see at the Los Angeles Auto Show? People waited in line to get inside and explore this critical pivot for legendary muscle car maker Dodge.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Dodge announced the “Last Call” editions of its popular muscle cars, some of the most powerful ever produced by commercial car makers. At the time the industry was bullish on the EV future and Dodge went all in, announcing that its iconic muscle cars would be replaced by electric versions.

And then the EV market slowed to a crawl, much of it led by internal-combustion-loving EV doubters, many of whom are the core buyer of Dodge sedans and coupes. But the 120 year old brand founded by a pair of innovative if mischievous brothers shouldn’t be underestimated. Dodge’s history and heritage created enough curiosity to make the 2025 Dodge Charger, a two-door coupe priced from about $60,000, one of the hottest new cars and the subject of hundreds of thousands of internet searches a week.

Looking at the exterior of the Dodge Charger Daytona it’s not clear at all that it’s an electric car, a fact that car shoppers and fanatics may forget, or forgive. The Charger Daytona’s sloped roofline, new take on the “hood scoop” and a simple front facia give it a familiar feel. The Charger sits on wide-set wheels and sports a wide-body design for better grip on the road. The rear spoiler sits up high, lending dimension to the rear end and wheels, which can be optioned in Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3 tires.

Inside, muscle car enthusiasts will find more to fan over, from the sport seats, which are upholstered in leatherette, a standard feature for EVs, though there is an option for leather and suede. The gear shifter is a lever that, even though the components in this car are all electric, delivers the look and feel of muscle. Ambient lighting surrounds the cabin and highlights the Dodge signature colors and graphics.

And then, there’s the Fratzonic exhaust sound. Dodge Charger Daytona drivers can crank up the “engine” whenever they’d like with an orchestrated sound designed to deliver the growl and rumble of heritage Chargers.