- Word is the new 2024 Dodge Charger EV was designed with V8 swaps in mind
- The news was revealed in a paean to V8s from Motor Trend
- Also rumoured: the gas-powered Charger Sixpack is seeing its launch moved up
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Much digital ink has been spilled about the upcoming Dodge Charger and its all-electric powertrain, one which incorporates an exhaust system to make extra racket accompanying towering levels of power. Those who don’t want their American muscle powered by electrons may enjoy the gasoline-powered variants, fuelled by a straight-six engine and marketed as a Sixpack, models whose production schedule is being pushed up to meet demand (because what the world needs is a rushed Stellantis product).
Or, according to Motor Trend, rip the works of it out and plunk in a V8 engine because Dodge designed it for such tomfoolery. Wait, what?
That’s the seemingly throwaway line uttered by the hosts of a new documentary by Motor Trend, a 30-minute show chronicling the history of the V8 engine in America. The entire film is worth a watch, but a revelation by well-know hot-rod enthusiast David Freiburger and NHRA commentator Brian Lohnes is what has our attention. They say the upcoming Dodge Charger EV is, by design, able to have its electric guts ripped out and replaced with a V8 powerplant and rear-wheel-drive. This is news.
Freiburger: The loss of the Hellcat? That is a giant blow. That being said, I wouldn’t count Dodge out.
Lohnes: Yes.
Freiburger: The new Charger EV, you can remove the batteries and a V8 with a rear-wheel-drive transmission bolts into the frame.
Lohnes:By design.
Here’s the thing. Motor Trend doesn’t just employ scribes who miss first-class flights to Bahrain. David Freiburger and KJ Jones are legends in the hot-rodding industry and have forgotten more about cars than you and I will ever know. Brian Lohnes has also been in the game forever, and is currently the lead broadcaster for the NHRA drag racing series on Fox. In other words, unless there’s some tricky video editing decisions by Motor Trend to stitch together parts of this conversation which have little to do with each other, I’d lend a dose of credence to what is being said.
After all, variants of the new Dodge Chargerwill be offered with an internal-combustion engine and rear-wheel-drive, so it’s not as if someone is proposing putting a Hemi in a Chevy Bolt or something. Hot-rodders like David and KJ have been replacing powertrains for decades, so this is not unheard of — even if it does involve our new era of electrification. As for Lohnes’ assertion, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the Charger designers had one eye on V8 power from the car’s design inception; this is Dodge we’re talking about, after all.
And, yes, as briefly referenced above, the other Charger-related rumour making the rounds these days is that the inline-six gas-powered variants of the modern muscle machine are seeing their on-sale dates moved up. While previously scheduled for a late 2025 launch, word is Stellantis is now targeting early summer next year for the Dodge Charger Sixpack’s debut instead. Is this something that can be chalked up to changes in demand for EV and gas vehicles? We hope the Dodge folks eventually let us know.
Hat tip to u/khazixian on r/cars for the Motor Trend nugget!
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