The move to electrification has been a big adjustment for the folks at Dodge. While electric vehicles deliver strong performance, the Brotherhood of Muscle crowd likes their gas engines. Who could forget the excitement surrounding the launch of the Hellcat with its 707-horsepower 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine?
The memory of that engine makes the new Charger Daytona EV something of a hard sell. It’s such a hard sell, that the older models it replaces actually posted stronger sales for the first quarter of the year. Indeed, the discontinued Charger and Challenger outsold the snazzy new Charger Daytona EV.
The Charger Daytona is no slouch with 670 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque. It has the instant torque delivery of an EV that makes mashing the pedal ridiculously fun. It’s actually quicker than the old V8, so no one should be complaining about performance. It has what the company calls a Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust, which is a fancy way of saying it has a speaker.
This creates a sound when you drive that’s not necessarily supposed to be like a V8, but is instead intended to create a unique performance EV experience. Reactions have been mixed, with some loving it while others call it a miss.
Dodge Buyers Aren’t Buying As Much Of Anything
In the first quarter of 2025, Dodge sold 1,947 units of the new Charger Daytona, which works out to about 22 units per day, noted CarScoops. That doesn’t sound so bad, but this is an all-new car. It’s supposed to be the hot ticket that everyone wants while the old models ride off into the sunset. The problem is, those old models are actually selling better.
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The gas-powered Charger sold 1,052 units in the same period, while the Challenger came in with 922 units. That’s a total of 1,974 units combined. It’s not a lot more than the Charger Daytona, but the fact that the numbers are not just close but slightly better for the old models is surprising.
These aren’t newer models either. Both were discontinued at the end of 2023, so it’s been two years now since Dodge gave them the ax. The Charger is a four-door while the Challenger is a two-door, making this an imperfect comparison, but it’s still notable.
Every Model In Dodge’s Lineup Goes Backwards
It’s been a tough quarter all around for the Dodge brand. In the last quarter of 2024, it moved 49,248 units. That number slipped to 21,731 units for the first quarter of 2025, which is a drop of 49 percent. The Charger and Challenger took the biggest hits with 90% and 91% declines, respectively.
The Hornet took a more modest 45 percent dip while the Durango saw a nine percent decline. There wasn’t a single model in the lineup that was up last quarter.
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Dodge isn’t unaware that it’s having problems and unsurprisingly, is offering incentives and cash bonuses to move cars off dealer lots. There are also fun new colors like Bludicrous which not only look fantastic but also continue the tradition of unique color names like Go Mango and Plum Crazy.
The real boon to sales should come when the six-cylinder hybrid Charger arrives, with even more to follow if there is truth in a reported return to the V8.
Source: CarScoops
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