Dodge must be biting its corporate nails right about now. The muscle car company, which carved out a niche in the US auto market by selling expertly distilled performance cars, has killed its Charger and Challenger (a.k.a., the golden geese). The final bell for “Last Call” muscle car editions has come and gone, and the Dodge division of Stellantis is now represented by the Durango and a rebadged Alfa Romeo. Not good.

Dodge recently teased a production-ready version of the new Charger on X, formerly known as Twitter. Will the new 2025 version continue the Mopar muscle legacy? Let’s take a look.

Where Do Muscle Car Fans Go From Here?

The division’s sales were so heavily based on the shotgun progeny of the Mercedes/Chrysler union from 1998, that God only knows where it will make money from here on out. In Dodge’s favor, both the Challenger and Charger were long in the tooth, and it was probably best to bow out gracefully. The LX body platform and its variants date back eighteen years, a lifetime in terms of automotive technology. Tim Kuniskis and Ralph Gilles were able to continually refresh the aging automotive starlets, and that will go down in history as leveraging every last penny of amortized tooling.

In 2022, Stellantis said it was going to replace the Mopar twins with a new electric version based on Stellantis’ STLA Large EV platform. They showed off a prototype two-door Charger that was very cool but sowed a bit of confusion because it raised questions about the future of the Challenger nameplate. Yes, a two-door Charger quells the uproar that the Charger sedan caused, but we don’t think we’re going to see two, two-doors from Dodge.

A New Era Unfolds

When the EV Charger concept debuted, the company waxed eloquently about 800-plus horsepower, instant torque, and 500 miles of range. Then we were told, “Hold on, not so fast, we’ll have an ICE version too.” Like the 2025 Ram 1500, the ICE Charger is likely to be powered by the twin-turbo, Hurricane inline-six rather than a HEMI. Sad to say the old Elephant is dead and gone in this new application.

An internal combustion Charger would likely have a base 420-hp entry model and an upgraded 510-hp version. The latter would have a better power-to-weight ratio than the 670-hp electric Charger because it wouldn’t have to lug around a heavy battery pack. The Mopar twins were ridiculed for years because they were a bit portly, and let’s hope Dodge pulls out every weight loss trick in the book for these new versions.

Brilliant or Boring?

For most of us here at Street Muscle Mag, an electric Mopar muscle car is a non-starter. The jury is still out on an ICE version of this car, but there are signs that a gasoline version will see the light of day. The adoption of EVs has stalled, and every major automaker is revising their timelines and production forecasts for electric versions.

A year ago, an 800-hp EV Charger seemed like a no-brainer. Now? Most OEMs will have a hybrid portfolio of petrol and EV models for the foreseeable future, and that’s good news for us with gasoline in our veins. If all this turns you on, look for the Charger to go on sale in late 2024 as a 2025 model.