Standing on the edge of the EV pier, Dodge, with a single tear dripping down its cheek, is waving its flower-embroidered handkerchief to the ICE Challenger and Charger ship as it sails off into the sunset, never to be seen, or heard from, ever again.
“We are celebrating the end of an era — and the start of a bright new electrified future,” said Timothy Kuniskis, the chief executive officer of the Dodge brand.
In 2004, but for the 2005 Charger and Challenger models, the car manufacturer presented the LX platform. It’s safe to say that it proudly served these muscle cars for the next 18 years. The LX was developed for the six- and eight-cylinder engines with rear or all-wheel drive systems. The most noteworthy thing about it is when it peaked in 2018 with the "unholy” Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, the most powerful muscle car ever produced.
The Demon’s 6.2-liter HEMI V8 was blessed with 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet (1,044 Nm). It ran from 0-60 in just 2.3 seconds. That’s hypercar territory, I'm talking Bugatti Chiron fast. But that’s not all. It also went into the Guinness World Records book for being the only car to have ever pulled off a wheelie for a distance of 2.92 feet (0.89 meters). Only 3,300 were built.
As anyone would understand, people that are truly passionate about these big roaring engines with hundreds upon hundreds of horsepower aren’t taking the electrification shift too lightly. Severe change is always hard to accept, no matter how open-minded one might be.
So out of nowhere, one commercial comes to please the dissatisfaction of such motorheads with one last laugh at Dodge’s expense. It’s aimed at the new, but unreleased yet, 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona SRT.
The premise of the video is the clashing of two narrators trying to convey their side of the story. The first one is supposed to be the voice of the Dodge brand, and the other is outrightly criticizing the clichés the former is saying about change and going electric.
The first things the “critic” points out is that the new EV is all-wheel drive, taking away the fun of a burnout from a rear-wheel-drive system. Then it mocks the “engine” sound. And it really does have a Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust that’s meant to mimic an SRT Hellcat V8 ICE engine, outputting 126 decibels. That is a lot of dBs.
The CDC says that 120 decibels are the equivalent of standing really close to a siren, which will cause pain and ear injury. While the car does have a nice sound to it, it can’t actually mimic the V8 crackles and pops. It sounds very robotic. Like an actual robot big cat roaring by using its own Fratzonic vocal cords.
The highlight of the commercial is when the Dodge narrator points out that the Charger name is in fact a pun because now you charge it. Then the critic expresses his dissatisfaction with the entire EV concept of the model, saying that he just wanted an old-fashioned combustion engine muscle car.
Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive). Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News