Will Muscle Cars Disappear with EVs? Dodge Says No

Dodge is set to have the traditional muscle car go out with a bang when they bring the 909-horsepower Challenger to the market.

That said, even Dodge can’t fight the fact that V8 engines are now a dying item in the market. Just because the big block will disappear doesn’t mean we won’t see muscle cars in the future. The Dodge brand is heading toward a new phenomenon to deliver plenty of power and performance. These new performance machines might not have the V8 power and sounds we’re used to, but they will have the muscular power needed for some serious performance.

Dodge Brings eMuscle to the Market

The requirement to move toward smaller-displacement hybridized engines isn’t going to stop the Dodge team from offering us the sprint performance we desire. A new quality called eMuscle is coming and it will offer what we want from this brand. This will be what we get from the Dodge brand before there’s a requirement for pure EV driving. Even then, EVs have insane acceleration and instant torque, surely Dodge can find a way to take advantage of these qualities to give us some fun on any road.

The Demon Goes Crazy

The Dodge Challenger Demon was a limited-run car that delivered insane horsepower when using race gas. As we see the final models of pure internal combustion V8 power leave the market, Dodge provides the muscle cars to offer a last hurrah. There are rumors of a 909-horsepower Challenger, but a new Demon is a reality. This new model could run on corn-sourced E85 gas that produces 850 horsepower. That’s incredibly powerful and the E85 gas is currently cheaper than the standard 91-octange fuel the Challenger Hellcat engine requires to get the job done.

The New Challenger Leads Into “Never Lift”

We don’t know if this last V8-powered Challenger will be called Demon or not, but we do know it will be a limited-run model and it will be a special edition car that leads into the Dodge “Never Lift” campaign. This new campaign is the roadmap to the future for Dodge, giving the public an idea of what this brand has planned. Something that is almost a certainty is an upcoming electric Dodge Challenger. Considering the brand and its constant desire to offer loud and proud performance machines, don’t expect an electric Challenger to be a quiet ride.

Anticipation Grows for the Dodge Speed Week

Where better to showcase some new Dodge models than on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. This iconic location is the site of this year’s Dodge Speed Week event, which will take place in August. This is when and where Doge will tell us everything we want to know about the upcoming models and the brand’s future. At this event there should be at least three new Dodge muscle cars offered to give us something fun to talk about for the next few years. Could one be something that’s truly futuristic?

An EV Dodge Should be Announced

Tim Kuniskis, Dodge brand chief executive officer at Stellantis gave us a not-so-subtle hint at what we can expect when the Dodge Speed Week takes place. Without going into all the details, he told us “it’s going to be an electric summer for Dodge.” That’s certainly a hint that we should see an EV model during the next phase of the Never Lift campaign, which involves Dodge revealing three new muscle cars for us to admire. The announcements will take place over the three days with three different phases involved.

The first day the brand will announce the current muscle cars. This will likely be when we learn when some of these vehicles will end their time in the market and no longer be part of the new vehicles we can buy.

The second day will be a gateway announcement. This means the cars that will bridge the gap between what we have now and what the future will be should show up at the event.

The third day of announcements will likely be historic and somewhat jarring for some. Those driving purists and muscle car fanboys that love Dodge for sticking with pure muscle cars will be filling their beers with tears of sorrow. Even so, this will be when Dodge tells us what the future of its power machines will be and when we can expect them in the market.

Electric Muscle is Coming, But Gasoline Won’t Disappear Overnight

Do you remember when Ram built the new platform for the Ram 1500? When they did this, they continued to offer the previous platform as the Ram Classic. Today, we still see this Ram Classic, and its been a few years. Why do we tell you this?

The reason is pretty simple. In similar fashion to what Ram did, Dodge intends to offer a new all-electric muscle car in 2024, but that won’t put the gasoline models out to pasture. For a few years, Dodge intends to sell both EVs and ICE models side-by-side. This doesn’t mean we’ll have the Hellcat engine or the R/T Challenger with its 6.4-liter Hemi V8, but we could see hybridized versions with smaller engines but the same power numbers. This might be enough to make some of the driving purists happy for a few more years before the world goes completely electric.

August Will be Fun in Detroit

If there was anywhere we’d like to be from August 12-20, it would be on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. These are the dates for the Dodge Speed Week and it should be a lot of fun. There will be many amazing Dodge muscle cars in attendance while the brand looks to tell us about the future of what it has planned. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we’ll see a sun-kissed road filled with amazing and iconic Dodge models that represent different eras of speed, performance, and pure muscle driving down the historic avenue in Detroit.

What will be the future of Dodge muscle cars? We all have to wait until August to find out, but you can be it will be a hot topic for the next several months.