First, it was the electric muscle car. Then it was the electric muscle car with a gas-powered option. Now, it appears, the 2025 Dodge Charger may be more of a gas-powered muscle car with an electric option.
A new report says Dodge is speeding up plans to build the gas-powered version of its 2025 Charger. This one is a little confusing, so allow us some background:
Shifting Charger Plans
In late 2022, Dodge announced a radical plan to remake its future. It would end production of the Charger 4-door sedan and Challenger 2-door coupe and replace them both with an upcoming “electric muscle car.”
Predictably, the news upset some longtime fans weaned on V8-powered Dodges with boxy lines and loud exhaust notes.
So Dodge hedged its bets. It took the (admittedly gorgeous) new muscle car it had designed and split it into two models. The first would be called the Charger Daytona and use electric power. The second, to come sometime after, would be called the Charger Sixpack. It would forego the classic Hemi V8 but use either of a pair of gasoline-powered inline-6-cylinder engines that are just as powerful but more efficient.
Both would be built first as 2-door models and later in 4-door versions.
Now, Mopar Insiders reports, “Dodge is reportedly accelerating the release of its upcoming Charger Sixpack internal combustion engine (ICE) models, with production beginning five months ahead of schedule. Originally planned for a late-2025 debut, these ICE models are now expected to reach dealerships by early summer 2025.”
That date would still mean Dodge dealers get shipments of electric Charger Daytonas before their first gas-powered Charger Sixpack arrives.
The shift, reportedly, comes as “Dodge responds to consumer demand for more performance-focused, combustion-engine muscle cars, even as the brand moves forward with its electric Charger Daytona lineup.” Dodge still needs the electric model as the industry shifts toward EVs and tough new fleet fuel economy standards approach. But the Dodge “brotherhood of muscle” may not be as ready for the car as the company hoped.
