Dodge is in a pickle. When it brought back the Charger so many years ago, it sold plenty well for over a decade. Then Dodge made the fateful decision to go electric with the all-new Charger Daytona. After just a few months on sale, things are getting awkward—and the discounts are embarrassingly large.
Remember when I told you the old Dodge Charger is the cheapest muscle car on sale right now? Well, it turns out things aren’t going any better for the new model, either. It’s not just that it has trouble doing burnouts, or the fact that it’s an EV built to appeal to people that normally hate electric cars. It’s also failing to shift units, hardcore.
The first cars started hitting dealerships in late 2024. Prices were high—the new R/T would set you back $61,590, with the Scat Pack even pricer at $74,185. Fast forward to today, and the mood has changed. Dealers are slashing prices across the country—how does $32,000 off sound?
This is a 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack, on sale in North Carolina. That’s the fast model, with 670 horsepower on tap from dual electric motors that drive the front and rear wheels. It’s a hot ship, capable of hitting 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds. Dodge originally wanted to sell this car for $75,980. Meanwhile, Deacon Jones Dodge will let it go out the door for just $43,480. That’s a discount of $32,500. Mighty.
What’s even more wild is that Cars.com suggests this beautiful orange muscle car was only listed 35 days ago, originally at full sticker price. Just over a week in, Deacon Jones sweetened the deal by dropping the price a full $6,500, before making a further $26,000 in discounts over the following three weeks.
It’s the most extreme discount I came across, but it’s by no means a fluke. Clay Cooley Dodge in Texas has a Scat Pack in silver for $56,603, a full $19,377 under sticker. Medina Auto Mall in Ohio has slashed $25,260 off their 2024 model. Extreme Dodge in Michigan has a great deal too, slashing $21,184 off a Scat Pack for a current advertised price of just $57,796.
If you’re not so obsessed with power, you can get into a Charger Daytona for even less money. We’re talking Toyota Camry money, here. The R/T trim only has 496 horsepower, but it’s still got dual-motor all-wheel-drive. With that said, it’ll still hit 60 mph in 4.7 seconds on its way to a 12.6 second quarter-mile, according to Dodge. Even better, you can score one for a hair over $30,000.
Once again, it’s Deacon Jones Dodge with the hottest deal. Down in North Carolina, they’ve got a few R/Ts on the lot, like this one listed for $30,185. That’s $32,500 under sticker—this car originally wore an MSRP of $62,685.
Elsewhere in the country, you’ll pay a touch more, but the discounts are still radical. Claremont Dodge in California has a black Charger Daytona R/T for $40,090, over $20,000 below sticker. Jason Lewis Automotive has a striking orange example in Tennessee for just $42,527. Over in Virginia, Southern Chrysler Dodge will sell you an RT for $44,500, over $17,000 under sticker.
Some of this is coming from up top. Last week, Autoblog reported that the automaker was throwing plenty of cash on the hood to get things moving—up to $12,500 in some cases. What we’re seeing now is far beyond that, however, with dealers apparently making their own calls to drop prices further.
Given that March is not yet over, we don’t have a full picture on how the Charger Daytona is selling. The model had barely been on sale when Stellantis released Dodge’s Q4 sales figures last year, so there’s no help there. We should get a better idea when Q1 sales are posted soon.
Regardless, it’s easy to read between the lines here. Typically, a brand-new performance or enthusiast model will sell far above sticker price when it first hits the market, due to high demand and constricted supply. We’ve seen this before with models like the Ford Bronco and the Tesla Cybertruck, for example. We haven’t seen any evidence of that with the Charger Daytona, though. Nobody’s running with stories of big dealer markups or scalpers selling early editions for cheap. Instead, big discounts are plastered across the Internet for all to see.
It’s an inauspicious launch for a model that was supposed to herald a new era. It’s early days yet, but it’s clear the Charger Daytona hasn’t found its stride just yet.
Image credits: Dodge, Cars.com via screenshot
Didn’t take Nostradamus to predict this one.
Maybe it’s coming, but the other thing they seem to have missed, isa s near as I can tell part of the financial success of the challenger/charger was that the performance variants acted as halo cars to drive a lot of sales of base v6 cars-which iirc could be picked up for not much over $30k. Looking at the Charger EV site the cheapest MSRP for an R/T is $59K-which I think is still more than the outgoing R/T? Maybe once the 4 door rolls out there will be a lower end starter model…or more likely they’re hastily re-engineering these to take a v8.
It seems like every Stellantis product is on huge discounts right now. My wife’s minivan is getting long in the tooth and although I’m not looking to replace it now and I don’t think Chrysler minivans are that great…. The fact I can get a maxed out Pacifica Hybrid for less than the cost of a base Kia does raise the eyebrows.
I feel like Stellantis and electricity is a dicy proposition even if it’s gas powered.
The Deacon Jones dealership in NC just dropped two of them to $17k and change. I assume they want these off the floorpan today.
I just called and they said it’s a glitch on the Cars Dot Com website. Eeyor.
It should’ve launched as a 4 door with the pricing in line with the Model 3. That would make it the nearest thing to one without the stink of Elon on it.
Honeslty, I quite like the look of these. I saw one at an Auto Expo this year and they look great in person. I know a bunch of muscle car guys who like the look of them. But I agree that previous leadership did Dodge a huge disservice by pushing out the V8 completely and pushing this in its place. I’m hoping its a slow roll with increasing momentum. EV, maybe not selling great, hopefully they gain some momentum with the 4 door and the I6 engine. Then hopefully a year after that the Hemi version comes out, maybe with a Hellcat edition to really get the recognition going again.
If you aren’t aware, Stellantis has announced the return of the entire V8 Hemi family, though where they are planning to stuff them all is as yet not announced. But I expect they will put them in these to get the metal moving more.
I wonder if the four door will sell better. I mean, the four door Charger really wasn’t anything to write home about, especially in base form. (Partner has had one as a rental for a month and it’s awful, especially the interior). A four door isn’t necessarily targeting the former Challenger audience, who seem to be the most likely to take issue with an EV performance car. If the four door looks good and isn’t outrageously priced, maybe it can stand on its own and sell based on the merits of being a good sedan (assuming it is good). Maybe. I mean, what other American sedans are there these days anyway?
Seriously though, I think an entry-level model with the I6 should exist. That seems to me like the best way to get people to buy.
Now i want you to imagine if Stellantis actually priced this at $30k MSRP new, they would have buyers for days, EV or not. But they’re apparently still high on that covid pricing nonsense.
The charger was not succesful because of overpriced, over powered hellcats. That brought hype that enabled the charger to survive longer than it should have. The base model sold well because it looked good and was affordable.
That’s not what this new fartzorg exhaust mess is
Breaking news: Manufacturer projected to increase sales if they list below cost.
I’m sure they’ll make it up on volume though!
I think Dodge is in big trouble. For the past ten years, they’ve been surviving off of nostalgia. Now, even if they switch the Charger back to ICE, who will they sell them to? The nostalgic guys who owned a hot Charger, Super Bee, or Cuda, back in the 70s, they’re all 80 years old now. Most of them scratched their muscle car itch ten years ago. Young people aren’t interested and can’t afford a new electric car, even discounted. I’m doubting that Dodge will even exist as a brand in ten years.
my god that side profile view is heinous. yuck.
It’s terrible. Really, the whole car is to me. It looks like they took the worst parts of the Charger and the Challenger and mashed them together. It’s a huge boring land yacht without the cool nostalgia factor the Challenger had. This is just a flat slab of metal with some LED light strips and electric motors.
It’s like a Renault 12 but without the quirky charm.
those wheels options are also pretty terrible looking.
Never mind all the other issues buyers have with EVs, I want to know what Dodge was thinking by taking the model that was loved most by the roaring engine and smokey burnouts crowd and turning that into an EV… It’s like In-n-Out adding a salad to their menu by turning the Double-Double into one.
And doubling the price!
That’s my issue, I can understand the new redesign and changes made sense when EV sales were hot but to double the price and think you will still attract the numbers is insanity.
At those prices the car is automatically more appealing.
you’d really like the way the R/T is glitched down all the way to 17,185 now.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I can’t wait to get one used for $20,000 in 2 years. That being said, we might be there in a year.
You’re not wrong. The car is way more appealing at those low prices. Lets see how they hold up after they get some mileage on them.
It’s a Stellantis vehicle, and one released under the Tavares regime, so…outlook not good.
At the rate they are going you could get a new one for 20K in about month.
Problem is, in order for there to be a used one, someone is going to have to buy a new one. Maybe you’ll be buying a “new” 2024 model for $20k in a couple years though.
I think almost any EV is going to be cheap on the used market in a year or two. Love them or hate them, Telsa has been the flag bearer for EVs for most of their existence.
Recently, the “or hate them” side of owners of Telsa vehicles has really kicked in and they are dumping their vehicles. The result is that Telsa used values are dropping almost as quickly as Tesla stock values.
With Telsa being the most common EV and their values tanking, I believe there will be a resulting drop in values for ALL EVs. I agree that this drop in value won’t be as fast or as severe as what is happening to Telsa vehicles, but that still is a lot of downward pressure on the used EV market due to the trainwreck that is Tesla.
Which sucks for car companies. Leases are going to be hard to push when the residual value is pitiful. But for skinflints, cheapskates and tightwads, I think there is a good opportunity opening up to go with an EV, even if you don’t want a Telsa badge in your driveway.
I argue that it will allow EV demand for other automakers to increase, we’re already seeing GM pull back on incentives for the Equinox and Blazer as they are selling well. Honda sells well and they want to get the Prologue off the lot since they hate it, so that data does get goofy.
I’m not saying that you’re correct, the future for EV’s will be cheap. But, as technology increases and range and motors get better, the price of current EV’s will drop. I’d bet the Hyunda/Kia E-GMP, Porsche, and GM vehicles with 800V architecture will hold value better than the current 400V systems due to charging speed differences. Tesla will bring down the costs of similar vehicles because if you’re comparing values of 400V charging systems in a sedan or CUV body, why would you buy a $20,000 Mach E when a Model Y would go for $15,000?
I mean, a lot of people aren’t going to buy a Model Y because of the trunk load of baggage they come with, but whenever a market is flooded it takes down a few boats with them.
Exactly. If I can get a Model Y for the same price as a Bolt EUV, I would really think about debadging the Model Y and trusting how generic it looks.
I think the demand for NEW EVs from not-Tesla will go up. But on the used market, the value of direct competitors of Tesla vehicles will get sunk down by the values of used Teslas dropping.
I would assume that Telsa will start cutting prices and offering incentives soon to try to boost their new car sales, but I don’t know if this will have a major impact.
In Parkville, MD, there is a Prologue that has been gathering dust for almost a full year. They should be VERY willing to deal on it!
356 days at this dealership
357 days on CarGurus · 3 saves
Maybe not – my boss is replacing his car; he was going to buy a Tesla but now he’s thinking BMW i4 instead.
New, I can understand. That Telsa money is going into Musk’s Pocket.
Used… I can see an argument to getting the Tesla. Sure, the Tesla raises eyebrows in ways the Bimmer doesn’t, but that money is going to some used car dealership’s pocket not Elon.
If it costs 10% more to get a Bimmer used than a Tesla, I can see that. 20%? Harder to see. There is a point where the Bimmer won’t sell with the Tesla being so much cheaper. Don’t know where that is, but it’s there.
And with Telsa values tanking on the used market, it’s going to drive the i4’s values down with it. Maybe not as fast and not even as close to as far, but it will droop in value on the used market.
Quick, what’s the one single word that causes the most anxiety in potential EV buyers? That thing that you’re looking for when the batteries are running low? That electrical filling up battery rejuvenating make it so that your car can be useful again thing. What’s it called? It’s right on the tip of my tongue. You know the thing that you drive around looking for because some wise ass put pretend ones on the map? It’s sort of like a heavy duty extension cord that you plug into your car, but I can’t remember what the name of it is.
I was gonna say “Tesla” but those make you closer to a knob than a cord.
Not an EV driver or owner, but I know math and my driving habits well enough to not be worried about charging.
Take the Ioniq5. I think it’s a decent looking car. If I was getting one, I would shop for the 290 mile range AWD version.
Let’s play road trip with this car. Hope in the car and drive down to 20% charge (230 miles) or over 3 hours.
Stop for 10 minutes for a 350kW charge (exception below).
Drive another 175 miles or 2.5 hours
Stop for another charge.
If I stopped for a charge three times a day, that allows over 800 miles of driving in a day, with only 30 minutes of breaks for charging.
Exception, (The 350kW chargers aren’t as common on the highway in the upper mountain west (Montana, Wyoming, etc). In these areas, you might have to settle for the slower 150kW chargers, the charging time would be more like 20-25 minutes per charge).
Me personally, I’m going to take a 10-20 minute break every 2.5 hours of driving regardless, so the Ioniq5 would road trip with me easily, and the vehicle would likely be more limited by my bladder size than charging times.
I figure that by the time I actually get the money to pull the trigger on a new or new-to-me car, the charging situation will be better than it is now, and it’s already acceptable to me, as long as I get a car that can be fast charged.
Non-Tesla EV owner here who rents an ICE for any trip > 300 miles (one way). I quickly tired of the constant planning for charging stops and the Russian roulette of charger availability. Sure, you can make it work if you want to devote enough effort to it. Agree with your stopping for a break intervals, but often, at least on the trips I have taken, they don’t align with charger availability.
As I said, not an EV owner yet. Just this weekend I had a mini-trip. My wife and I drove 150 miles to a nice hotel, spent a day exploring and drove back. The hotel was new and had 10 chargers, one of which didn’t have a diesel truck parked in front of it, so it was available. Even a Bolt could have done that trip and those trips are much more common than longer trips.
My worse case used to be my wife’s home town. About 175 miles north of Bangor, it wasn’t uncommon for people to drive to the “big city” (Bangor) for a day trip. 175 miles south to Bangor in the morning and then 175 miles back in the evening.
Bangor has a couple 50 and 52kW chargers (CCS and CHAdeMO), but that’s going to be a long wait to put 175 miles of range back on a car for a return trip. And if it’s cold out (shockingly not uncommon there), you might not have the real world range to do the 175 miles comfortably.
But all that changed now that NCAS Superchargers are open to non-Teslas. Bangor has two locations with many 150-250 kW superchargers. They also have 6-150kW superchargers about halfway between the tiny towns in Northern Maine and Bangor, so that you can run the heater on a cold day if you don’t mind having a 15 minute break during your trip.
Not a fluke.
A Barracuda would be a fluke.
Maybe a flounder?
5,838 lbs, 206″ inches long. Whale.
Exactly! 1970 was 55 years ago. Time for some fresh designs.
Bottom of the ninth. The once- dominant Team Dodge is trailing with two outs and desperately needs a hit or their season is finished. Only the most hardcore Dodge fans remain in the stadium. The team finally sends in a new player. The hopeful fans squint down at the field.
Is that an expensive EV? STRIKE!
Does that thing have retro styling?? STRIKE TWO!!
The fans, on the edge of their seats, wait for the third pitch….
It’s…………. a coupe!
For that matter I think the Fiat 500e would sell 4 times as well with 4 doors. Stellantis corporate management leans French, someone should tell them the rest of the world’s caught up with them on that since the ’60s.
I think there is an actual pricing issue on the Deacon Jones vehicles, likely rebates got accidentally doubly applied. It happens, and if they aren’t already trying to fix it as we speak, they’re about to be. We should know for sure in a couple hours time after the inventory updates. Look at some of the other, more mainstream vehicles in their inventory –
Compass for $12k but $27k on the website
Grand Cherokee for $24k but $41k on the website
Ram 1500 Laramie for $35k but $62k on the website
Not to say there isn’t some trickery that might go on, but the discounts are just too steep for it to be an actual game of bait and switch and for it to be worth the dealer’s time fighting for the sale.
Along with the price I think the EV Charger has an identity crisis. To me it screams personal luxury coupe more than muscle car. Since it is a car designed to be both ICE and EV, I’ll stay cautiously optimistic on what happens with this platform.
Agreed. Can they strip out some of the luxury touches to make it closer in price to the previous Charger? How much cheaper is the awkwardly named Six Pack version? Can a turbo I4 be tossed in to make it even more affordable? What about a PHEV or REx option?
Although it usually adds a bit of compromise (especially with the interior) I think in the Charger’s case that kind of flexibility that you mentioned could work given enough time imo.
Most variants of the previous Challenger were also closer to a personal luxury car – a full size 5-passenger coupe with an enormous trunk, thick overstuffed seats, and a boulevard ride. Basically, the regular Hemi V8 and Pentastar V6 models thar made up 98% of sales, but got roughly 1% of the attention
At $60k it’s a dumb purchase. At $30k, I’ll buy one right now, daily it, and build a custom css charger to use it as a full house battery backup.
That C-pillar is very reminiscent of the ’70-’77 Ford Maverick’s.
It’s heralding a new era all right. And not a good one.
There’s $6,500 on the hoods of these, but much of the rest of the discounts here amount to special incentives for which most shoppers won’t qualify, some of which may be contradictory, and the prices don’t include freight (almost $1,600), the ol’ dealer processing fee ($899 for the one listed that’s near me), a dealer-installed option package that’s another $1,600 or so, etc. And if I remember correctly, the tax credit doesn’t apply to cars with an MSRP over $55,000, so unless the hatch qualifies this as an SUV, it’s not eligible if it’s purchased.
Lewin, we love ya and not just because you kinda look like the lead guy from The Chats, but this happens every time y’all post something about colossal discounts. Look into these a little first.
And this advertising bullshit was to have been banned last summer, but dealers managed to stave it off and there’s no way any similar regulations will be imposed for at least another four years, so there’s that.
Even the California truth in pricing law, which did happen, has a carve out for car dealers.
The most egregious new tactic is to post used EVs with the rebate already taken into account. Most dealers doing this at least have disclaimer but it still clutters up the search results with cars that aren’t actually a good deal.
I wonder if it is also affecting KBB values. Book values should be based on transaction price BEFORE and tax incentives.
The Used EV tax credit thing is so annoying, because so few people shopping for a used EV qualify for it. And it can be very, very hard to find it in the small text.
Lol, 500 hornets hanging out for 500+ days on lots across the US. Who would have thought that the Mopar and low credit crowd doesn’t want EV’s or strange crossover hybrids?
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/searchresults.action?sourceContext=carGurusHomePageModel&distance=50000&inventorySearchWidgetType=NEW_CAR&zip=77024&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=d3260&daysOnMarketMin=500&isDeliveryEnabled=false
Nobody wants to buy the Dodge Toenail
All the new Stellantis models are truly awful. It’s incredible.
The oldest Hornet (within 500 miles of Yours Truly) is in Pleasanton, CA, where, apparently, no one at all is interested in the Hornet.
Show price history
CarGurus is useful and fun to play around with.
I disagree that Dodge is in a pickle per se. They just need to refocus it back to being a mainstream brand and ditch the stupid idea that it should just be for ‘performance cars’ or ‘performance vehicles’ or whatever stupid limiting idea FCA/Stellantis currently has for the brand.
And tied in with that refocus is they simply need to stop starving the Dodge and Chrysler brands of new product. And they need to put the Ram trucks back under Dodge.
The new electric Charger is a good start… but it’s just a start. They need to bring out the 4 door version of the new Charger and they need to give the Dodge brand a sporty version of the minivan as well as more CUV options.
And Stellantis needs to stop the stupid naming practices that are going on and that FCA and Chrysler did for years… Such as calling it the Dodge Intrepid in the US but the Chrysler Intrepid in Canada.
Or the Dodge Neon in the US but the Chrysler SX 2.0 in Canada
Or the “Chrysler Grand Caravan” in Canada but the “Chrysler Voyager” in the USA.
FFS… please have some idea of make/model integrity. Shit like this tells me their marketing people don’t know what the fuck they are doing.
“ Typically, a brand-new performance or enthusiast model will sell far above sticker price when it first hits the market, due to high demand and constricted supply”
Yeah but not when the MSRP starts out well into fantasyland territory.
Wow, for 30K asking, you can almost…. ALMOST talk me into becoming an e-Mopar bro.
Like at that point they are absolutely losing their ass on the sale and I might pity them enough to let myself be upsold for free-range, organic nitrogen tire gas. Or a singular BS fee.