If you’ve been waiting for Dodge’s electric muscle car to drop, great news! Order books for the new Dodge Charger Daytona are officially open, which means we should see them roll onto dealer lots soon. However, when the new Charger hits the streets, expect in-stock examples to be thin on the ground to say the least.
Oh, and I’m not just talking about how a mere handful of launch specs exist for the new Charger, with several configurations including low-option cars and the excellent shade of blue known as Bludicrous not happening until later. No, I’m talking about allocations, the biggest buzzword in new car sales since markup.
See, a quick perusal of Dodge’s Horsepower Locator tool shows that most dealerships nationwide only have one or two pre-configured allocations for the electric Charger. Basically, 1,137 people will be able to buy one right off the lot first, while everyone else will simply have to wait for their order to come in. So, is the ramp-up expected to be that slow, or is something holding Stellantis back? While we can’t be certain of lead times, here’s what we know.
Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram dealerships are absolutely pissed off at Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares for making some drastic moves that have allegedly affected market share, to the point of penning a letter. As it turns out, Bloomberg saw the letter, and here’s a bit of text from the Bloomberg piece that Matt previously included in an edition of The Morning Dump:
Retailers accused Tavares of “short-term decision making” that boosted profits last year and padded the CEO’s compensation. The moves ended up shrinking the company’s market share and hurting the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler brands, the national dealer council said in an open to Tavares dated Sept. 10.
[…]
“For over two years now, the US Stellantis National Dealer Council has been sounding this alarm to your US executive team, warning them that the course you had set for Stellantis was going to be a disaster in the long run,” the group said in the letter. “A disaster not just for us, but for everyone involved — and now that disaster has arrived.”
As it stands, Stellantis stores are absolutely overflowing with inventory, which means that making space for electric liftbacks could be challenging. After all, Dodge’s inventory search tool shows that if you want a 2023 model-year Charger, you have 4,756 to choose from across the nation. Want a Challenger because you’re a coupe fan? No worries, 4,106 of those 2023 models remain for sale on dealership lots.
In fact, they should be sticking around for quite a while, since the analysts at Cox Automotive reported that Dodge had a 131-day supply of inventory at the end of July. In simpler terms, Dodge might not run out of combustion-powered Challengers and Chargers until December, and given that every batch of cars contains a few stragglers, there’s a non-zero chance someone might take home a brand new 2023 Charger or Challenger in 2025.
Then there’s the ramp-up timeline of Charger models from Chrysler’s Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Yes, this plant has an unfortunate acronym, but try not to mind that for now. Production of electric two-door Charger Daytona models in a limited set of launch specifications has already kicked off, but four-door electric Charger Daytona models aren’t expected to arrive until early 2025. As for combustion-powered Charger models, they won’t start shipping until the middle of next year, and considering that EVs don’t exactly go hand-in-hand with Dodge’s messaging over the past few years, we’re still nearly a year off from the cash cow of the lineup shipping.
If the idea of an enormous, practical electric two-door liftback coupe appeals to you, and I can totally see why it would, you might want to reserve a pre-configured unit right now. Sure, the basic R/T trim might start at an expensive $61,590 including freight, with the 670-horsepower Scat Pack model rising to $75,185, but there really is nothing quite like it on the market.
(Photo credits: Dodge)
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I’m not really gonna trust Stellantis on their models they had time to work the kinks out of. No matter the price you can absolutely miss me with Dodge’s first EVs.
Can’t speak for most, but we were called yesterday by our Stellantis rep, who told us we were allocated one car: A silver Scat pack with an 86,000 sticker. We turned it down.
On another note, as of right now, this advertisement of “starting at $59K” is a load of bullshit.
I built one as a sold order, and no matter what I do the system FORCES me to pick the $4995 plus package, as well as the sun and sound package for $2495. Also, any color other than black or white is another EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS.
So, the cheapest Im able to build an R/T is currently SIXTY. NINE. GRAND.
Unless they unlock a few other options in the near future, these cars are Dead on Arrival.
Good intel. Thank you.
Apparently too late to edit this, but I need to add that this may be limiting me to ordering only a “First Call” Charger, which comes equipped this way.
This would explain the forced options when I did my build, I just didn’t see any specific package for the First Call, which is what they normally do. Apologies for the potential misinformation, folks!
Wonder if this is because they know dealers are going to have a hard time selling them anyway, but could probably sell one or two each, thus when they do sell them Stellantis can say ‘omg there’s such crazy demand we sold out!’
And all I can see in my head is Jon Lovitz as Tavares saying “Yeah, that’s the ticket.”
Isn’t this basically just a compliance car for them at this point? They don’t have any other EVs (not counting the fiat 500E no one is buying). I assume they were forced to release this first and are just trying to get a few of them out there to satisfy the regulators.
It isn’t just compliance, Stellantis is making a major shift to EVs (while other automakers are scaling back on their plans)
We actually visited a Stellantis dealership. I feel sorry for all the employees. The Wrangler 4xe we looked at was ridiculously expensive at $72k and that was before I read about the 4xe issues, the lack of repair solutions at dealerships and the corrosion problems. We bought a used, manual, ICE car for less than half the price. 2022 Civic Si. My wife and I love it. it can get 49mpg if you hypermile it but even when driven hard still gets 34mpg. I’m 48 and not interested in most vehicles past the mid 2000’s. I guess I’ll chill on my porch rocker with my Bartles & James and comment on the weather now.
And thank you for your support.
I find it a bit specious that you went looking at a 4xe and ended up with a Civic.
“I find it a bit specious that you went looking at a 4xe and ended up with a Civic.”
Or maybe what is truly specious are people’s claims that they “need” a vehicle with 4wd/AWD.
We also visited one recently when comparing new suv’s. The sales folks looked bored, the lot was crammed, and no one seemed happy to be there. The missus wanted to drive a Grand Cherokee and I’ll admit it rode fantastic but I sure am glad we went with the Honda.
And they have already recalled it because of that great stellantis quality. /s
They call it “allocation”. I call it “all the market can absorb”.
Risky move to release the EV first. By the time the ICE Charger reaches dealer lots next year, Stellantis could have alienated Average Joe consumer looking for a new ICE Charger only to learn they only exist as a boutique EV full of gimmicks. Would those same erstwhile customers pay attention or even care once the ICE Chargers arrives much later?
Add the likely ridiculous ADM Dodge dealers are likely to place on their precious few Charger EV examples and there will be plenty of them still collecting dust once the ICE Charger arrives.
The whole launch is being bungled, badly, in typical FCA/Stellantis fashion. Frankly, there was no reason to even discontinue the previous models before the new ones was ready, given that they’re being built in a different plant. I know Tavares decreed no more buying CAFE credits, but that decree shouldn’t come at the expense of the business’ viability (and might have been minimized anyway by adjusting the production mix of V6 and V8 models)
I’d love to see the Stellantis market research that says their customers that will spend this kind of money on a Dodge that doesn’t have a V-8.
Not so much the V-8, but how obnoxious the “muffler” can be with the V-8.
The styling looks like a mid cycle refresh of the current cars. You would think with an all new platform they could have done something more exciting.
I’d much rather have an ioniq 5 N for far less money.
The slow trickle means they’ll be able to sell at LEAST 3 Hornets before having to make space on the lots.
I think you’re asking too much of them, honestly. 1 Hornet per month per dealer is already an aggressive target if we’re honest.
Wake me when they release one with a V8.
Make a convertible. Then I’ll buy one.
Used. In ten years.
That’s a trick answer since we know they won’t last for 10 years.
CWAP is a bad acronym? I suppose it is for Elmer Fudd. Maybe CWAPiWOC is the bad word.
I need to catch up on my cultural references.
Or Barrwe from BBT?
Ben Shapiro would never approve.
Think of it like you’re Elmer Fudd.
I think it’s WAP. If you don’t know, just google it and prepare for some urban knowledge droppage. BTW, how square is this group if I’m the one who gets it. I’m one step above DT in getting pop references.
WAP it is. My favorite.
I had to look it up, now I see the username in relation to the acronym checks out.
You’re obviously not a Gilbert Gottfried fan.
They’ll still sit when they get here. This is a half baked, hilariously overpriced product that like 6 or 7 people will be interested in. I genuinely have no idea who would want one of these outside of a small snippet of the influencer crowd and a handful of electri-curious Boomers who $70,000 means nothing to.
They really screwed this up launching the BEVs before the straight 6 cars. It’s going to slow down what little momentum they had. I think it may regain some hype if the straight 6 cars wind up being really good but let’s be real here…this is Stellantis we’re talking about and the launch of that Hurricane 6 has been rough to put it lightly.
I think it might have a high take rate in the “let’s do stupid stuff to destroy an expensive auto” segment of YouTok.
They do need something new now that the Cybertruck has been played out.
I know it’s not the case but it’d be really funny to me if that i6 was 2 puretech 3 cylinders put together.
I thought similar about the Cybertruck, especially since they’re only available in the low six figures, yet they’re selling well. But Tesla has a cult following that even peak Mopar couldn’t match, so it’s not a fair comparison.
Dozens of people can’t wait that long!
Let me know when the order books for a non-turbo RWD I6 Charger open (I’m expecting never, but that’s really the only configuration of this platform I’d ever be remotely interested in)