The all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept is louder and faster than a V8 muscle car

Rather big moment for the muscle car this. Those images up above are of the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept. It “drives like a Dodge, looks like a Dodge and sounds like Dodge” says erm... Dodge. However, it also just happens to be fully electric.

Yep, this is the Americans finally electrifying the muscle car. Has anyone checked the weather in hell recently? We’ve heard it’s experiencing an unseasonal cold snap...

Anyway, back to the Daytona SRT. Looks mean, doesn’t it? It’s a throwback to the two-door Chargers of old and features a dramatic front wing to retain the classic muscle car stout front end while greatly improving its aerodynamic properties. Should help eke out some extra range for at least one more quarter-mile run.

Elsewhere the exterior gets a couple of throwbacks to the ’68 Charger (see the vertical detailing on the front grille) plus there are full-width lightbars front and rear, brilliantly titled Greys of Thunder paint and 21-inch diamond-cut wheels. Oh, and if you’re wondering what the illuminated badges are, they’re three-pointed Fratzogs that were originally deployed on Dodge muscle cars between 1962 and 1976, but are now back for its new electrified era. Great word, Fratzog.

And yes, we did let slip earlier that this Daytona SRT sounds like a Dodge. That’s thanks to something called a 'Fratzonic chambered exhaust' that pumps out 126 decibels of computer-generated V8-style sound. Dodge reckons this makes the EV as loud as a 717bhp supercharged Charger SRT Hellcat.

We’ve no real technical details on the concept yet, but Dodge assures us that it’ll be faster than the aforementioned Hellcat “in all key performance measures” thanks to four-wheel drive, an 800V ‘Banshee’ electric powertrain and a push-to-pass boost button. The name is no coincidence either – the original Charger Daytona was the first car to break the 200mph mark on a NASCAR track in 1970, so this new one will certainly pack a punch.

There’s more fakery/driving involvement (delete as you see appropriate) in the form of an ‘eRupt’ transmission that requires you to ‘change gear’ at certain predefined shift points, the result being ‘gearchanges’ capable of “throwing shoulders into seatbacks in true Dodge style”. Brilliant or gimmicky, at least we know electric muscle cars won’t be boring.

Based on this evidence, they might even get pleasant interiors too. The Daytona SRT Concept angles everything towards the driver and uses a curved 16-inch digital dial display combined with a 12.3-inch infotainment screen. How very modern. There’s exposed carbon fibre too, plus a ‘parametric texture’ feature that mimics the detail on the front grille and runs across both the doors and the dash.

Up above there’s a fancy panoramic glass roof and out back the giant hatch opens up to make this a properly practical muscle car. Check it out – the lightweight racing seats in the rear even fold fully flat to give more storage space than in any Dodge muscle car that has gone before. 

So, what do we think of Dodge’s effort folks? Would an all-electric Charger Daytona SRT production car be able to tempt the diehard muscle car fans from their V8s?