Why no Charger?

By
eric
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96
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It was supposed to be on sale by now. The Charger that needs to be charged. The device that is supposed to replace the Charger that didn’t need a charge, because it had an engine to keep it going.

Dodge stopped selling the latter at the end of last year – which is now almost seven months ago. Why isn’t the Charger that needs a charge available yet?

Dodge has very little else that’s available right now. Just the Durango and the Hornet – the latter a small crossover, which is the kind of vehicle every other brand already sells. Dodge used to sell the kinds of vehicles no one else sold – at least not for the money. If you wanted a large, rear-wheel-drive car that had a V8 engine up front (or even a V6 engine, for that matter) and didn’t have $90,000-plus to spend, Dodge was the only brand in town. Because only Dodge sold vehicles like the Charger and Challenger.

Now, they’re both gone and that’s got to be putting the squeeze on Dodge dealers, who have very little (literally) to offer and one of the two offerings isn’t the type of vehicle that Dodge buyers want. Not because there’s anything wrong with the Hornet, per se. Just as there’s nothing wrong with a salad, per se.

The difficulty lies in selling salads to people who go to McDonald’s because that’s where you go to get a Big Mac – not a salad.

The same difficulty faces the device called Charger that was supposed to be available by now – and realization of that may explain why the Charger device is not yet available.

Dodge hoped people would accept a device if it looked like a Charger. If it sounded like one (even if the sounds were recordings of what a Charger used to sound like). That was probably the plan. But – as Mike Tyson put it – everyone has a plan  . . . until they get punched in the face.

Battery powered devices have been punched in the face – and it is upsetting the plan.

Sales of devices are crashing because word has gotten out about what comes along for the ride when you buy a device. It is word of a piece with the word that got out about what happens when you take a drug sold as a “vaccine.” They said you wouldn’t get sick. They didn’t say you might get heart problems or Bell’s Palsy or some other hideous affliction you would not have got if you hadn’t been “vaccinated.” And meanwhile, you’ll still get sick. Just ask Joe Biden – who has reportedly been “vaccinated” at least three times and just got sick, again.

Well, they didn’t tell people about how long they’d have to wait to get a charge. Nor that they might not be able to get one, due to the erratic reliability of public “fast” chargers. People weren’t told they couldn’t pay cash – and would have to accept an app that required them to carry around a tracking device (i.e., their “smart” phone) to pay for a charge.

Assuming the charger was working.

Nothing like spending a half an hour (or longer) at a Sheetz. Or having to spend your life planning around such waits.

People now know all about it – and many want no part of it. And that’s not all of it. They also know about the resale value of devices, which plummets as quickly as the range does when it’s cold outside only it can’t be recovered. Once the battery starts to weaken, the only way to restore it is to replace it – at a cost that amounts to a third what the device is worth. It’s akin to buying into a timeshare – and just as most of the people who did want out, about 40 percent of the people who bought into a device also want out.

They aren’t going to buy another, at any rate.

Dodge no doubt realizes there is a very good possibility that if they bring out the device that was meant to replace the Charger, it won’t sell and if that happens, Dodge may not survive. That’s why Dodge may wait until it has ready what wasn’t supposed to be available initially.

That being a Charger with an engine.

It won’t be a V8, but it will still be an engine; Dodge’s new “Hurricane” in-line six, paired up with a plug-in hybrid set-up which has the great virtue of not having to be plugged in. It can just be driven until it runs low on charge – and then you can add some gas without having to wait at Sheetz for 30 minutes. The engine powers the wheels and recharges the battery, as you drive. The powers-that-be, of course, do not look favorably upon such vehicles precisely because they get around everything that devices are meant to impose.

This kind of Charger might just sell.

And that may explain why the device that won’t hasn’t been shipped to dealers yet. Maybe it will be – after the Charger you can just drive has been shipped. So that it’s not a flop and, just maybe, there’s enough of a coat-tail effect to drag along a few devices.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. Where’s the Charger?
  2. All Hope is Not Lost!
  3. How to Make Something Pretty Ugly
  4. The Gay “Muscle Car”
  5. Mercedes Reconsiders

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96 COMMENTS

  1. You can’t build a company around v8s for 20 years, attract that kind of customer and then drop it abruptly and expect to retain any customers. A 6 cylinder is a soy burger replacement and most will not be fooled.

  4. The government has spent a lot of our tax dollars on this EV stuff. On one hand I think it’s better than just giving the money to Ukraine or Israel, but still wasteful spending. I’m thinking the only way to claw some of this back is to buy an EV while prices are down and the tax rebates are still flowing.

  8. A hybrid is just a Rube Goldberg device that is far more expensive when it breaks. A friend has a Prius that needed a $4K brake booster module exclusive to regen hybrids. There goes yer gas savings. One has to be incredibly stupid to think CO2 gas effects Earth climate. Like around a 9th grade dropout.

    • Nice one Abe, my brother and I used to say that about GM’s last big block the 8.1L, that we bought many used for super cheap cause they got 12mpg downhill.
      We saved $10K’s which bought more gas x4 than we needed.

      • Word. I bought a Mercedes with a V8 for dirt cheap. Even though a short stroke with not a lot of grunt, it is smooth and quiet.

  9. I wonder if the new Charger will come with a charge port capable of charging other EVs. That would be a great gimmick.

    • I’ve got my eye on an older 300 SRT8 with the 6.1. Pretty beat up, but I think I can fix her up.
      The only thing that keeping me from asking if it’s for sale is the older design used the 5sp which was not nearly as good as the current 8sp.
      Of course I’d love to land the tribute car, 2023 300C w/6.4. Haven’t seen any for sale.

  12. Dodge, Ford and everyone except Tesla are failing as they are 1. late to the party for design. they were all asleep when Tesla was reshaping the way to run a car company. 2.burdened with unions that stifle development. They can’t afford it. Ford is the best example of this. 3. They also lacked the foresight to collectively make a charging network like Tesla that spans every highway and area in the entire U.S. so charging any non-Tesla is a nightmare. Oh and all number being equal EV’s catch fire stastically far less than Gas cars. Look it up.

    • Well, Tesla is hardly a good example of how to run a car company. Their charging network is really bad as well, which means that charging Teslas is also a nightmare, due to the chargers being ludicrously slow and none of them being fast chargers.

      • Incorrect. You are seriously either un-educated on the topic or just daft. ALL Tesla superchargers are FAST chargers. (150kW – 250kW) Did you somehow miss that? I suppose you have a Tesla and can speak to this directly? I have two. It takes ~20 minutes or less to charge (a Tesla) at a Supercharger. This is mitigated by most by charging at home while you sleep. Their cars have 300+ mile ranges.. That is considerably more than most people drive in a single day. But when you do have to stop at a supercharger, the car will auto-add navigate and recommend the stop to charge if needed. the car will even tell you if stalls are available for you to use or if it’s full so you can choose another one if needed. I personally have never had a single problem at any Superchargers. they just work. No credit card needed or any of that nonsense. Pull up, plug in, surf the internet, watch You-tube in the car or grab a snack then leave. done.
        P.S. wanna race?

        • ALL Tesla superchargers are FAST chargers. (150kW – 250kW) Did you somehow miss that?

          If you actually look at the charging speed of those so-called “superchargers”, you will see that they are not fast at all.

          Case in point:

          It takes ~20 minutes or less to charge (a Tesla) at a Supercharger.

          20 minutes (!!!) is not fast at all, in fact it is ridiculously slow. Curiously, you failed to mention that in 20 minutes you’ll only get a partial charge.

          This is mitigated by most by charging at home while you sleep.

          What is it that is mitigated? Maybe it is the slow charging speed that you won’t admit to? No, that can’t be, because it wouldn’t make sense to mitigate a slow charging speed by using an even slower charger, so it must be something else. And since charging speed is not affected by whether people are asleep or not, it can’t be that either.

          So apparently there is nothing mitigating about people charging at home while they sleep after all.

          You are seriously either un-educated on the topic or just daft.

          Pot, meet kettle.

          • dude… give up. Now I know you are an dolt.
            20 minutes or less to charge a 70+KWh battery is FAST.
            None are faster. Level 1 and 2 chargers are slow.
            We are comparing EV chargers not filling up a gas tank.
            Mitigation means most don’t need to even stop as they have enough miles each and every day because they charged at night while sleeping. (at ~11 cents a KWh which means to go from qtr tank to full is like 5 bucks \ how much is it to fill your GAS tank?) So, we wake up with a full tank EVERY DAY. I have not been to a gas station in years. Partial charge is also incorrect. Most charge to 80% in less time but you CAN charge to 100% if you so desire.

            Hey you can spell ‘Kettle’
            You are a dolt sir. And blinded by your hate to see facts. …and so you don’t own a Tesla? why would anyone who wants 1st hand knowledge even listen to your drivel. you must be a liberal.
            GO TRUMP!

            • dude… give up. Now I know you are an dolt.

              No, you’re just out of arguments.

              20 minutes or less to charge a 70+KWh battery is FAST.

              No, it’s really slow. If it were fast, it wouldn’t have taken more than 5 minutes from 0-100 % capacity, but since it’s slow, that’s not possible.

              None are faster.

              That’s because fast chargers don’t exist.

              Level 1 and 2 chargers are slow.

              Level 1 and 2 chargers are even slower, but that doesn’t make level 3 chargers fast, just less slow.

              We are comparing EV chargers not filling up a gas tank.

              Or in other words, EVs need “special considerations” because they’re “different”. This need for this double standard is in itself a tacit admission of that which you refuse to admit outright, which is that EV charging is slow.

              Mitigation means most don’t need to even stop as they have enough miles each and every day because they charged at night while sleeping. […] So, we wake up with a full tank EVERY DAY.

              All this means is that instead of waiting 20 minutes for a partial charge, people instead choose to wait 8 hours for a full charge. There’s nothing mitigating about increasing the charging time to compensate for the abysmal charging performance of a level 3 charger.

              • Stufo – crack a book. or maybe actually look up things before you speak. I won’t waste any more keys on you. try Google … then speak.

                • Your decision not to “waste any more keys” on me is a very welcome one, especially since it seems you’ve become somewhat unhinged now that you’ve run out of arguments, and your face-saving gesture of desperately trying to project your own ignorance onto me isn’t working.

                  • Google? Really? Please. As in Google CIA/NSA, or whatever the hell government alphabet soup agency they are connected to? Please….

        • Hi Gomer,

          I’ll race you in my ’02 Nissan Frontier, four cylinder (147 hp) five speed manual… from my place in SW Virginia to New York City. I’ll get there hours ahead of you.

          “Fast”? You mean less slow than other forms of charging. But 20 minutes is still easily five times longer than it takes to fully refuel my truck. Not to 80 percent full. All the way full.

          If you don’t mind the inconvenience – or the cost – I suppose an EV has some appeal, to people who like cars with all the personality of a robot girlfriend.

          PS: I notice you have a “dot.gov” email address. Figures!

          • PS: I notice you have a “dot.gov” email address. Figures!

            Interesting… I guess the question is whether he is paid by the government to dump his condescending pro-EV boilerplate here on EPautos, or if he’s just an EV fanboi who happens to work for the government.

            cars with all the personality of a robot girlfriend

            Makes me think of this 1981 ELO song: “Yours Truly, 2095”

          • To me cars are about speed and performance, otherwise they are just cars. anyone can have transportation. I have no desire to drive to New York. you know Cathy Hochul is the Gov there right? I have owned fast gas cars and they don’t come close. plus if you have just driven 300 miles and need to stop, 20 min is no big deal to stretch your legs. I get your comment that to some it’s not worth the inconvenience. My initial response was at the failure of U.S. auto makers and specifically Not Tesla. You all realize Tesla now has a larger market cap than ALL other U.S. automakers put together. their margins are also considerably higher. I have had my oldest Tesla now for over 5 years… I have never had any inconvenience. at least in my opinion.

            • Hi Gomer,

              EV performance is generic. Quick but homogeneous. I have test driven most of them and there is very little difference, other than the fake sounds these devices emit. You push the pedal and it goes – very quickly. It gets old, quickly. Tesla had an advantage – at first – because its EVs were very quick. The problem – for Tesla – is that there are now many other EVs that are just as quick. So what makes a Tesla different? And the same as regards the others?

              They’re all fundamentally the same.

              As far as Tesla’s market cap: Yes, that’s true. But – again – it is based on government creating a “market” for these devices.

            • “20 min is no big deal to stretch your legs.”

              You must live in CA or TX or FL. Twenty minutes in the dead of winter waiting for a car to charge is a fucking eternity. I hate waiting three minutes pumping gas. I’m not sitting in my car for twenty+ minutes surfing the net or watching youtube while freezing my ass off. Or does the car heater continue to run while charging? Does the ev have to be totally off when charging. Nobody ever answers these simple logistical questions.

              • Hi Pug,

                EV apologists say “20 min is no big deal to stretch your legs.” Would anyone make excuses for a car (as opposed to a device) that forced you to wait 20 minutes to fuel it? To not even fuel it completely? Of course not. There’s a weird aspect of making excuses for abuse when it comes to EVs. You pay thousands more to get less range and spend more time waiting to get going again. It’s sick. No one would make excuses for a “fast” food place that made you wait for 20 minutes to get a hamburger that you used to be able to get in 5 minutes – that also cost less than the “20 minute” burger.

                • It’s the usual cognitive dissonance we see from EV apologists. Charging an EV, we’re told, is supposed to be fast, yet when it turns out that it isn’t, then all of a sudden, waiting for the charger is “no big deal”. And yet somehow, it’s big enough of a deal that the EV apologist preemptively feels the need to propose ways to kill time during the downtime that’s supposedly no big deal (hence “stretch your legs” and “surf the internet, watch You-tube in the car or grab a snack”). It all tells us that deep down, the EV apologist knows that he’s lying, even to himself.

                  • Well-said, Stufo –

                    I wish they’d just say something along the lines of: I like EVs just because I like them and am willing to accept their limitations because I like them – just the same as I accept the limitations of my old muscle car, which I keep just because I like it.

        • Battery powered cars are only good for suburban commuters with garages to drive to work and back. What huge % of people have no access to parking where there’s ANY electricity at all, let alone a level 1 car charger? Who wants to wait around 20 – 30 minutes (at absolute best) to charge a vehicle? Seriously? When every rich yahoo with a private jet emits 4⅓ months worth of an average American’s car emissions in a single 45 minute flight to catch a ballgame? The FACT is that if electric cars were so great )they’re not), governments wouldn’t need to be shoving them down everyone’s throats. I don’t recall government forcing smartphones on people, yet almost overnight everybody got one.

          • “I don’t recall government forcing smartphones on people…”

            Not yet. But eventually, they WILL be “required” to function in society. Cash will be “too dirty”, and anonymity will be considered a “threat” to “national security”.

          • There is no way in hell if I was forced to own an EV, that I would keep it in my garage. I would not dare risk it catching fire and burning my house down.

    • Hi Gomer,

      Tesla is the textbook case of a crony capitalist/rent-seeking scam. Take away the carbon credits and stock valuation based upon the assumption of government subsidies and mandates for EVs and the whole thing implodes. Even without those perks, it’s imploding. Tesla sales are stumbling badly because the “market” for EVs is saturated and because people are shying away from these devices, for all the reasons I’ve already laid out.

      • scam? really? I’ll just part with this:
        The highest selling car model worldwide in 2023 was the Tesla Model Y.

        Don’t believe it… look it up. the MSM tries to hide this since Musk took over X.

        • P.S. Tesla delivered 830,766 vehicles in the first half of 2024.
          ‘Delivered’
          So when the media is telling you… gee no one wants EV’s anymore. They are trying the bacon of Ford, Dodge \ Stellantis etc. Tesla is destroying these companies and putting a huge dent in their ‘GAS’ sales even. spend some time and RESEARCH and get out of your echo chambers.

          • Any success in the EV domain is purely due to government interference in the market. Free markets kill off inferior products, mimicking nature’s natural selection process.

        • Gomer,

          Tesla used the carbon credits scam to effectively force other automakers to finance his EVs. These EVs would have even less “market” than they do if the massive subsidies to buyers were removed.

        • Do NOT Buy A Tesla

          Needs new tires every 5000 miles..costs $2000…..he has replaced the tires 5 times….$10,000 gone…EV’s really save money….lol

          Paid $139,000 for the car…after only 18 months Tesla offered him $62,000 trade in value on a new car….

          but….he stills owes $100,000 on the car…..if he gets in an accident the insurance company only pays out $62,000…so he still owes $38,000…a loss….he has no gap insurance….

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRt3d7C3I4&pp=ygUSZXYgb3duZXIgbmlnaHRtYXJl

    • You can lead a bull to the whatchamacallit, but can’t make him stampede.

      Ad hominems sind Verboten!

      It has to be four-wheel drive and an ICE engine in the vehicle.

      Weather during the winter months can be brutal, not hard to understand why having an ICE vehicle to be the first and only choice. Facts don’t budge.

  13. Stellantis messed this up bad, and Ram too with their discontinuing of the Hemi.
    We all know why, and none of us like it.
    We all have to sell shit to live, whether you like it or not.
    What I think happened is this:
    For 2023 Ram’s, you could not get just-the-Hemi. It had to be the Hemi-with-stupid-Etorque-thing. That no one wanted. Sales plummeted. Ram said ‘ohh-shit’ and scrambled to get the newer Hurricane I6TT into the Ram as-fast-as-possible but then I6TT production wasn’t ready either. Had to move all shit up, and that ain’t easy. And why the NEW 2025 Ram with I6TT came out a couple months ago. But you still don’t see many on dealers lots yet.
    Now for the Charger, same thing, just E-version vs I6TT. They said ohh-shit, and realized that they had to get the I6TT in it NOW, but again, were not ready. But the biggest question still remains……….will the new charger sell with the I6TT…….. I have my doubts that most will just keep their V8’s and shun these, at least for a while.
    IMO, if they want to sell something now, get the old V6 in the Charger now, but only without the stupid-Etorque-thing, or forgetta-bout-it………..
    Stellantis is in trouble IMO. And they did it to themselves by buying into the BS coming out of our Gov.

    • Sorry, messed up, you could get just the Hemi in 2023, it was 2024 that it had to come with stupid mild hyrbrid generator thing they called etorque. That’s when sales nosedived, adn for interest rate reasons too, but they nosedived more than the other trucks, while before they were gaining on the others.

  14. CarGurus has 309 Dodge Chargers for sale on dealership lots. A Colorado zip code to find what is there is what I used. You can do some extrapolation and get a good guess.

    Stellantis probably knows there is a known amount of Chargers and Challengers for sale on used car lots. Could be a rather hefty number of them out there, plenty to choose from, anyhow.

    They must be aware of what the skinny is.

  15. Between the Charger, Challenger and 300, Dodge is losing what, 4 and a half billion dollars in sales a year? It’s already over for Dodge. Interesting to note the new device supposedly replacing the Charger weighs 1,300 lbs heavier than the Hellcat and has to cost 100,000 dollars vs. the Charger base price of 28,000. So really, how many do you think they’ll sell if it does come out? I knew this was going to happen and have said so publicly since they announced it. And what are the police going to do? Drive 100,000 dollar SUV’s????

    • well said Daniel, yup, they sold roughly 100K of the triplets per year forever, and likely at a massive profit margin relative because they were practically the same car for a long time. One major running gear overhaul, and a few aesthetic, e-gadget updates.
      So sad.

  16. I spend a lot of time in the forest. I walked pass a For Lightning plugged in at the dealership. I kept walking. Thinking yeaaaaaa, no.

  17. I am of the opinion that all of these car manufacturers have dug their own graves by complying instead of pushing back on burdensome government regulations. A group of fishermen took down the regulatory apparatus, imagine if the auto industry would have done the same years ago. They wouldn’t be in this mess.

    I say let them burn and watch what springs to life from the ashes. A startup could call their V8 powered monster the “Phoenix”.

    • I agree, although I fear that once the quisling automakers are gone, what we will be left with will just be Chinese (and hence low quality) cars.

    • The reason for the car companies apparent suicidal strategy becomes clear if you realize that they and all the other corporations are owned by the same big money, and are simply a part of a portfolio. The big money doesn’t care if it loses in one place, if the loss can be made up elsewhere.

  19. I wonder if Stellarius will ever bring back the discontinued Challenger and Charger as time goes on.

    With Orange Man looking stronger than ever between Pedo Peter croaking and Heels up polling lower than Pedo was, plus their plan to swap her with Cankles and either Big Mike or Limp Wrist himself not gonna work, this EV movement will be staked in the heart

    Im a dreamer, can only hope thats the case

  20. ‘Why isn’t the Charger that needs a charge available yet?’ — eric

    Because ‘glitches’:

    ‘MoparInsiders says that the preliminary rollout of the electric muscle car has been delayed by 90 days to “address several electrical issues that have surfaced during testing” before the car hits dealerships later this year.

    ‘Engineers were reportedly locked out of the Charger’s rear hatch, requiring them to access the cargo area from inside the cabin. Subsequently, prototypes of the muscle car have been observed with cords visible from the boot area, likely enabling test drivers to manually open the power hatch in case of a similar issue.’

    https://tinyurl.com/4zv9ed8n

    They tried to stuff ‘Joe Biden,’ rolled up in a carpet, into the back of a Charger. Then they couldn’t open the frickin’ lid. Annoying! Also nerve-racking, with Secret Service guns pulled on them. :-0

    • Hi Jim,

      I suspected that might be part of it. Also, this business of “electric muscle car”… . No such thing. It’s like calling a man with a dick a “woman.” Or – more accurately – a woman without a dick a “man.” The electric Charger may be a performance car. So is a Tesla S. But a muscle car must have an engine and that engine must be a V8, or it ain’t.

      • It doesn’t need a V-8. I supercharged my Pentastar 2018 Dodge Charger and it gets 600 hp and it also gets 41 mpg on the Interstate. And the engine was so well built, it doesn’t break a sweat doing it.

        • Hi Daniel,

          Maybe. But muscle cars have always had V8s; if a car didn’t, it may have been a great performance car. But it’s still not a muscle car. To make the point, consider the BMW M3 or M5. Incredible performers. But no one thinks of either a muscle car. A muscle car is something along the lines of a ’60s or early ’70s GTO or Chevy Chevell or an original Dodge Charger.

          With a V8, of course!

        • Pentastar is pretty sweet. I enjoy the hell out of the one in my Caravan. But for good clean fun, nothing beats the lumpety lump of my modestly cammed LA 360 in my 2900 lb street rod. And I can see and work on every part of it.

    • “Address several electrical issues that have surfaced during testing”, Oh really, you mean like if the lithium-ion batteries might just blow up your $80,000 car or burn your house down. We don’t want LIthium Ion cars. Insurance is costly, repairs are far too costly and the risk of having our home burn down just doesn’t give us the incentive to risk it all for a car whose total cost to drive is far above that of a gas powered car.

    • Because ‘glitches’

      Yet somehow, the disastrously bad charging performance of the new Charger apparently is not seen as a blocker, hence once the Charger dEVice is launched it will take a very long time to charge.

      Someone should be fired for this.

  21. There’s a guy nearby that has a golf cart painted as the General Lee. I’m gonna yank his chain and gall it the 2025 Dodge Charger. Good ol’ boy humor…

  22. Here is a first…

    An EV designed as an EV only …that will have an ice engine installed in it, because nobody…except a very small number of young people ……want to buy EV’s

    The new Fiat 500 Ibida…which is supposed to be…designed to be…. an EV only….. will be sold as an ice car only…..using the old Fiat 500 ice power train…..otherwise the sales would be near zero…..

    They can’t just keep selling the old ice powered Fiat 500 ….it doesn’t have all the surveillance tech built into it…… so is….. or will be……. illegal to sell….the EV version of the old Fiat 500….same problem….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nYHfgMqzkM

    The car manufacturers are screwed….they will have to retrofit all their EV’s with ice engines or they will have near zero sales…..this is the funniest thing to ever happen in the car world….

    People are catching on….the old ice powered cars worked and were reliable…

    the new EV’s are very inconvenient, very defective, very unreliable, highly dangerous, very expensive and depreciate to zero in no time….they do not work…period…

  23. I’ve never seen ads for their Ram pickup hybrid either. Why don’t they advertise hybrids? They should fire their ad chief and ad firm.

      • Gas cars can also burn your house down and statically at a higher rate given an equal number of cars for comparison. Look it up. lastly, dodge, Ford and everyone except Tesla are failing as they are 1. late to the party for design. 2.burdened with unions that stifle development. 3. also lacked the foresight to make a charging network like tesla that spans every highway and area in the entire U.S.

        • When the automobile first hit the scene, did auto manufacturers need to build gas stations? How about the government? No? Why is that?

          Was it perhaps because there was a large market demand for gasoline delivery methods due to the popularity of the new horseless carriages?

          Seems to me, if there was a sufficient enough market demand for EVs, it would make sense for smart entrepreneurs to build more charging stations for profit. Its almost as if the whole EV house of cards is being artificially propped up somehow.

          Shut off the government spigot and the whole enterprise topples. Guaranteed.

  24. At this point in the economic cycle I suspect the only vehicles that will sell well will be reasonably priced and practical vehicles like the Maverick. Based on rising prices and worsening economic indicators the kind of people who bought Chargers and Challengers will be sitting on the sidelines. No matter how good the Hurricane Six is it’s still a six cylinder and like that old asked “Got a Hemi?”.

    That said I do suspect it will still a lot better than an EV only Charger.

  26. They’ll build a V8 Challenger … for the heroes in law enforcement.

    How much better is the gas mileage really going to be with the hybrid drivetrain than the base Challengers currently rusting on dealer lots equipped with a V6?

    Given the weight of the car, probably not much.

    • Hi Roscoe,

      The new six makes more power than the Hemi V8 they won’t put in this Charger. The mileage of the six is slightly better but the main advantage – in terms of compliance – is that in theory, the plug-in hybrid “emits” no CO2 when operating in “EV” mode.

      Of course, most people who buy this vehicle will just drive it – and to hell with plugging it in. And that’s why the next thing will be a ban on plug-in hybrids.

    • Jay Leno popped up on my YouTube playlist with this thing.

      https://youtu.be/MShEDzXNF_Q?si=h7qoiZ34pYiVJVyT

      Leno should be yelling at the TV and playing “got your nose” with the grandkids. Instead he’s shilling for the old fossils, who are happy to continue to milk that dead cow.

      That said he does have 3.6 million subscribers to his channel. How many people continue to watch faithfully? Only his “people” and the algorithms know.

      Then again, 3.6 million? For a household name? One that’s probably the Most brand-safe name in the automotive industry?

        • Excuse me? California put Jay Leno and all his businesses out of business. They made what he does illegal. And he doesn’t seem to be very bothered by it. And in the not too distant future, he’ll be dead anyway.

  27. Car companies are staffed with ivy league executives indoctrinated with woke ideology. The SAE has gone along with the trend by designing computers with wheels. They have become so enamored with themselves that they know that people will buy whatever the executives offer. I have no interest in buying an electronic “device” for my next ride. For now I’m keeping my 16 year old Mustang stick.

    • Being an engineer in the US now is all about generating Patents, regardless of product

      Software Patents are easier to argue before the examiners, and the touchscreens offer a dopamine hit which a pushbutton just can’t match.

    • Indeed, Catpaws –

      I’ve been around long enough to witness this transition, too. You would not believe how different things were as recently as the mid-1990s… though that’s already 30 years in the rearview.

  28. If I had $50k or so, I damned well wouldn’t spend it on anything new. I wonder how much saaaaafety these cars have built into them.

    • “I wonder how much saaaaafety these cars have built into them.”

      All of it.

      The question is, when will these car manufacturers start challenging regulations since the Chevron decision? The EPA and other regulatory bodies should not be able to mandate safety systems in cars without laws passed by congress.

      • “The question is, when will these car manufacturers start challenging regulations since the Chevron decision?”
        The answer is, never.

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