Dodge is a brand that has seemed a little bit confused in recent years. It’s tried to move away from its traditional market of loud muscle cars, as a way of safeguarding the brand for the future. That’s backfired spectacularly, with many enthusiasts revolting against the removal of the V8 and the new electric offerings.
However, things seem to be changing now. Since its change in leadership earlier this year, Dodge has made a lot of noise about going back to its roots. That’s been reflected in the changes the brand is making for 2026 and beyond. While enthusiast pressure hasn’t entirely been the reason behind the changes, a lot of what’s been done will definitely make those old-school Mopar fans happier.
When the old Charger and Challenger were replaced by the new Charger, Dodge was adamant from day one that a four-door version would arrive shortly. That four-door Charger has now shown up, filling the gap left by the old Charger in Dodge’s model line-up. Much like how the old Charger and old Challenger shared an entire platform, the four-door Charger is almost exactly the same as the two-door version, including the powertrains on offer.
At the moment, it’s only available in the Daytona Scat Pack trim with the dual-motor fully-electric powertrain. However, the ICE-powered versions are set to hit the market around the middle of next year. These will be powered by the 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged Hurricane inline-6 that’s been introduced in the 2-door Charger.
According to Dodge, the 4-door Charger R/T with the Hurricane engine will have an MSRP of $49,995 when it launches in mid-2026. The 4-door Charger Daytona Scat Pack has an MSRP of $59,995, and claims to be even faster than the old Charger Hellcat Redeye with a 0-60 time of 3.3 seconds. Those claims certainly won’t make the old-school Mopar enthusiasts happy. But, they are setting the 4-door Charger Daytona Scat Pack up to be one of the most exciting electric performance sedans on the market.
The introduction of the 4-door Charger isn’t the only change that’s happened for the 2026 model year. The deeply divisive Charger Daytona has had a revamp as well. The R/T version has been dropped, leaving the more powerful Scat Pack as the only trim you can have with the fully-electric powertrain. This means all electric Chargers will have a power output of 670 hp. They’re also keeping the very loud Fratzonic exhaust. That’s a feature that’s not only been just as divisive among enthusiasts as everything else about the Charger Daytona, but it’s also got at least one owner in trouble for having an exhaust system that was too loud! The track package, which used to be standard equipment on the Scat Pack, has now become optional.
At the moment, the MSRP for the two-door Charger Daytona Scat Pack is $68,195. With the track package becoming an optional extra, that could lower the MSRP a bit. Whether this’ll help the Charger Daytona’s poor sales is yet to be known. It really does seem like most enthusiasts would prefer a Charger with an internal combustion engine. With the Hurricane-powered Chargers looking like they’ll be significantly cheaper than the fully-electric ones, a lot of customers might view choosing the twin-turbocharged inline-6 as a no-brainer.
A lot of enthusiasts have lamented the V8 going away from the Dodge brand. That’s something that could be returning very soon, though! Stellantis has already re-introduced the Hemi V8 in the 2026 Ram 1500 pickup truck. This has come alongside the very public revival of Dodge’s SRT division.
With the Hemi being back in the Ram, it surely won’t be long before it returns on certain Dodge models. The Durango SRT Hellcat has already had a production extension, keeping it going until 2026. Others have also suggested that the Charger could get a top-of-the-line V8-powered version. It’s already known that the Hemi could fit inside the Charger’s engine bay. Whether Dodge will actually go for it, however, is another matter.
You’ll have likely noticed by this point that Dodge’s model lineup looks quite a bit slimmer in some areas than it once did. While the dropping of the R/T version of the Daytona has been motivated a bit due to poor demand, the real reason is something that affects Stellantis as a whole. The new tariffs introduced by the Trump administration have affected the automotive giant’s business a lot.
Stellantis said earlier this year that the new 25% tariffs on cars being imported to the US had already cost the company nearly $260 million. That number has since gone up to estimates of over $1.7 billion. This has affected the entire auto industry, even causing some manufacturers to temporarily pause exports to the US. Stellantis has gotten closer to a favorable deal on the tariffs very recently, but we’re yet to see whether it can make the Trump administration move on anything.
With how much money this must have cost Stellantis, it’s no surprise that some of its brands have resorted to cost-cutting. With the sales failures it’s had over the Charger Daytona, cutting the fully-electric muscle car down to just one trim level must have seemed like an easy financial decision to make.
Source: BBC News, Dodge, Euronews, Reuters, YouTube (@DrivenByKendo)
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