Gas-powered muscle cars drive into the sunset, turn electric

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Gas-powered muscle cars drive into the sunset, turn electric

By TOM KRISHER
August 18, 2022

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Thundering gas-powered muscle cars, for decades a fixture of American culture, will be closing in on their final Saturday-night cruises in the coming years as automakers begin replacing them with super-fast cars that run on batteries.

Stellantis’ Dodge brand, long the performance flag-bearer of the company formerly known as Fiat Chrysler, is officially moving toward electricity. On Wednesday night, Dodge unveiled a battery-powered Charger Daytona SRT concept car, which is close to one that will be produced in 2024 as the sun sets on some petroleum models.

Stellantis says it will stop making gasoline versions of the Dodge Challenger and Charger muscle cars and the Chrysler 300 large car by the end of next year. The Canadian factory that makes them will be converted to electric vehicles. Other automakers are moving — or have moved — in the same direction.

General Motors has said it will build an all-electric Chevrolet Corvette. Tesla says its Model S Plaid version is the fastest production vehicle made, able to go from zero to 60 mph (97 kilometers per hour) in under 2 seconds. Audi, Mercedes, Porsche and other European automakers already have high-performance electric models on sale. And Polestar, an electric-performance spinoff from Volvo, just announced a new Polestar 6 roadster for 2026.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/technology-electric-vehicles-pontiac-6b9fee7ca91666f765441ca879cf0ad6


The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT concept is unveiled, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, in Pontiac, Mich. Thundering gas-powered muscle cars will be closing in on their final Saturday night cruises in the coming years as automakers begin replacing them with super-fast cars that run on batteries. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

[NoMoreRepugs]

1. What are those that drive the roaring metal

dickextenders gonna do now besides go limp??

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. The Death of the Muscle Car As We Know It Isn't Necessarily Good News

This is quite probably the stupidest article I have ever read.

The Death of the Muscle Car As We Know It Isn’t Necessarily Good News

By Kea Wilson
Aug 18, 2022

Two of the most notoriously dangerous muscle cars are being retired — but probably just to make room for heavier, bigger, and more dangerous greenwashed models.

On Wednesday, automaker Dodge announced that it would discontinue production of the Challenger and Charger, at least after releasing a whopping seven special edition “farewell” models to capitalize upon the end of the era. Made famous by racist, violent TV shows and movies like Dukes of Hazzard and the Fast and the Furious — and made infamous for their involvement in deadly crashes, like the Charlottesville vehicle-ramming attack that killed protester Heather Heyer — the two models have been icons of American automotive violence and toxic masculinity for more than five decades.

The news was greeted with hesitant enthusiasm by some street safety advocates, who have long flagged Dodge’s particularly aggressive advertising campaigns as an understudied and under-regulated factor in the U.S. traffic violence crisis, even as evidence has emerged that simply watching ads like theirs that depict dangerous driving makes motorists more likely to actually drive dangerously.

That enthusiasm was tempered, though, by the news that the Challenger and Charger may not actually go away — because Dodge will likely re-release electric versions of them.

Good riddance. Although if anyone believes that
@dodge
will produce anything less menacing, deadly or violent via their next chapter of EVs (aka eMuscle to Dodge), they’re dead wrong. This brand will continue building and marketing violence regardless of what powers the engine.

Link to tweet

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