How Powerful Is The 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona?
Dodge is starting to get people charged up about the 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona.
The muscle car brand has released the first official images of the model that will succeeed the discontinued Challenger late this year.
It’s based on the Charger Daytona SRT Concept that was first revealed in 2022 and is expected to arrive first with an all-electric powertrain.
The platform it is built on was designed to accommodate an internal combustion engine and transmission, however, so it’s possible gasoline-fueled versions will also be offered.
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Dodge hasn’t confirmed that is the case and has only said that the electric models will replace the V8-powered Challengers and that the brand will no longer build V8-powered cars.
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It has also confirmed 2024 will be the last year for the V8-powered Dodge Durango, while sister brand Ram will no longer use V8s in the 1500 series pickup starting with the 2025 model year trucks, which go on sale soon
As for the Charger Daytona, Dodge has announced that it will come in three electric trims that will be called 340, 440 and Banshee.
The first two use a 400-volt architecture with all-wheel-drivetrains that come from the factory rated at 455 hp and 590 hp. For comparison, the last Challengers were available with a 375 hp 5.7-liter V8 or 485 hp 6.4-liter V8.
But Dodge is going to sell software upgrades through the Direct Connection parts catalog that increase the power in two stages by inserting “Crystals” carrying the data into a dashboard port. The 340’s stages are 495 hp and 535 hp while the 440’s are 630 hp and 670 hp.
The 800-volt Banshee is analogous to the Challenger Hellcat and Demon 170 models, which used a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 with power outputs ranging from 717 hp to 900 hp. The 900 hp Demon 170’s engine is also capable of 1,025 hp when running on high octane E85.
Dodge hasn’t released power estimates for the Banshee, but it will be more than 670 hp and also have two eStage kits.
As far as the potential gasoline-powered models are concerned, it’s likely that they would feature Stellantis’ new Hurricane turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder engine, which is currently found in the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer and will be taking the place of the V8s in the Ram 1500.
It is available in the Wagoneers in both a 420 hp version with 468 lb-ft of torque and a 510 hp version with 500 lb-ft of torque. Ram will add an even higher output tune with 540 hp and 521 lb-ft of torque, but that’s probably not the engine’s limit. Mopar is working on a crate motor version for race cars rated at 1,000 hp.
There’s no telling if Dodge can make a street-legal engine with that much power, but Ram has indicated there’s more to come. The high performance Ram 1500 TRX, which used a 702 hp version of the Hellcat V8, went out of production at the end of 2023 and its immediate successor will be the 1500 RHO, which gets the 540 hp straight-six.
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But Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis indicated that a new TRX could be on the way in a couple of years. If the automaker really doesn’t bring V8 engines back to the 1500, that would suggest it will have a more powerful 3.0-liter motor under the hood.
Looking at the bulge in the Charger Daytona’s hood, one should fit underneath it just fine.
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