New Delhi: It feels like Dodge is finally coming back to life after their brief push towards electrification under their former Stellantis CEO, Carlos Tavares. The American carmaker are now making a bit of a turnaround. Dodge has scaled down its EV ambitions and is now looking to return to its heavy muscle roots. If rumours are to be believed, they could be bringing a V8 muscle car.
It has been one of the oldest rumours and a new report in Bloomberg has only increased this by some folds. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa is reportedly going to announce their big expansion of their US manufacturing investment this week. It will double the company’s original $5 billion commitment to $10 billion over the coming few years.
What is Dodge’s future looking like?
This new investment will support Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep brands in particular and will go towards reopening shuttered plants in Illinois and Michigan, hiring workers to run the facility, and likely developing a new V8-powered muscle car as well. Though Stellantis haven’t said anything, this could be resulting in a new V8 muscle car.
This won’t be the first time rumours of a Dodge V8 revival are coming, and in August, CEO Matt McAlear, when asked about whether a new V8 could theoretically be possible to fit in the new Charger, he had said there could be chances, but it was left ambiguous.
Dodge, since then though have cancelled the arrival of the high-performance Charger Banshee EV, which was expected to produce more than 900 bhp and lead the brand’s EV future. However, the company is now shifting their focus to the forthcoming Charger Sixpack and the sedan version, streamlining the EV lineup to just a few core models. If the shift goes through, it will be a real turnaround and the one every motor enthusiast has been waiting for.