Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee

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Eye-catching

I love pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles, and crossovers. So much so, that back in 2020 I even did a write-up entirely on non-utilitarian vehicles that should become all-electric utility vehicles. Yes, that was me. I did that. And proudly, too. Between now and then, a lot of utility vehicles have either been unveiled or are even on sale right now. The Hummer EV, Ford Lightning, Chevrolet Silverado EV, and Lotus Eletre to name a few. Though I am happy to see so many electric utility vehicles coming out, I found none of those vehicles personally exciting enough to warrant writing an entire write-up on them. Well, the Lotus Eletre actually did almost excite me enough to write about it. It seems as though I may have been distracted with other things at the time, however. When Tesla’s Cybertruck was unveiled back in 2019, it smashed the Internet. Yes, I see what I did there. Now last week while browsing the Internet, I saw Dodge make the headlines over a car unveiling. It was the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee. I did not watch the full unveiling until today, August 23, 2022. That machine is eye-catching!

Unveiling

The Unveilings were split over 3 days: Day 1: Current Muscle, Day 2: Gateway Muscle, Day 3: Next Gen Muscle. I did not watch the Day 1 and Day 2 videos because I could care less about the V8 going away. In fact, I could care less about ICEs going away in general. If anything, I would say, “Took you long enough!”. No seriously, some automotive brands have been serious laggards in the electric vehicles race, and I have criticized them for it on more than one occasion. Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, General Motors, and you guessed it: Stellantis. The Day 3 stream starts off with a brief introduction with the history of the Dodge brand. The gist of it? 2 American brothers quit their day job to put their side hustle into full production. Sure sounds like what a lot of entrepreneurs do when their side hustle starts taking serious traction. During a part of it, Timothy Kuniskis said that some people were ticked off when Dodge revealed the Dodge Hornet. The reason? Critics accused Dodge of being a sellout and making a boring compact utility vehicle that blends right into the sea of CUVs. However, he was also able to shut down what people considered “selling out” by telling the audience that there are 14,000 preorders for the Hornet. This just goes to prove that Internet critics do not gauge the success of a product or service, and that they are often nothing more than an obnoxious vocal minority.

Alfa Romeo Jealous?

While on the topic of the Dodge Hornet, I heard a word that Alfa Romeo is allegedly annoyed and jealous about Dodge “copying their homework” and being more successful with it. If this is actually true, it is both comical and non-sensical. The Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale are both compact utility vehicles that share the same platform. They are even built within the same factory in Italy. Yes, a Dodge made in Italy sounds a little weird, but the Jeep Renegade is made in Italy too, so not too surprising anymore. Dodge is not just cheaper, but has far more awareness in North America than Alfa Romeo does. If Alfa Romeo really wants to get a profit off its badge-engineered Tonale, perhaps they might want to try and convince Stellantis to not make them have to share so many guts, bits, and pieces with non-luxury marques. If Alfa Romeo is not in a position to do that, they should at least do more to offer a more premium experience with what they have to work with.

Back To Discussing The Unveiling

This is the EV that you did not see coming, but you will definitely hear coming, the Dodge man claims. Yes, he is certainly right. Before the electric muscle cars arrives, we can hear the low-pitched, futuristic hum of the vehicle. There was also lots of red lighting, smoke, and some electro revs. The Dodge comes out to drive in a path that momentarily takes it outside, before returning back to the presentation room. Wow!

My Thoughts

Timothy was not kidding when he said that Dodge wanted to create a car that looks like a Dodge, sounds like a Dodge, and drives like a Dodge. Well, the driving experience has yet to be proven, as nobody has taken it for a test drive. Or perhaps journalists probably already might have, but may currently be under embargo. As for sounding like a Dodge, there is certainly a lot of mixed opinions on this. In general, I think I am seeing a bit more hate, as well as “Will we be able to turn that off?”. Too many people are erroneously calling the sound fake, when it is actually a naturally produced sound from the car’s chamber. I believe that too many people have not taken the chance to actually watch the video or at least read an entire article on it properly. For this reason, I am now officially under the impression that if most people are hating the sound because it is produced “fakely” rather than the how the sound sounds to the ears, that they are vocal minority haters. It is perfectly fine to dislike the sound, but to hate without knowing more on how it is produced, is rather nutty. For me I personally, I love the sound, particularly its idle sound. It sounds like a mean, vibrating synth. The rev sound? Does not sound as cool, but it is alright. Both sounds would be better if they had more of that muscle car rumble to them. 

The looks? This is where just about everybody agrees that it looks A-amazing! The front end screams retro-done-with-a-modern-touch, while the back has super cool rectangular racetrack taillights. The interior looks good. Nothing special, but looks good. Some commenters pointed out that they should have an option for a bench seat in the back. I agree with this. If Dodge went as far to give it all-wheel drive and a hatch, they should go with bench seats for the back. A lot of concepts that have buckets seats in vehicles like this tend to become bench seats in production models. Therefore, I do not think people will have to worry too much about that. I have also seen some say that Dodge should offer a 4-door version of this. Seeing as though Dodge announced the end of the current Charger and Challenger, it would make sense to make an electric Challenger the 2-door option, and the Charger the 4-door option. Or perhaps they could just do one model with an option for both.

No Frunk?

Not once did Dodge open the front trunk in the presentation. This may be because they do not want to expose certain parts yet, but it raises a concern: is it really true that there is no frunk? If yes, then that is really bad and sad. Backpacks are useful. Frunks are useful. I tried to Google the answer to this, but there is no definite answer. Only 1 or 2 sources I think said that the concept vehicle does not have a frunk. This implies that the production model probably will. I say that it absolutely should! For me personally, I will not even consider an electric model of a particular car if it has no frunk. Why should I? The point of losing a giant, disgusting, engine is not just about zero emissions, but making vehicles even more functional. If Dodge cannot make the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system without it getting in the way, they would be better off just forgetting about it altogether. The Tesla Model S has a frunk. The Lucid Air has a frunk. Now why am I comparing premium marks to a non-premium mark? Because though Dodge is not a luxury brand, it is still very much a performance brand. Enough so, that there are countless videos of Dodges racing against the luxury marques, even if they lose the race. Electric vehicles must have frunks. To not include one is a waste of engineering, resources, and opportunity. BWM and Mercedes-Benz, I am looking at you, and I hope you are sweating in guilt for committing the great sin of not putting frunks in your current all-electric vehicles.

Conclusion

Slam, drift, drag, and donut! Those are all race modes that Dodge intends to put into their cars. The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee is one fine-looking muscle car. Dodge did a fine job at making their electric concept as cool as they possibly can. Since we are now in the age of electric cars, I wonder if Dodge will put the Dodge ZEO into production? I love scissor and gullwing doors on vehicles and the Dodge Zeo has just that: 4 scissor doors. Very cool, if you ask me. While the Dodge Zeo does not have the coolest-looking face in town, the mere fact that it has scissor doors integrated into it, straight from the factory, would make me choose it over the Banshee. Yes, for real. Doors aside, it looks pretty darn good, too. Some might say the shape is a little goofy, but that is ok.