Four high-powered configurations of the new electric Charger Daytona are part of a Charger lineup that starts production at Stellantis’s Windsor plant this summer

Less than two years after Stellantis announced a $3.6-billion plan to retool and modernize its Windsor and Brampton assembly plants in Ontario to manufacture electric and hybrid vehicles, the company has announced its first Canadian electric vehicle product mandate — the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona.

Billed as the “world’s first and only electric muscle car,” the new Charger isn’t just the first passenger EV that Stellantis will make in Canada. It’s also the first passenger EV formally unveiled and slated for production by any major automaker in this country since Toyota produced a limited number of RAV4 EVs in 2012-14.

While Ford Canada announced plans to overhaul its Oakville, Ont., operations to build EVs two years before Stellantis, it has yet to officially say what EV models it will produce when the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex starts producing vehicles next year.

General Motors began making EVs in Canada at the end of 2022, with the production launch of BrightDrop electric vans at its CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ont., but those are commercial vehicles.

Dodge says the two-door coupe versions of the all-electric 2024 Charger Daytona Scat Pack and 2024 Charger Daytona R/T will start production in Windsor in mid-2024.

Built for speed

The new Charger Daytonas will be first off the line in more ways than one. The Scat Pack model will deliver 670 horsepower and, according to Dodge’s press materials, expects to go from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in 3.3 seconds and run a quarter-mile in estimated 11.5 seconds. The R/T offers a comparatively “modest” 496 horsepower.

Four-door versions of the electric Daytona Scat Pack and R/T will start production in the first quarter of 2025. At the same time, the Windsor plant will also start production of two gasoline-powered Charger models.

The ability to produce electric and non-electric versions of the same vehicles on the same lines is a key feature of Stellantis’s new STLA Large platform, one of four STLA platforms that Netherlands-based Stellantis is deploying globally. STLA Large is focused on North America and the launch of the next-generation Charger in Windsor marks its debut, made possible by the recent plant retooling.

“It’s a very dynamic platform that allows for everything from pure internal combustion engine drivetrain to pure EV,” says Sam Fiorani, vice-president of global vehicle forecasting with Pennsylvania-based AutoForecast Solutions.

More EVs to come

The STLA Large platform launch in Windsor also means Stellantis will soon be in a position to announce further new vehicle production mandates.

“There’s going to be a Chrysler coming in ’26 and another Dodge come after that,” says Fiorani. “They’ll likely make an announcement before the end of this year about the next product. But it won’t arrive til ’26.”

All signs point to the next vehicle also being an EV, says Fiorani. “But because the platform is dynamic, it’s probably going to have at least a hybrid drivetrain at some point early on.”

In light of the Stellantis news, Electric Autonomy contacted Ford Canada to ask about further information on what EV models will come out of the Oakville facility. However, a spokesperson said the company has “nothing new to share at this point.”

Fiorani says the information his firm is gathering indicates the first EV from Ford Oakville to be “an Explorer-sized vehicle,” which would likely mean a three-row SUV.

Performance features

The new Charger Daytona, like the new Stellantis Windsor plant, will offer an array of advanced features focused on performance.

The car has a 400V propulsion system which incorporates a high-voltage battery pack that delivers 100.5 kW installed capacity and a peak discharge rate of 550 kW, specifically designed to maximize acceleration. The prismatic battery cell structure results in lower battery temperatures during high-performance driving. Even the nickel-cobalt-aluminum battery chemistry is designed to produce more power per gram — the “battery-electric version of high-octane fuel,” according to the Dodge press release.

All-wheel drive is standard and the car comes with 20-inch wheels. It has multiple race mode options, high-performance brakes and performance suspension design.

For muscle car purists, the electric Charger Daytona also comes with an external sound system that mimics the “exhaust” noise of Dodge’s high-end internal combustion engine Hellcat models.

Details on production volumes and vehicle pricing are pending.

Editor’s note: This story and headline were revised Aug. 21, 2024, to add information about the RAV4 EV production in 2012-14.