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Dodge’s electric Charger may still be a work in progress, but it’s beginning to sound like a traditional muscle car.
The Detroit giant gave performance enthusiasts a chance to check out the Charger Daytona SRT EV in person at the Chicago Auto Show earlier this month. The concept may look just like the vehicle the brand unveiled this past summer, but it sounds a lot different.
That’s because the battery-powered muscle car’s Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust has received a much-needed upgrade since we last heard it, according to Road & Track. The unique feature amplifies the noise made by the EV’s relatively silent electric motors and turns that into an “exhaust” sound that can reach up to 126 decibels. It’s a completely unnecessary feature, of course, but also an olive branch to the kind of enthusiasts who feel that a muscle car must be loud.
Unfortunately for Dodge, the initial reaction was mixed, to say the least. The system is supposed to recreate the sound of the supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 found in the SRT Hellcat, but it’s hard to imagine anyone being fooled by the overly processed “roar” it produced in August. The automaker seems to have taken note of the tepid response and, as can be heard in a video posted to YouTube by InterUnetAutomotive, tweaked it so that it now emits a lower, more guttural growl. There’s room for improvement—Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis has said the brand continues to work on the feature—but it’s beginning to sound like a vehicle with an actual internal combustion engine under the hood.
However you may feel about the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust, it’s hard not to be intrigued by Charger Daytona SRT EV. It has a retro-inspired design that’s both athletic and commanding. Even more enticing, though, is Dodge’s claim that it will be able to outperform the 800 hp SRT Hellcat. If the automaker can deliver on this promise, we imagine the EV will be a success no matter what it sounds like.
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