The War on Cars

BONUS: Dodge’s “Deeply Weird” Pitch for Electric Muscle Cars

Added 2024-04-25 10:00:08 +0000 UTC

Hello, Patreon friends:

We were getting ready to record our "Cybertrash" episode with Ed Niedermeyer last month when Ed happened to bring to our attention this "deeply weird" ten minute-long extended car ad. It's a promotional video for Dodge's new, "Next-Gen Charger," the electric-powered version of the very same "muscle cars" that Doug confronted at the New York International Auto Show in Episode 85 and Aaron rode along with back in Episodes 92 and 96.

The move from gas-guzzling, window-rattling, V8 engines to electric motors has clearly plunged Dodge into an identity crisis. They spent decades building their brand on obnoxiously loud and dangerously sociopathic gas guzzlers. How will they ever convince their loutish loyal customers to switch over to (supposedly) clean, quiet, big government-mandated electric cars?

In this video we get an answer to that question. Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis is going to try to sell his muscle e-cars with rightwing dog whistles and a Make Dodge Great Again pitch. But he barely even sounds like he has convinced himself. A lot like Elon Musk's Cybertruck marketing, the Dodge promo video is extremely weird and, perhaps, unintentionally revealing about what American car culture is really all about.

We had a few minutes to spare with Ed in the studio so we had to talk about it with him. And we put that together for you as a Patreon bonus. Enjoy and feel free to carry on the discussion here in the comments!

- Aaron, Doug & Sarah