Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA) brand Dodge slammed autonomous vehicles as "self-driving sleep pods" in its new advertisement for its first electric vehicle called Charger Daytona.
What Happened: "We aren't' building electric vehicles because it's trendy. We're building them to make a difference. To protect our future and our children's future, we're building electric vehicles to save our planet. To save it from all those lame, soulless, weak-looking, self-driving sleep pods everyone else keeps polluting our streets with," the advertisement said.
Dodge's new ad is seemingly aimed at the different companies building pedal-less robotaxis with no steering wheels such as Amazon.com's Zoox or even EV giant Tesla Inc. Dodge, however, is seemingly attempting to retain the aesthetic of its brand in its new EV.
"The All-New Charger was designed throughout to look, feel, drive and sound like a Dodge. It's a direct connection to the spirit of the past while powering this brand into tomorrow," the company says on its website.
Why It Matters: The Dodge Charger Daytona is the first all-electric vehicle from the brand and retains the muscle car aesthetic. It is available in two variants: R/T and Scat Pack. While Scat Pack provides 670 horsepower, R/T gives 496 horsepower.
While two-door models of the EV will be available with dealers before the end of the year, four-door models of the EV are expected to arrive in early 2025.
The vehicle starts at $59,595 for the R/T variant and at $73,190 for the more powerful, expensive Scat Pack variant. While the more powerful variant of the vehicle is expected to have a range below 300 miles, the less powerful is expected to give over 300 miles range. Dodge's first EV is on the pricier end and it remains to be seen if it will gather mass market appeal.
In the third quarter, Stellantis' volumes of vehicles delivered to dealers, distributors, or directly to retail and fleet customers in North America declined by about 170,000 units, or about 36%, compared to the corresponding period last year.
Net revenue from the region subsequently fell by 42% to 12.4 billion euros (approx. $13.10 billion.)
Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
- New US Cars To Sound Warnings If Rear Passengers Fail To Fasten Seat Belts: 'More We Can Do To Make Sure Everyone Buckles Up'
Photo courtesy of Tesla.
