Oh yeah, that's going to go over great with muscle car enthusiasts.
Posted on 12/16/2021 1:37:13 PM PST by Kaslin
At the Los Angeles Auto Show this November, Dodge shocked the auto world when it announced the end of one of its iconic Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
The V8-powered, 717-horsepower beast is revered by performance enthusiasts and has vaulted Dodge to the #2 best-selling sportscar behind the mighty Ford Mustang. Dodge’s huge fan base vented their disapproval on Internet forums. But, buyer be damned, Hellcat doesn’t fit into bureaucrats’ vision of what Americans should be driving. Hellcat’s emissions footprint isn’t sustainable under federal rules.
Dodge will introduce an electric muscle car early next year as the US government imposes the most draconian auto regulations since the infamous Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules of 1974.
Welcome to a re-run of “That ‘70’s Show.”
Reprising national tumult 50 years ago, headlines are littered with news of inflation, radical protests, and Vietnam-like pictures of a disastrous pullout from Afghanistan. Add regulatory deja vu as Washington tries to remake individual transportation.
This go ‘round, however, the rules are part of a larger Democratic Party agenda meant to transform the US economy - backed by auto industry fears of crippling, tobacco industry-like climate lawsuits. In the 1970s arbitrary CAFE standards were imposed in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil. The rules destabilized the American auto industry while doing little to change the oil market landscape.
At the Los Angeles Auto Show this November, Dodge shocked the auto world when it announced the end of one of its iconic Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
The V8-powered, 717-horsepower beast is revered by performance enthusiasts and has vaulted Dodge to the #2 best-selling sportscar behind the mighty Ford Mustang. Dodge’s huge fan base vented their disapproval on Internet forums. But, buyer be damned, Hellcat doesn’t fit into bureaucrats’ vision of what Americans should be driving. Hellcat’s emissions footprint isn’t sustainable under federal rules.
Dodge will introduce an electric muscle car early next year as the US government imposes the most draconian auto regulations since the infamous Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) rules of 1974.
Welcome to a re-run of “That ‘70’s Show.”
Reprising national tumult 50 years ago, headlines are littered with news of inflation, radical protests, and Vietnam-like pictures of a disastrous pullout from Afghanistan. Add regulatory deja vu as Washington tries to remake individual transportation.
This go ‘round, however, the rules are part of a larger Democratic Party agenda meant to transform the US economy - backed by auto industry fears of crippling, tobacco industry-like climate lawsuits. In the 1970s arbitrary CAFE standards were imposed in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil. The rules destabilized the American auto industry while doing little to change the oil market landscape.
Hyundai shies from promoting individual transportation, instead describing itself as a Smart Mobility Solution Provider. “Government is making greater demands on us, and we embrace the challenge,” Hyundai Vice President for Product Planning and Mobility Strategy Olabisi Boyle told the media at the December launch of its Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV. “The industry and world are at an inflection point to fight climate change. Electrification is the only way to achieve this.”
GM says it will make no gas-powered cars after 2035. Honda plans to electrify most of its lineup by 2030.
The investment isn’t cheap. Automakers like Ford are spending $40 billion on electrification – but those costs pale in comparison to potential liability. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association “estimates the price of damages from climate disasters in the U.S. from 1980 to 2020” at $1.9 trillion. Talk about the mother all lawsuits.
“We sell fashion,” a GM insider tells me and the EV trend surely has short-term gains. GM stock is up while EV-maker Tesla’s value flirts with $1 trillion and EV truck startup Rivian’s market cap hovers at $100 billion.
Longer term, the government is dictating what powertrains automakers must build. Thus far, consumers have shrugged at EVs which make up less than 3% of market share. Half those sales are in green California – 80% of them Tesla models. Despite the lack of demand, automakers are flooding the market with some 50 EV models by 2025 while pleading with the government for public subsidies to sell them.
The regulatory squeeze is on.
It’s a pity that official DC along with all the law and lobbying firms hasn’t disappeared into a massive sinkhole.
Why did you post it twice?
Dodge may well reintroduce the car later, with massive price hikes to offset “gas guzzler” penalties, as they did with the original Viper.
By telling the world it is being discontinued for regulations, NOT because of performance/quality, they are catalyzing fans to BUY NOW.
Oh yeah, that's going to go over great with muscle car enthusiasts.
“...an electric muscle car...”
Oxymoron.
Even Superformance is developing an electric Shelby Cobra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW7J2DkRaO0&t=1s
Edsels everywhere!
And to be sure; they will get them!
The very high costs of buying a electric car is out of the pocketbooks of most people. You should be able to buy a used car for under $10,000 in total but the democrats have caused used prices to soar way above. Imagine the costs in the future.
You cannot charge the electric cars quickly, no one has hours to do so. It will be a drag on the economy having people waiting and waiting to charge up a electric car. You need coal, nuclear and gas to run power plants for the electricity and redo all of the electric grid down to where you live.
About 1/3 of Americans live in apartments. Try running electric cords everywhere in all kinds of weather! and then you have thieves who will steal the electric wires!
The mining and manufacturing for what is needed to make the batteries will be blocked by the socialists.
Then there are the battery fires that will leave you no chance of survival.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.