Dodge Charger

Dodge Charger at a glance

The Charger appears in our Dodge catalogue with all its generations, and the American muscle car guide shows where it ranks among its rivals.

The fastback of 1966

The name first appeared on a 1964 show car, and the Charger II concept of 1965 already looked like the production model. The 1966 Charger arrived in the middle of the model year. It used the chassis and much of the front body of the two-door Coronet, combined with a fastback roof in the style of AMC's 1965 Marlin.

Dodge aimed it at more mature buyers than the pony cars. Four V8 engines were offered: 318, 361, 383 and the 426 Street Hemi. Only 468 of the 37,344 Chargers built for 1966 had the Hemi. In 1967 sales fell to 15,788 cars. That year the 440 V8 was rated at 280 kW (375 hp) and the Hemi at 317 kW (425 hp), and only 118 Chargers received the Hemi.

The 1968 "coke bottle" Charger

The redesign for 1968 created the shape most people picture today. Richard Sias is credited with the coke-bottle body, and Harvey J. Winn designed the front and rear sheet metal. Dodge had planned about 35,000 cars, but 96,100 were built.

The new R/T model came with the 440 Magnum as standard, and the Hemi remained the top option. About 89,199 Chargers followed in 1969. For 1970 the range gained a 440 Six Pack with three two-barrel carburettors, rated at 291 kW (390 hp). The same year brought new wraparound bumpers and electric headlight doors.

The second-generation car also became famous outside motor sport. In the television series The Dukes of Hazzard, a Charger called the General Lee made the 1968–1970 body familiar to a wide audience. A 1969 model is covered in our separate article on the 1969 Dodge Charger.

Charger 500 and Daytona

For stock car racing, Dodge needed a more aerodynamic body. The first answer was the Charger 500, introduced in September 1968; 392 were built, 67 of them with the Hemi.

The Charger Daytona followed on 13 April 1969. An 18-inch nose cone and a 23-inch rear wing changed its profile completely. Dodge built 503 cars for the United States and another 40 for Canada; 70 of the US cars had the Hemi. The standard 440 Magnum gave 280 kW (375 hp) and 651 Nm, the Hemi 317 kW (425 hp) and 664 Nm.

In engineering tests on 20 July 1969 the Daytona reached 205 mph. In 1970 Buddy Baker drove it past 200 mph, and Bobby Isaac won the NASCAR championship in a Charger. Read more in our article on the 1969 Charger Daytona.

Third generation and the end of the B-body era

The 1971 Charger received new "fuselage" sheet metal and a split grille. For this one year the Super Bee became part of the Charger range. Only 63 Hemi R/Ts were built in 1971 — the last production cars with the 426 Hemi — next to 2,659 R/Ts with other engines.

From 1972 power was quoted in SAE net. The 440 was listed at 209 kW (280 hp) net, against 261 kW (350 hp) gross the year before. Sales still rose: 1973 brought about 108,000 cars, the best year of this generation. On the track, Richard Petty won 35 NASCAR races with the 1971–1974 body between 1972 and 1977.

For 1975 the Charger became a personal luxury coupé that shared its body with the Chrysler Cordoba. From 1981 to 1987 the name was used on a front-wheel-drive hatchback on the L-body, which also had a Shelby version. Neither car belongs to the muscle car story.

The four-door Charger (2006–2023)

Dodge brought the name back for the 2006 model year on the rear-wheel-drive LX platform — as a four-door sedan. The R/T had a 5.7-litre Hemi V8 with 254 kW (340 hp), later 274 kW (368 hp). The SRT8 used a 6.1-litre Hemi with 317 kW (425 hp) and 569 Nm, and it reached 60 mph in 4.8 seconds in tests.

The seventh generation (LD) followed in 2011. The 6.4-litre Hemi is quoted at 350 kW (470 hp) or 362 kW (485 hp), depending on the year and the source. The 2015 SRT Hellcat had a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 with 527 kW (707 hp) and 881 Nm. Car and Driver measured 0–60 mph in 3.4 seconds, and the car averaged 204.55 mph in a two-way top-speed run. The 2021 Hellcat Redeye had 594 kW (797 hp), and the 2022 Jailbreak Edition 602 kW (807 hp).

Production in Brampton ended with the 2023 model year, and with it the 5.7, 6.4 and 6.2-litre Hemi V8s. Our article on the Charger SRT Hellcat covers that version in detail.

The 2024 Charger: electric and six-cylinder

The eighth generation was previewed by the Charger Daytona SRT concept on 17 August 2022 and shown in production form on 5 March 2024. It uses the STLA Large platform and is built in Windsor, Ontario, as a two-door or four-door liftback. The two-door also replaces the Challenger.

The electric Charger Daytona came first, with all-wheel drive and a 100.5 kWh battery. The R/T has 370 kW (496 hp) and a range of 510 km; the Scat Pack has 500 kW (670 hp) and 418 km. Its Fratzonic exhaust system produces up to 126 dB. The petrol Sixpack followed in December 2025 with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo Hurricane straight-six. It gives 313 kW (420 hp) and 635 Nm as the R/T and 410 kW (550 hp) as the Scat Pack.

Which Charger to look at

Classic collectors focus on the 1968–1970 R/T and the Daytona; Hemi cars are the rarest. The 1971 R/T is the last chance for a factory Hemi. For a daily driver with V8 power, the LD sedan with the 6.4-litre Hemi is the core choice, while the Hellcat versions are the extreme end. The 2024 car is the first Charger without a V8 at all. Power figures of all generations can be compared in our car rankings.

Photo gallery