Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee Concept: The future of ‘Murican Muscle

Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee

Trust Dodge to make an EV Muscle car with all the outrageous attributes of the Hellcats and Demons, dialed to 11


Dodge took wraps off what it claims will be the future of signature American Muscle cars, The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee Concept. And it is packed with just as long a list of references to past Dodge greats, as its name is. Let’s call it the Charger Banshee going forward. And Dodge has gone about making the concept in true Dodge fashion. Loud (Yes, it’s an EV), brash, in-your-face… got the message?

Exterior

The Dodge Charger Banshee looks like the Muscle part of its name. Starting up front, the looks are pure Dodge with a blunt front end. But that is an illusion. Typical of the brand to do outrageous stuff, the blunt front end actually integrates a spoiler, called the R-Wing. A SPOILER. On the front of a car. Dodge aims to make this future Charger 25% more aerodynamic than the current Charger Hellcat Widebody. If you were to ignore the spoiler for a moment, the front end would look like the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. There is a sleek LED light running across the breadth of the front end along the lower edge under the spoiler. While in the middle, the historic Fratzog logo sits proud, signifying what’s to come for us from Dodge. The Fratzog logo holds substantial significance and deserves a separate article of its own.

Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee

The side profile of the Charger Banshee retains the typical muscle car profile, with the ‘Waterline Tracks’. These character lines shift the visual mass of the Charger in the top half of the car. It also gives the muscle car enhanced, muscular shoulder and wheel arches. Also, another important ‘Back to The Roots’ factor is that the Charger Banshee is a 2-door, like the Chargers of the ’60s. A ‘Screaming Banshee’ emblem sits on the front fender as the Hellcat badges do on the current line-up of Chargers and Challengers. The alloy wheels also feature a radical new design unlike anything seen before at least, not on a Muscle car. Those are 21-inch wheels with a turbine-inspired design that help with aerodynamics. The wheel center-lock caps are finished in red and feature the Fratzog emblem as well.

The rear features a fastback design, complete with full-length tail lights. It reminds me of the ’66 Charger or the ’68 Barracuda. Notice the tapering wide C-Pillar flushing into the boot of the vehicle. I’m surprised they didn’t engrave the cursive ‘Charger’ badging on it which would have been a helluva throwback. Also, if anyone at Dodge is reading this, can we please have the charging inlet on the rear quarter, just above the rear wheel, like the gas tank inlet on the ’68 Charger?

Interior

The 12.3-inch center screen, the largest featured in a Dodge vehicle, angles nearly ten degrees toward the driver, and the 16-inch instrument cluster is curved, creating a cocooned, driver-focused feel. An 8-by-3-inch Head-up Display (HUD) puts additional vehicle information where the driver needs it. The slim, instrument panel (IP) and mid-bolster in Ultraviolet color with blue and silver accent stitching feature a “waterline” that extends across the car. The upper IP is a step higher, an elevation change that creates a sculptural surface floating above the cluster. The Ultraviolet color also touches multiple interior surfaces, such as the console, doors, and seats, creating a halo that works with the Attitude Adjustment Lighting™ to enhance shadows and highlights.

A parametric texture unites the interior and provides a connection to the exterior by continuing the inspiration of the 1968 Charger grille detail on the inside. The parametric pattern adds fluidity and sculpture, spanning from the IP to door appliques, beneath the console and continuing to the rear armrests and rear console. The dynamic interior texture has a three-dimensional quality that bounces light and is reactive to the environment, with lines that radiate as they move rearward.

Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee

Ambient Attitude Adjustment Lighting™ illuminates the texture from below, playing with depth and dimension.

Circuit-like graphics originate on the carbon fiber floor and are strategically placed to surround occupants, flowing under the seats, moving to the center console and IP, and coming back to the driver, a subtle detail that acts as a circuit board, connecting one to another. A unique lightning bolt shape on the accelerator pedal hints at the concept’s electrified powertrain, as does the dual Blue Plasma and Silver stitching that surrounds the entire interior. Carbon fiber door sills feature illuminated white Daytona lettering, with lighted Daytona lettering also found at the top right of the mid-bezel.

Powertrain

The 800V Banshee propulsion system powers the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept car and screams performance, making Dodge’s first electric vehicle faster than a Hellcat in all key performance measures. The standard all-wheel-drive system is key to pushing beyond Hellcat performance while also improving all-weather capability. Unlike typical BEVs, the Dodge brand’s eRupt multi-speed transmission with electro-mechanical shifting delivers distinctive shift points, throwing shoulders into seatbacks in true Dodge style. The Charger Daytona SRT Concept also boasts a PowerShot push-to-pass feature. Activated by the push of a button on the steering wheel, PowerShot delivers an adrenaline jolt of increased horsepower for a quick burst of acceleration.

Highlighting the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept’s SEMA visit is the announcement of nine possible powertrain outputs for the all-electric muscle car concept. Three different battery-electric power levels will be shown at SEMA, as well as two levels of Dodge Direct Connection performance upgrades for each power level. Dodge is illustrating a stair-step approach to its electrified performance, with 400-volt system output levels of 340 kilowatts (456 hp) and 440 kilowatts (590 hp) and an as-yet-unannounced, factory-delivered, power-level 800-volt SRT Banshee powertrain package.
 

400-volt Output Levels

340 kilowatt (kW) – base trim (455 hp)
eStage 1 – 370 kW (495 hp)
eStage 2 – 400 kW (535 hp)
 

440 (kW) – base trim (590 hp)

eStage 1 – 470 kW (630 hp)
eStage 2 – 500 kW (670 hp) 
Direct Connection Stage 1 and Stage 2 performance upgrades use a “crystal” key that plugs into the dash. Base output and Direct Connection upgrade levels for the 800-volt Banshee will be announced at a future date.

Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust

While most BEVs embrace their virtually silent electric motors, that just wouldn’t do for Dodge. The Charger Daytona SRT Concept voices a 126 dB roar that equals the SRT Hellcat, generated through a new, patent-pending Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust system. Yes, Dodge added an exhaust to an electric vehicle. The industry-first Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust pushes its one-of-a-kind performance sound through an amplifier and tuning chamber located at the rear of the vehicle. The Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust represents the next generation of tactile, bone-shaking, muscle attitude, creating a visceral “Dark Matter” sound profile experience in concert with the eRupt transmission.

 

Visit the Dodge Official Website to know more about the Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Banshee

 

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An utter car guy, he’s the guy on the keyboard. Driver’s seat is his place for solace. Apart from talking cars and driving, Kedar also spends a fortune on die-cast miniatures of them, especially old American Muscle. He loves to understand his ride fully and once he does, he loves to explore its limits. American Hotrodder David Freighburger is his icon, while he dreams to daily drive a 68′ Dodge Charger some day.