Ricky Bobby's Reprise

So I opened the December edition of Harper’s Magazine after my day job at the trucking company and a night shift selling wine only to get sucked down the exhaust manifold of an article about drag racing. As I read about engines blowing up underneath driver’s feet and families traveling like grease monkey carnival mechanics from track to track, the ghost limb of my former professional life working on Dodge began to twitch.

“In the Rockets Red Glare” is typical Harper’s fare: 10,000 plus words, well-researched and expertly written by the seven-time novelist and occasional guest editor, Rachel Kushner. She and her son, Remy, go on a mutual interest sabbatical to NHRA tracks across America uncovering the history of the sport, soaking up lore from its hierophants and getting pummeled by shock waves from top fuel and funny cars running nitromethane. According to Kushner, the burnt monopropellant has the unmistakable aroma of “flat beer and industrial fertilizer.” There’s a viognier I sell that smells vaguely like that after a few days too.

The author’s interest lay, chiefly I believe, in experiencing hot rod culture with her son and writing about it to pay a few bills?—?which is a commendable elision of his passion with her metier. When Remy was 16, he bought a 1969 Dodge Dart off facebook marketplace and his interest in fixing things to make them go fast became an obsession. That he didn’t end up with a Chevelle or a GTO or a Mustang might be pure chance, but the fact that it was a Dodge might be attributed to the gods of speed conspiring with the internet to land a purpose-built muscle car in his driveway.

No matter how his name ended up on the title, Dodge is such a huge constellation in the heritage of hauling ass that one could easily mistake it for the red and black planet around which fans, enthusiasts and hot rodders orbit. Big Daddy’ Don Garlits gets name checked as well as the former Hot Rod Magazine editor and associate editor, Freiberger and Finnegan, who transformed a dying hard copy magazine into the MotorTrend sponsored show, Roadkill. These are the same two motorheads who routinely appear at Dodge’s Woodward Dream Cruise every August. The full article is below:

https://harpers.org/archive/2024/12/in-the-rockets-red-glare-rachel-kushner/

Working on Dodge helped me appreciate how it uniquely combines outlaw street racing lore with a love of engineering excess. They built the Demon?—?first production car to pop a wheelie and go under 10 seconds in the standing quarter mile. When a literary lion like Harper’s looks at hot rod culture as opposed to their standard fare examining, say, the history of granite mining in New Hampshire or the Abbess Hildegard’s 12th Century writings on medieval medicine, there’s a convergence at play. Maybe it’s random, or maybe it’s the direction of the political winds.

Four years ago, the US and European automobile industry was hellbent on retooling for electrification, but the infrastructure wasn’t there, consumer demand was spotty and segmented, and governments and businesses gamed each other into the idea that EVs would break us out of our dependency on fossil fuels. And there was Tesla?—?a brand without history?—?making history every day. And BYD?—?the giant killer from China?—?threatening everyone. Legacy automakers wanted some of that electric buzz badly?—?fewer moving parts, fewer workers, streamlined productions, vertically integrated battery supply chains processing lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese. A Field of Dreams narrative it was not - they built, but enough did not come.

Dodge has been vexed, like other legacy brands, with how to read the regulatory environment and consumer demand for electrics. When they announced the end of ICE models of the Charger & Challenger in the 2023 model year, it was not just an elegy for Dodge’s internal combustion engines?—?it was possibly the beginning of the end. Stellantis would be hard pressed to invest year after year in an all-electric division launching late in an economic cycle that’s not favoring EVs, but the election marked a shift in the weltanschauung of the country and companies are implementing ‘Plan B.’

Dodge can remind consumers that it’s unapologetic, brash, irreverent (and gasoline powered) without being overly ‘Trumpy’ because Dodge epitomized those qualities long before the world ever heard of him. The regulatory outlook portends significant delays in implementing tough EPA emissions targets and a possible rollback of EV tax incentives, so (according to MoparInsider) Dodge is engineering an ICE version of the Charger that could launch in Q2 before the fully electric model arrives in Q4?—?the version that is intended to be Dodge’s ‘Tesla fighter.’ Should the rumor be true, Dodge will have executed the fastest pivot in the roll out of a (not) fully electric platform amongst any of the legacy automakers. They’re bringing the revanchist version to market first?—?the Charger Daytona powered by an inline six cylinder twin turbocharged Hurricane engine delivering either 420 hp or 550 hp. Dodge steadfastly denies the possibility of bringing an ICE model to market before the Charger Daytona EV, but the rumor mill keeps churning.

Why would Dodge deny the obvious groundswell for a ‘real’ Dodge? It could be that the ICE version is not ready to go to market. Engineers have been working on suspension and software integration, but six months seems like enough time to tune ride handling and the gearbox on a powertrain that’s currently available in Jeep and RAM vehicles?—?this doesn’t pass the sniff test. Dodge is reasonably concerned that ICE version sales will cannibalize the EV launch … that’s as sure as spring rain, but delaying the ICE launch until after the EV roll out will depress the brand’s overall sales figures (ICE and EV) in order to force an EV product into a market with limited appeal when Stellantis is facing more consumer, government and stakeholder pushback in the US and Europe than it has since its inception. Every brand at Stellantis needs to boost sales immediately. There could be burnouts and backfires in Hemi-ville if someone in the C-Suite signals a course correction.

Throwing money into the EV rollout furnace is a gut wrenching necessity for new market entrants. Rivian recently received a six billion dollar low interest government loan after losing 5.43 BN in 2023?—?a 20% narrowing from the previous year?—?despite a recent tie up with VW. Down by the river at GM, Cadillac is still committed to an all-electric future, and it visibly pains a Cadillac Dealership friend I speak with. His wife drives a 4xe hybrid Wrangler, and wouldn’t dream of driving an all-electric Lyriq despite his working for GM’s luxury marque?—?the kids at college (range), where to charge when away from home (accessibility), etc. The Lyriq sold over 20,000 units this year, so they’re doing relatively well (disclosure: I worked on launch advertising for the Lyriq in 2021). Ford’s F-150 Lightning & Mustang Mach-E are out there plugging away with on-going financial loss forecasts and a pause in Lighting production due to soft demand.

If the ‘EV first’ playbook stands, Dodge will call on the Marketing & Advertising svengalis. Auburn Hills will be abuzz with agencies sharing multi-channel strategies and category defining campaigns. There will be factory (or government) incentives, test drives in twenty cities, competitive comparisons by advertorial content providers, automotive press junkets, social media takeovers, influencers electrifying their feeds, podcasts and a linear/streaming brand campaign, but the totality of it won’t overcome weak demand, a tepid EV market and vanishing government EV incentives under a Lee Zeldin run EPA. It’s not a question as to whether Dodge should rethink its go-to-market EV strategy, it’s how drastically it should.

What would I do? First, launch the in-line V6 Charger without an equivocating ‘easter egg’ about the fully electric version coming later. Heritage celebrates the past through the present. Introduce the 2025 Charger ICE Six Pack and R/T versions as stand alone, no compromise, green light monsters. Launch them at a drag strip, or a shopping mall or on an interstate highway in the middle of nowhere with none of Vin Diesel’s raspy sangfroid, no Talladega Nights tie in and no John and Horace Dodge avatars. Do it with the younger enthusiasts like Rachel’s son, Remy. Pay influencers to seed it in their feeds on TikTok, IG, X, etc. Sorry, Bill Goldberg, I’m not sure you’re the right fit for Dodge anymore. While I had the distinct pleasure of working with the marvelous, flexing menace that you are, it’s a new generation.

Maybe Dodge can do an NIL deal with a college standout … like your son, Gage (Goldberg), who plays for Deion Sanders’ University of Colorado Buffaloes! Connecting the next generation Charger Daytona with the next generation is literally in the bloodline; or, pick other social media endorsers the ad agencies recommend. UFC fighters, crypto kids, poker champions, tech incubator / robotics challenge winners all fall within the brand profile. Dodge has always been mindful to mix the hubris of speed with brain power. As Kushner noted in the article “at NHRA events and in the wilder unsanctioned scene, people know what they are doing … there are no knuckleheads.”

Second, stand up a separate marketing and advertising ‘SWAT Team’ to handle the all-electric 2025 Charger launch. Make sure they report to the brand CEO so they don’t get boxed in by legacy brand thinking and org chart hierarchy; i.e. ‘left field’ ideas for Dodge EVs that get shot down because they’re deemed ‘not Dodge.’ Hire a separate agency that’s new to the brand. It’s not a muscle car, and it doesn’t have to be. Electric car drivers don’t care as much about zero to 60, (but they might be surprised by this one). Think of it as an all-electric retro fastback sedan. If clients think the work isn’t immediately recognizable as “Dodge,” then it’s a success. Jaguar’s relaunch is perhaps a step too far?—?no car, no cat, zero heritage. Dodge gets into trouble when it forces an outlier product into a gas-powered heritage that hasn’t figured out where or whether the all-electric version belongs! (The Hornet is having a tough time working into the family as well). The Charger Daytona EV will find its own place within the continuum of Dodge’s heritage after it achieves some sustainable market presence. Conflation will get Dodge less of the heritage enthusiasts and the Teslarati; so, treat the ICE and all-electric versions like distant siblings from different parents with the same last name. Raise them in different cities and send them to different schools. When they meet in late 2025 on a quarter mile track, film them to see who gets bragging rights! Let them be separate and unequal, by design.