Dodge Celebrates Muscle Cars’ Death With Exploding Engines

⚡️ Read the full article on Motorious

What a way to close out the era…

By now you’ve probably already heard about why Dodge has delayed the release of the final “Last Call” Challenger/Charger muscle car. Originally set to debut at the SEMA Show to much fanfare, Dodge blamed the setback on supply chain shortages without directly saying so. Well, surprise, surprise, that’s apparently not entirely true, something I’ve come to expect from Dodge in the past couple years or so. Instead, the real reason of exploding Hemi engines is so metaphorical for what’s going on with Dodge right now it's sad and pathetic.

Check out our timeline of the beginning of the end of modern Mopar muscle here.

Really, the trouble started when Chrysler was sold for a song and a dance to the Italians, with astute businessman President Obama proctoring the sweet deal while taxpayers got the financial shaft. Things were okay for a while, what with Dodge coming out with ever more interesting and insane versions of the Challenger and Charger. However, in there was the seed of destruction.

You see, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne had become convinced the company he helmed wasn’t big enough for what was coming. The man knew the electrification push would be mandated and expensive, so he wanted to merge with another colossal automaker to create a larger monstrosity, leveraging economies of scale. Comically, he made public overtures to several other automakers, including GM and Volkswagen Group, getting shot down like a star crossed teenager asking his crush to prom in front of the entire student body.