The new Dodge Charger was made for the first time on April 5, 2005, in Brampton, Ontario. It has been made since then, with some changes for 2011, but it is still mostly the same four-door muscle car. This means that the Charger turned 18 on April 5, 2023. It can now join the U.S. service and use the bonus it gets for joining to buy a brand-new 2023 Dodge Charger. Putting jokes aside, it’s interesting to think about how Dodge’s muscle sedan came to be, especially since the production of the famous four-door is ending. It started and kept going because of a rare combination of events that aren’t likely to happen again. The loss of the Charger will leave a hole in the auto business that can’t be filled, and it will also end the car’s unique connection to the U.S. military. Our sister site Task & Purpose did a lot of study on the link between the Charger and the military, and Haley Britzky explained the “played out” but widely known link. When young men join the military, they make the first money they can spend and get joining bonuses of up to $50,000. Because they have a lot of testosterone and can afford to live cheaply, they often make impulsive purchases, sometimes with the help of shady sellers near military bases. (This is not new; in 2009, Mother Jones wrote a story about shady marketers taking advantage of trainees.) Because of this, they might sometimes drive a Ford Mustang or a Chevrolet Camaro, but they usually go with a Charger. The military community took the Charger’s firing very seriously. Task & Purpose’s Facebook post about it got more than 1,000 comments. Kyle Gunn, T&P’s social media editor, and a former Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, says that “muscle cars in general” have a much older meaning. He said they were “a common sight in barracks parking lots.” Muscle cars take centre stage in both of these ads from the 1970s. The Charger is a popular car because it’s easy to find, cheap, and looks good. Another popular option is the [Ford] Mustang, but vehicles like [Chevy] Corvettes still need to be within reach. Only the Dodge Charger and Challenger with two doors are real muscle cars. The Mustang and Chevy Camaro are pony cars, which is a smaller group. Because of this, the Charger and the Chrysler 300, similar to the Charger, have one of the longest production runs in the history of cars. They both came out in the middle of the 2000s when neoclassical cars were all the rage. This was when cars like the Ford GT, Toyota FJ Cruiser, and Chevy SSR were made. Even though it had the Plymouth Prowler, Daimler-Chrysler had to play catch-up when it released the Chrysler 300 in 2005. The Charger would be made with parts from the 2003 Mercedes-Benz E-class (W211), built on the LX frame 300. One of the central engineers on the Charger, Burke Brown, says that it is not made on the 1995 E-class (the W210). In an interview with Allpar, Brown said, “We pretty much based our suspension on the new [W]211, but with a few changes.” Chrysler made a copy of the double-wishbone front suspension, the multilink rear suspension, and the differential for an S-class scale full-size application and then changed them. A 2004 story in Autozine said that it used steel parts instead of aluminum ones, which were more expensive. This helped Dodge get back on its feet as a low-cost rear-wheel-drive sedan maker. In an interview with Allpar, Brown said, “We pretty much based our suspension on the new [W]211, but with a few changes.” Chrysler made a copy of the double-wishbone front suspension, the multilink rear suspension, and the differential for an S-class scale full-size application and then changed them. A 2004 story in Autozine said that it used steel parts instead of aluminum ones, which were more expensive. This helped Dodge get back on its feet as a low-cost rear-wheel-drive sedan maker. Of course, the Charger’s success has been helped by the fact that it is popular with rental fleets, police forces, and military troops. Gadson White Jr., in charge of sales, says that soldiers and women in the Fort Stewart area of southeast Georgia love the Charger so much that they buy almost all of them. According to the 2020 census, 8,821 people live in Fort Stewart, home to the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. This is about one-fifth of the people residing in Hinesville and the nearby districts. The Charger and Challenger have always sold well in the area, but it’s hard to ignore that most people who buy them are in the military. “The majority would be military,” said White of Charger sales at Liberty Dodge, which gives active duty and former service members $500 off the hood. Without question, military members buy a lot more than regular people. But right now, there is yet to be a clear winner. But this military staple can only last as long as it can be made, and that time is ending. A Stellantis official said the Charger will be made “until the end of 2023,” just like the two-door Challenger. After that, people who want to buy a Charger but want (semi)cheap speed will have to look elsewhere. Even though there will always be fast cars that recruits can waste their money on, it’s hard to think that any other vehicle will ever replace the Dodge Charger as the car that recruits want. This is mainly because there won’t be another car like the Dodge Charger as we know it. Since sales of full-size and four-door sedans have decreased over the past few years, Dodge had to switch the Hemi V8s in the Charger Daytona SRT EV for batteries. Even if it had a V8, it would be too expensive for E-1s to buy because the price of new cars is increasing. The Dodge Charger was inexpensive only because it lasted so long. It is a trend from the middle of the 2000s that is still going strong in the 2020s. It is a living link to the history of the car industry. Those days are almost over, but they will live on as long as Hemi V8s roar through towns and stop at red lights.
