Electric Dodge Charger Sales Tank As Stellantis Struggles Through Q1
Stellantis and Dodge were really hedging their bets when they developed the 8th-generation Charger.
New for the 2024 Model Year, the Charger has now been fully rolled out with both gas and electric powertrains, as well as in both two and four-door sheetmetal. Be it the styling, the pricing, the economy, or other market headwinds, one thing is for sure: Charger sales aren't looking good, and the electric Daytona is seriously struggling.
That's only part of the picture when it comes to Stellantis' electric vehicle portfolio, but things aren't looking good here.
It's no secret that the current US administration is eliminating ways to incentivize the production and purchase of electric vehicles (such as taking away the $7,500 tax credit), and we might be seeing some of the fallout from this in the sales figures from Q1 of 2026.
At Dodge, the electric versus gas competition is extremely one-sided. Dodge sold 1,912 Chargers over Q1, and only 240 of them were powered by batteries. That's a huge decrease from the 1,947 electric Chargers it sold in Q1 of 2025, and the Q1 2026 electric Charger sales figure represents only 12.5% of the total model sales over that period.
For reference, between 2012 and 2023, Dodge sold over 20,000 Chargers in the first quarter of the year ten times. Last year, the automaker sold just 4,642, total.
It's not just the Charger that had a rough first quarter. Jeep's Wagoneer S electric SUV sold only 175 units, representing a more than 90% year-over-year decline in sales. Ouch.
Jeep did, however, manage to sell 3% more vehicles in total in Q1 2026 than in Q1 2025, largely thanks to the launch of the new Cherokee. Ram, too, helped bring home the bacon, moving an additional 20,000 pickups in the January-February-March period. Thank the return of the Hemi for that one.
Elsewhere in the Stellantis product spread, Chrysler lost 33% in sales YTD versus last year, while Fiat was down 70% and Alfa Romeo saw a 53% decline in sales. Look at these brands' portfolios, and you see a mass of cars that are effectively ancient, seriously outclassed by the competition, or just selling off remaining inventory before the model officially dies.
Unfortunately, with volume decreases so extreme (like a 90% YoY drop for Dodge Hornet sales), it looks like a lot of what Stellantis has launched over the last few years— Charger BEV included—are either dead on arrival or shortly thereafter. The company will have to do a lot of improvement quickly if it wants to keep up in the world, and with development cycles as long as they are, everyone should hope the V8 was always in the cards for the new Charger and Dodge/Stellantis can use it to pull buyers back in.
There is a new Camaro in the works, so maybe this is just the calm before the storm.
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Based in Connecticut, Ross hosts The Hooniverse Podcast. He has been in the off-road world since he was a kid riding in the back of his dad’s YJ Wrangler. He works in marketing by day and in his free time contributes to Hooniverse, AutoGuide, and ATV.com, and in the past has contributed to UTV Driver, ATV Rider, and Everyday Driver. Ross drives a 2018 Lexus GX460 that is an ongoing build project featured on multiple websites and the podcast.
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Got that right as far as the sound, why would anyone pay that kind of money & not get a muscle feel & rumble sound. That is why they are sitting on the lot',, they have been on dealers lots for a couple months now & their inventory doesn't change. Still have not seen one on the road, wonder why?. Stellantis, dodge needs to wake up & give the people who buy them what they want, or they will go down big time. People don't want what they are trying to shove down your throat. enough is enough, time to get with it and bring back a muscle car with real sound & a reasonable price.
They have literally priced out their core customers with these cars. No blue collar guys can afford them anymore. Also, no one is paying 60k for a 3.0 I6, no matter how much power it has. We want the sound and feel of a V8. Make what we want, price it right, and maybe people will buy it.