Stylish coupes cruised America’s roads for decades before automakers started largely favoring SUVs over 2-doors and sedans.
But now that EVs are rewriting the rules, could we see a return to the heyday of coupes? Doubtful, but there are glimmers of hope. This week we’re looking at four potential EV coupes, starting with Dodge.
The Charger Daytona EV unveiled this past summer isn’t just a one-off dream machine for the car show circuit. It’s the model that America’s “Brotherhood of Muscle” brand is betting its future on.
In fact, Dodge is one of the few brands left that still sells a high-volume coupe. Dodge has sold 673,045 current generation Challenger coupes thru 2021, according to Wikipedia, and a sales spike is expected in its final year of Hemi-powered production.
A version very close to Dodge’s EV concept will be arriving in showrooms in 2024. What makes it really different, besides acceleration that will leave gas-powered Hellcats in the dust, is it adds the extra utility that for whatever reason, has been rarely designed into 21st century ICE powered coupes.
For starters, despite it looking like a traditional coupe with a small trunk, it’s going to be a hatchback with plenty of storage space when the seats are folded. And, it’s going to have all-wheel-drive for all you EV Riders dealing with snow every winter.
Perhaps best of all for muscle car fans, the looks and form factor harkens back to the styling of the classic 1970 Charger featured in this archived Jacksonville Cars & Coffee cruise-in video:
“It is going to be the slipperiest car that still looks like a muscle car. We incorporated the designs from the original Charger Daytona aero treatments on the front end, but still looks like a proper muscle car. We added sound back into the car. With a patented Fratonic chambered exhaust system, and, we’re going to make it drive like a proper Dodge with an electromechanical shifting system known as the eRupt system. This car will literally change the way people look at electrification in the muscle car space,” said Dodge CEO Timothy Kuniskis in a promotional video distributed by the brand.
Since this post is about style as opposed to performance and tech, we’ll leave it there for now, but rest assured the Charger Daytona SRT Banshee edition will bring the heat needed to keep drag strips in business.
Next up is a stunningly beautiful coupe that if built has the potential to return Buick to being one of the best styled brands in the world. But here’s the problem. The Wildcat concept isn’t expected to make it into production.
Instead, its designers say we’ll start seeing some of its styling cues showing up in future Buick EVs.
While there’s potential here, it’s also worrisome, since the sleek lines of a coupe rarely translate well into the world of SUVs, which is all that Buick currently makes. But then again, Ford has been able to successfully translate its Mustang styling language into the electric Mach-E SUV.
However, why can’t the Wildcat be built as coupe? Think about it. That massive hood could a fantastic frunk, while the large coupes of yesteryear offered rear seat passengers plenty of space. A utility that has been all but lost in current day coupes such as the expected-to-be canceled Camaro coupe and next-generation 2024 Mustang.
Back to reality, the gorgeous GranTurismo Coupe Folgore EV from Maserati will be going into production. Like Dodge, Maserati is owned by Stellantis, which has been accelerating its transition to EVs.
The GranTurismo Folgore EV, will share the same classic styling as its gas-powered siblings but will be faster, ripping to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds with a 92.5 kWh battery pack with an 800-volt architecture.
Better yet, a Maserati spokesperson told Autocar a convertible version is also on the way.
Finally, Genesis is also taking a look at the two-door form factor with its Genesis Speedium Coupe concept.
“We definitely wanted to go back to the great moments of automotive design,” said Genesis Chief Creative Officer Luc Donckerwolke in a video promoting the concept.
But like Buick, Genesis has no plans to actually put the Speedium into production.
“It is a tool of the design process allowing us to explore the future of Genesis. It’s simply based around the typology that we believe. It’s representing the core values of Genesis,” Donckerwolke added.
So for coupe lovers, Dodge and Maserati are the ones to watch in the near-term, and while the coupe genre isn’t likely to recapture its high-production glory days, beautiful design will always be captivating to a subset of buyers, meaning every once and a while we’ll still see dream machines like the Charger Daytona and GranTurismo Coupe Folgore make production.
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The music contained in the video at the top of this post is “Jumpin Boogie Woogie” by Audionautix and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.