The cars break down in the workshop and are otherwise called too heavy. Still, the criticism hurts, says Dodge CEO Matt McAlear.
The cars break down in the workshop. Journalists who have test drives of the cars call them too heavy. And yet the criticism hurts Dodge.
The brand's director Matt McAlear told several media outlets during a press event, The Drive reports.
"It sucks. It's frustrating. But the problem is, based on who we hear it from, it's so easy to be negative these days," says the Dodge boss.
– It's so easy. Nobody wants to be positive.
According to The Drive, it doesn't exactly help the brand that the new, all-electric Charger Daytona is hitting the market at the wrong time, as interest in electric cars has gone into reverse.
Conversely, Matt McAlear is not initially impressed. He believes that Dodge has created a brand new muscle car that 'just happens' to run on electricity.
Matt McAlear doesn't believe Dodge has created an electric car in the usual sense. They have, he says, created a muscle car.
On the other hand, he does not address the fact that cars break down at dealerships.
Back in January, the media outlet Autoevolution asked several car dealers about their experiences with the new electric car. And several of them said that the cars break down before they even hit the road.
And if the cars don't break down before they hit asphalt, it will happen after just a few kilometers, say the dealers.
– The Dodge Charger EV is going to be a disaster for Dodge. I've been told by four dealers that they are dead and can't be moved, says a video on the YouTube channel TK's Garage.
Back at Dodge management, the director points out the irony in the market's reaction to the brand's long-standing 'criticism' of old models, coughing up a new car.
– It's kind of funny. We got beaten up for years for having old cars; when are you going to make a new one?, says the director.
The Dodge boss might just not have taken into account that it wasn't and isn't a new electric car that customers were sighing for. Matt McAlear isn't much for what-if questions either.
– Would you send a car with a combustion engine on the street for an electric car? Well, maybe. But you never really know, right? These kinds of decisions are made two to three years in advance, says the boss.
Matt McAlear doesn't take the criticism of the new Charger Daytona any more seriously than he does the fact that he still believes in the car's merits.
He would rather, as he says, be part of the conversation (about the car, ed.) than not at all.
