Dodge is offering $10 off per horsepower on Challenger, Charger, and Durango
The auto industry has been around for over 120 years, so it takes some creativity to come up with a new sales promotion. FCA’s Dodge brand has decided to help clear out its remaining stock of 2019 model year Challengers, Durangos, and Chargers with something novel. At a time when some corporations virtue-signal how socially conscious and “woke” they are, Chrysler is promoting its vehicles in an unapologetic, in-your-face American muscle manner by tying cash incentives to horsepower ratings with a promotion called “Dodge Power Dollars.”
“Three out of four people think this much power is excessive,” intones the narrator for the video Dodge released in connection with the promotion, as a Hellcat Charger appears from out of massive cloud of tire smoke generated by one of the high-performance Challengers. “Three out of four people are wrong,” the narrator categorically insists as we then get action shots of the Charger, Challenger, and Durango SRT burning rubber and drifting on empty urban streets, before the voiceover gives us details on the incentives.
Starting today, U.S. customers will get a $10 per horsepower cash allowance on the purchase or lease of a new 2019 Dodge Charger, Challenger, or Durango. The incentive is not just on the uber-performance Hellcat versions, but rather all variants of those models, from the 292-horsepower Pentastar V-6-powered Charger SXT, which carries a $2920 cash allowance, all the way up to the 797-horsepower Hellcat Redeye Challenger with $7970 on its hood.
Dodge has had a pretty good run lately, considering how many consumers have moved to crossovers and SUVs, away from sedans, a vehicle type that is now Dodge’s bread and butter. The Challenger had record sales in 2018, and the Charger has led U.S. large car sales for three years in a row. Riding the crest of the SUV wave, the Durango is selling better than it has sold since the 2005 model year.
“Since bringing the Charger and Challenger back to market, Dodge has put 485 million horsepower into the hands of our loyal enthusiasts,” said Tim Kuniskis, who is in charge of passenger cars for FCA’s Dodge, SRT, Chrysler, and Fiat brands. “Dodge has more horsepower than anyone else, and we want to share it and give those who have always wanted more the ability to get more. The goal is to grow to a half-billion horsepower before the end of the year. This is what we believe John and Horace Dodge would want us to do.”
Considering that the most powerful automobile the Dodge brothers ever manufactured had but 35 hp, John and Horace are probably smiling somewhere.
