How do American muscle brands transition to EVs?

From California to New York to Washington, regulators increasingly are looking to phase out gasoline-powered cars in favor of electrics. That could pose challenges for some legacy Detroit brands.

Take Dodge for example.

The performance brand has built its current lineup on V-8 powered Challenger and Charger muscle cars harkening back to the company's 1960s muscle-car roots. Dodge's earth-shaking 700-horsepower Hellcat engines have pulled buyers into showrooms. Even the three-row Durango family-hauler has a Hellcat option.

But can Dodge convince customers to buy stealthy battery-powered machines that announce themselves on cat's paws instead of with thunder?

"We are really in the infancy of where we're going to go as an industry," Dodge marketing chief Matt McAlear said trackside at the Durango Hellcat's media debut in November.

"We're not going to be able to change it — electrification is the future, and that's what gets us out of bed is to continue to build this brand and make sure it evolves. Who knows where we are going to go? Maybe sound is piped in, maybe it's a more modular design on skateboard architectures."

Dodge has bucked the trend of declining sedan sales over the last five years by positioning itself as anything but a boring commodity product, McAlear said.

"We stand out in a crowd. It's about our signature sound in our exhaust to our signature colors that you can't get anywhere else."

Sound is a big challenge. The distinctive melody of the supercharger-fed Hellcat engine is core to the brand. It's the soundtrack to Dodge's marketing pitch. But Dodge could follow the lead of other builders of electric performance cars, and broadcast the roar of a lusty V-8 into the cockpit via the cars' sound systems.

Government and cultural trends in the last decade have pushed automakers to tout their fuel-efficient hybrids and safety qualifications. Dodge has achieved its success, say analysts, by positioning itself as a counterculture brand that thumbs its nose at politeness. Dodge's 459,000 unit sales in 2019 dwarfed the 242,000 of all EVs combined in the U.S.

"They have cultivated a position that goes against general trends," said Karl Brauer, executive analyst with ISeeCars.com. "It has created a brand with very strong identity, with good results in sales and consumer quality ratings."

But states like California are moving counter to the trend. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order ending sales of new cars with internal-combustion engines by 2035. A Biden White House is expected to move toward a more carbon-neutral policy.

"Brands like Dodge will be the most threatened," Brauer said.