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Love it or hate it, the Dodge Daytona Scat Pack EV has quickly earned the title of America’s most powerful muscle car. Some might disagree with this, thinking, “How can an EV be a muscle car?” In our minds, muscle is a measure of a vehicle’s character, starting with its performance specs and extending to the look and feel of a model. In this regard, the Daytona carries on the muscle car legacy with ease, even if the sound could use a little more work. Today, it has become a bargain that’s impossible to ignore.

Thanks to some impressive incentives, the Daytona Scat Pack’s effective base price has dropped to $59,935, helping it slide directly underneath the Mustang Dark Horse’s $64,380 base price. The Dark Horse is the most powerful muscle car you can buy in 2025, with a V8 that isn’t named GTD. While it’s a compelling piece of machinery, it doesn’t hold a candle to the power the Scat Pack offers. However, the Daytona may not be such a great deal for much longer, so let’s look at the specifics of this great opportunity.

Dodge’s New Era Of Muscle

Few automakers have managed to capture the spirit of the American muscle car as well as Dodge over the last two decades. The company debuted the LX platform and never looked back, upping the ante time and time again with larger Hemi V8 powertrains, improved looks, and more power. The company worked hard to make the third-generation Challenger into becoming a performance icon, and for that, we’re forever grateful.

Dodge

However, times have changed. The LX platform is gone, replaced by the STLA Large platform, and the new Dodge Charger Daytona has taken the place of both the Charger and the Challenger, arriving with throwback two-door styling. A four-door arrives later this year. It packs rear- and all-wheel drivetrains, and, most importantly, electrification. Arriving last year, the model has electrification in two flavors – R/T and Scat Pack – both with AWD courtesy of an electric motor in the front and in the rear. Coupled with a divisive Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust note, responses varied from optimistic to downright hateful.

The Charger Daytona certainly looks the part, with a wide, planted stance, a squared-off nose. The aggressive coupe profile features unique details, including the Fratzog logo, which ties into the brand’s history. The interior is a combination of screens and high-quality materials, and we’re excited to see how the company incorporates color schemes and textures in future versions.

Dodge

Is the Daytona EV a good car? From our experience, it’s impressive. While there’s heft from the added weight of the electric powertrain, the immediate torque available from the electric motors practically erases it, giving it effortless acceleration that borders on the absurd when you manage to lock up the Scat Pack. The R/T is also good, but the trim leaves you wanting in a few areas. The model’s poor sales, combined with the new tariffs, have meant that version is dead for 2026, although it may return at some point in the future.

Don’t worry, the Scat Pack EV is the version you want anyway, and it stacks up effortlessly well to its main rival: the Mustang Dark Horse.

Muscle Car Specs In An EV Package

When it comes to muscle cars, the defining metric is “muscle”. Looks, handling, sound; all of that plays second fiddle to the amount of horsepower the car is pushing to the wheels, and luckily, the Daytona Scat Pack delivers this in spades. Thanks to a high-output version of its dual-motor setup, it pushes 630 horsepower and 620 lb-ft of torque to the wheels, putting competitors like the Dark Horse to shame in a straight line.

Dodge

Ford

That’s not all, either, because when you reach for the Power Shot button on the steering wheel, the car unlocks an additional 30 horsepower and 27 lb-ft of torque, dropping the 0-60 mph time down to approximately 3.3 seconds. A time like this used to be strictly reserved for supercars, and some publications have actually achieved even faster, so it democratizes performance and levels the playing field for drivers of all skill levels.

The 5.0-liter Coyote V8, while magnificent, produces only 500 horsepower and 418 lb-ft of torque, which is sent strictly to the rear wheels through a limited-slip differential. With your choice of either a six-speed manual transmission or a 10-speed automatic, you can expect a 0-60 mph time of 4.1 seconds and 3.7 seconds, respectively. These sprints are off from the Scat Pack’s time. The times are also only achievable when the car is paired with the sticker Pirelli Trofeo RS tires as part of the handling package, a package that will bring the model awfully close to $70,000.

However, there is more to the story than just the powertrains. The Mustang also features items such as engine coolers, a K-brace, performance-enhancing powertrain calibration, MagneRide adaptive dampers, large Brembo brakes, and six different drive modes. All together, it adds up to one of the sharpest sports cars on the road today, easily rivaling cars nearly double its price in terms of performance and driver enjoyment.

The Scat Pack certainly rivals it, with a similar adaptive suspension and Brembo brakes, along with four different drive modes. However, the available tires aren’t as extreme. However, its raw power makes up for it. Ask anyone who’s driven one: the car drives much smaller than it looks, with an uncanny ability to corner and slingshot out that doesn’t really make sense for something that weighs close to 6,000 lbs.

The Dark Horse may be a little more lithe, but it isn’t as well-equipped, especially when it comes to comfort and luxury features, such as an upgraded sound system, head-up display, and leather and suede performance seats. If you want these items, you’ll have to move up to the Dark Horse Premium to get them, but that means you’ll be paying over $70,000 for your Mustang when it’s all said and done, and that’s before any added options.

The $7,500 Tax Credit Is A Piece Of The Discount Puzzle

Dodge

However, as we said before, the price of the Dodge Daytona Scat Pack EV as of August 2025 is a mere $59,935 when incentives are factored in, and this price includes the $1,995 handling fee. When you add in the extra $1,995 handling fee to the Dark Horse, its price rises to $66,375 before options. That’s a difference of $6,440. Add in a $7,750 National Retail Consumer Cash incentive, knocking $15,250 off the $73,190 MSRP and dropping it below $60,000, and you have one shockingly good deal.

This price even helps the 2025 Scat Pack undercut the 2026 two-door model, which has dropped in price to $59,995 before destination.

The Charger EV is a much better buy than the Mustang if you’re looking for horsepower per dollar, and it is generally a great value all around. However, it’s important to note that these incentives have a few caveats.

First, the Dodge Daytona EV doesn’t currently qualify for the EV Tax Credit at the point of sale, only when leased. This may be a deal-breaker for some. However, when we’re talking about an expensive, and sometimes temperamental, electric vehicle, we imagine most buyers would want the added peace of mind that comes with a lease. Additionally, the $7,750 National Retail Consumer Cash is only factored in if you take delivery by 9/2/2025, so you have to pick a model off the lot before Labor Day Weekend, and, unfortunately for Dodge, that likely shouldn’t be a problem.

The Combustion Daytonas Are Coming

Dodge

Dodge had great expectations for the Charger Daytona EV, but the model hasn’t been the hit the company hoped for. Many dealer lots are full of models. Plus, the R/T trim is going away, and as you can see above, the company is offering incentives to help reduce inventory before the combustion models arrive this fall, making things much more complicated.

From the beginning, we’d known the company was planning on releasing a Charger Daytona with an engine, as this was one of the benefits of building it on the STLA Large platform. After a long wait, the company unveiled the model in all of its glory earlier this month, along with some general changes coming to the Daytona as it enters 2026. Dubbed the Charger Sixpack thanks to the twin-turbo Hurricane inline-six under the hood, it comes in two versions – a 420-hp standard-output R/T and a 550-hp high-output Scat Pack – with the latter arriving in just a couple of months and the former arriving early next year.

However, the biggest news may still be ahead. Over the past few months, Dodge and its sister brands have been unabashed about their desire to resurrect the HEMI V8s, ever since the ousting of CEO Carlos Tavares made it a possibility, and slowly but surely, it’s starting to happen. Ram has already reintroduced the engines back to the 1500, and according to reports from earlier this year, Dodge is already planning on reintroducing the V8 back into its muscle car.

Stellantis

Dodge hasn’t confirmed these rumors beyond saying the V8 will fit in the car, and when pressed about it by Car and Driver, a spokesperson only offered that “Multi-energy options have always been a part of the plan… Beyond that, we have nothing further to share about the next-gen Charger lineup.” A cautious answer, but not an outright denial.

If we had to venture a guess at whether it’s actually going to happen, our answer lands somewhere between “definitely” and “certainly”, with only the smallest chance of “indubitably”. We bet Dodge would much rather be debuting a V8 Daytona to the world this fall instead of an inline-six one, but given the platform was never meant for a V8, it was always going to take some time to engineer it to fit them.

However, even when they do arrive, anything outside a Hellcat will still pale in comparison to the Scat Pack EV, a 670-horsepower monster value that is the best muscle car steal in America in 2025.

Sources: Dodge, Ford, Car & Driver