The transition of iconic vehicles to the electric era has been difficult until now. For years, Ford took heat for using the legendary sports car’s name in the Mustang Mach-E moniker. Chevrolet didn’t even try with the Camaro, instead killing the model.

Dodge, the car company that built much of its modern reputation on packing V8 engines into everything in its lineup, is launching a new all-electric sports car, the two- or four-door Charger Daytona.

The company will first offer for sale the most powerful and fastest vairnat, the twin-engine 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack with all-wheel drive and 670 horsepower (hp). Next year, it will be joined by the Daytona R/T electric charger with almost 500 hp.

Taking one of the brand’s icons and going electric is sure to put off some of the few remaining traditional muscle car buyers, but Dodge and its CEO Matt McAlear understand that if they can do it the Dodge way, it can work.

To test if it works, I headed to Arizona’s Radford Racing School as one of the first journalists invited by Dodge to test drive the car.

“At Dodge, we revel in being different and pushing the boundaries,” McAlear said. “We don’t tiptoe. We blow through it. We know who we are, we know what we stand for. And most people think we’re a little off, a little crazy, that’s fine. We’re more than happy to have 95 percent of the shopping population the public thinks we’re just there because if we stood for everybody, we’d stand for nothing.”

Dodge has not lost a step in the development of its powertrain. The trick with electric vehicles is to hide the extra weight of the battery, and most of the time (Auto, Sport, Track and Drag driving modes) the Charger Daytona does it well. Taking advantage of the Donut ride mode on a small track created to test the Charger Daytona Scat Pack’s gliding ability is the only time the 5,700 pounds actually felt heavy.

McAleer said the new Charger needs four things to be a true Dodge: It has to look, feel, drive and sound like a Dodge. The look is handled by exterior designer Scott Krugger and the team, and it definitely hits the mark.

Looking at the sheetmetal, the two-door electric muscle car looks like a Charger and Challenger having a baby. Four-door and combustion engine versions will follow next year, all on the same new STLA Large platform. All feature the new R-duct, similar to the new Ferrari and Chevrolet sports cars, which allows for a low grille opening that increases nose downforce and reduces partial wind resistance at the front of the vehicle.

The side profile looks more like a Challenger, although this vehicle is larger and has more passenger space than the previous model. But he has the same low-to-the-ground stance and looks fast while standing still. At the rear, there’s a brighter, full ring-shaped taillight like the last-generation Charger sedan.

Descending into the low-slung cabin, the new EV muscle car also feels like a Dodge, with red and black accents, ambient mood lighting that changes with drive modes, and a new pistol-grip shifter with an ignition button directly behind it. The rear seats are much larger than the outgoing Challenger, which was already one of the most comfortable rears of a two-door vehicle.

The cockpit is tilted towards the driver and the warm glow of the ambient lights bathes the cabin in red. There are several options for the seats, including new high-back, hard-shell units, although we only tested the mid-priced versions, which are powered and heated, wide and comfortable for all body types (although they didn’t hold me in place through fast corners like I would have liked wished).

The graphics on the 16-inch digital instrument cluster will look familiar to Dodge drivers. The 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen has Performance Pages with gauges and timers like the Challenger, along with a screen to customize driving modes. It feels familiar and natural, and everything you need is at your fingertips with a few button presses in the top menu. Red and black Dodge accents and interfere with the screen graphics.

The perforated, angular steering wheel was comfortable when driving hard on Arizona desert roads, featuring buttons to control driving modes, adaptive cruise control, menus and Power Shot, which unlocks maximum performance for 10 seconds.

Maximum performance is what makes this Dodge drive like a real Dodge. No, it’s not a 707- or 808-horsepower Hellcat, but thanks to all-wheel drive and two 335-hp electric motors, the new Charger Daytona Scat Pack is quicker to 60 mph. With the launch control on, it takes just 3.3 seconds, enough to get the heart racing and the guts clumping in the back of the ribcage.

It’s not fast just from rest. If you hit the gas on the expressway and were already going 70 mph, you could hit triple digits in a matter of seconds.

Six-piston front and four-piston rear brakes slow the car superbly.

Drive modes adjust throttle position, steering strength, adaptive suspension (four settings) and the amount of power available. Auto and Sport modes unlock 630bhp (with Power Shot adding another 40bhp), while Track mode maxes out at 535bhp. Only Drag mode allows for a full 670 ponies without using Power Shot.

On the road at the dry and dusty Radford Race School, the Dodge showed that it could surpass its predecessors in terms of speed and braking. However, with equally driven axles and all-wheel drive, the front wheels start to slip long before the rears, and no amount of additional throttle would bring the rears up. That’s a problem the Hellcats didn’t have. The Daytona, on the other hand, positively exits a corner once the wheels are pointed in the right direction.

Fratzonic artificial exhaust technology revs up the city. The system features dual extreme bandwidth speakers coupled to dual passive Fratzonic chamber radiators housed in their own cabinet and powered by a dedicated amplifier. It works in concert with input from the driver and the vehicle, meaning it’s ear-splittingly loud when driving fast, and makes a wild revving sound when you hit the pedal in park or neutral. The tones change with the driving modes, with Drag being the loudest.

At a traffic light, in one of those loud modes, I stopped to point out the nature of muscle cars and what really matters. Is it really fast? Yes. Does it look angry? Yes. Is it loud enough to bother the neighbors? No question. Does this sound like a Dodge? Absolutely.

The new Dodge is the only electric muscle car on the market today. The 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T will come in at $59,595 and $73,190 for the Daytona Scat Pack. He is currently eligible for a $7,500 IRA tax credit, but only for the lease.

Dodge still sells Gas Chargers and Challengers, and has a new Gas Charger on the way, which means the Daytona’s competition will most likely come from in-house (and maybe a bit from Ford’s Mustang).

The trick will be convincing the traditional muscle car buyer. The fact that it looks, feels, drives and sounds like a Dodge means that a test drive will go a long way with skeptics.