After making a splash in 2022 with the Charger Daytona SRT Concept, Dodge posted “spy” photos of a pre-production 2025 Charger at a testing facility.
While we only have five images of this pre-production model — and no interior pictures — let’s see how the 2025 Charger differs from the concept.
In case you’re not aware, concept cars are often just that: conceptual. They appear at auto shows to show off what an automaker thinks or wants the future to look like, but they’re rarely functional vehicles and often boast real or imagined features that aren’t likely or even legal on a road-going vehicle in the U.S. (think cameras instead of side mirrors, new interior materials, fully autonomous driving and more).
The Charger Daytona SRT Concept, it was a fully electric muscle car with crazy aerodynamics, a futuristic 2+2 interior with four bucket seats and, oh yeah, one of the wildest exhaust notes we’ve ever heard on any vehicle, let alone an all-electric one that needs to simulate that sound.
Familiar Taillights
The pre-production Charger, from the rear, looks very similar to pre-2015 facelift Chargers, with what appear to be two square lighting elements split by the trunk lid plus a surrounding element. The concept car’s taillights were one seemingly continuous loop around the back of the vehicle, giving it a cleaner look. The third taillight that was absent from the concept is nigh impossible to spot on the pre-production car, but it’s likely there and near the roofline.
Similar Front Lighting, Narrower Width
Up front, the pre-production car has what looks to be very similar headlights to the concept and looks like it has an illuminated “Fratzog” badge in the center of its grille, too. The overall look, however, appears to be narrower than the concept car and more in line with the width of the current Charger, which just ended production. That car wasn’t exactly small, but the concept dwarfed it.
Fuel or Charge Port
One of the nice things about concept cars is that they don’t need to be functional, so designers can leave off necessary things like a fuel or charging port. Not so for production and pre-production vehicles, which need electricity or fuel to move. To that end, the pre-production Charger has a door on the left rear quarter for either charging or gas — and we say either because despite the concept car being all-electric, Dodge has said the production Charger will still have gasoline engines. Regrettably, high-power gas versions likely won’t be a V-8, the bread and butter of the Charger and Challenger for pretty much as long as they’ve existed. Sigh. We don’t see any exhaust tips on this pre-production model, so it’s more likely that this is a charging door, but the tailpipes could also be hidden for now.
Wheels
While the concept car wrapped its meaty tires around fancy, turbofan-esque center-lock wheels, the pre-production car in these images appears to have all-black wheels we’ve seen on past modern Chargers and Challengers alike. It’s possible and very likely the production version will have unique wheels we haven’t seen before, possibly even a version of the concept’s, but it’s unlikely they’ll be center-locking; those are usually reserved for high-performance, money-is-no-object vehicles and not a daily-driving muscle car.
Aero?
A very cool feature on the Charger Daytona SRT Concept was its “R-Wing” up front. With no gas engine under the hood, Dodge was able to sculpt out a recess at the front of the hood area that allowed air to pass through the grille and then up over the hood to help the car cut through the air and keep the nose stuck to the ground. There appears to be some sculpting on the pre-production model’s hood, but it’s hard to tell if it’s the crazy full pass-through aero of the concept. An artful section of barbed wire in the foreground of one picture and no overhead shot doesn’t help our investigation. Not needing to shove a colossal V-8 under the hood makes it more likely to be a feature on both electric and gas versions, though.
With no interior shots, but it’s more likely to have seating for five instead of four, less ambient lighting and a traditional roof instead of the concept’s mostly glass greenhouse. That said, the previous Charger and Challenger had very dated interiors, so the new Charger will probably land somewhere in between. We also have no running footage or sounds of the pre-production model, so no word yet on its gasoline exhaust note or if the bonkers Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust survived to production.
