Photo: Stellantis
Given the iconic looks of cars like the Charger and Challenger, it’s fitting that Dodge just keeps winning awards for having an awesome image. This week, Kelley Blue Book announced the winners of the 2022 KBB Brand Image Awards, naming Dodge the Best Styling Brand for the fourth time in a row.
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Dodge has a pretty limited lineup compared to other brands, but when you’ve got aces in the hole like the Challenger, Charger, and Durango, you don’t need a whole lot of bloat. KBB.com praises Dodge for providing “retro-cool muscle car style for the next generation of car lovers,” and that fact helps the brand take home the website’s top honor for style once again.
And Dodge is backing up these accolades with cold, hard numbers. Last year, the Dodge Challenger hit sales of 54,314 units in the United States, giving it the crown of America’s bestselling muscle car for the first time in its history. This crowning achievement was also followed by an award win with the Challenger scoring an IHS Markit Automotive Loyalty award for sports cars.
Dodge just keeps working on enhancing that winning image, too. This year, it’s offering the Challenger SRT and Charger SRT in unique Jailbreak models. These incredible muscle cars give drivers tons of options for customization.
Dodge looks ahead to an electrifying future
When it comes to maintaining its image, Dodge will have quite a challenge on its hands come 2024. Dodge revealed last year that it will end production of the Challenger and Charger in about two years ahead of the launch of its first fully electric muscle car.
“I’m juggling knives because I’ve gotta keep two different huge factions happy because at some point those two factions will converge,” Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis told Motor Trend last year, speaking on those whole will embrace and reject electrification. “The problem is no one knows when they will converge. My job is to provide confidence, over the next 24 months, that we’re gonna do this.”
Dodge should preview its first EV this year with the reveal of a concept car, so we should have a pretty good idea how closely it hews to the brand’s iconic and award-wining styling.
Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.