Dodge and Ram took two of the 15 MotorWeek Drivers’ Choice awards, while General Motors won the best choice of the year with its Chevrolet Equinox EV. The editors noted that the Equinox has a range of over 300 miles with a price starting under $35,000; its Ultium batteries can be repaired after a crash.
Stellantis did not play in some of the categories, such as “family car” or “sport sedan” (the Charger sedan is not yet out).
The Dodge Charger Daytona won the Best Sport Coupe class, an impressive win given the various Ford Mustang trims and competition from BMW, Mercedes, Genesis, and others. The editors wrote that it was the first fully electric vehicle to win one of their awards categories:
And if you think swapping the HEMI for batteries and electric motors would somehow neuter Dodge’s obnoxious attitude, you’d be wrong, as they delivered a 670-horsepower beast that roars with the same attitude and sounds as every genuine muscle car that’s been rolling out of Detroit since the 1960s. It’s an EV that only Dodge could build, and we’re awfully glad they did.
The Ram 1500 took the best fullsize truck award; the editors wrote, “the Ram’s new top power choice, the twin-turbo Hurricane inline-6, quickly made us a believer. Ram truck guys willing to buy into the boosted I6 won’t be missing the HEMI for long.”
Other classes included performance car, small, midsized, large, and luxury utility, EV, and small truck (Colorado/Canyon). There was no minivan class, leaving the only Chrysler out of the competition; and other Stellantis marques, including Jeep, did not win awards.
David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.
David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.
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