Thanks to all the enthusiasts for helping make this a reality…
It’s always great to see when a brand appeals to enthusiasts, gets tremendous support from the community, then turns around and stabs everyone in the back. I’m talking about automakers shutting down just anyone tuning vehicles, providing access to only a select few. We’ve seen Chevy do that with the C8 Corvette and Ford will do the same with the S650 Mustang. Joining them will be Dodge with its future electric muscle cars.
Check out the quickest stick shift in the world here.
In a move that’s disappointing but hardly shocking, Dodge will be shutting down the aftermarket. The excuse up to this point has always been that these connected vehicles need to have the tightest security possible so some teenage punk sitting in Konya, Turkey can’t just ram it into a tree at speed or some such thing.
However, it’s obvious this move allows automakers to line their pockets by taking away from the aftermarket. Perhaps this is why some have been pulling away from SEMA since they no longer have to wine and dine all these companies which have a reputation for not wanting to be controlled.
Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis spilled the beans on this move during an interview he did with Carscoops, which quickly pointed out the aftermarket will still be able to make chassis and cosmetic modifications for future Dodge EVs – a fact we’re sure the aftermarket companies are just so very relieved to realize.
Quite frankly, we’re not sure what kinds of modifications one would want to do to an EV anyway. When people “tune” Teslas it’s usually cosmetic and chassis mods, so does this really change anything?
Also, it sounds like this won’t affect the ICE muscle cars moving forward. However, Dodge hasn’t been entirely clear on what will be powering those models, a fact which could either get enthusiasts excited or just feel like we’re repeating the worst parts of the 1970s.
Any way you cut it, this desire on the part of automakers to control what you can do with the car you pay plenty of money to own is disturbing. Hopefully this trend doesn’t continue but it likely will until people not only get loud but vote with their money.
Source: Carscoops
Photos via Stellantis
