Loud, fast, thirsty and full of harmful emissions; words usually used to describe the cars from Dodge. However, petrolheads may be surprised by the arrival of the Dodge Circuit EV – an all-electric, high performance sports coupe.
Strikingly similar in exterior design to the Lotus Europa, the Dodge Circuit EV looks sleek but extrovert in the colour ‘Tangoreen’. Using sculpted bodylines, wind flows effortlessly over the rounded snout, along the low, long bonnet and cleanly over the raked cockpit, boosting the aerodynamics to boost performance.
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The body sides feature a deep scallop, providing visual depth that adds a degree of aggression. In fact, the whole car is intended to develop on the Europa and have ‘bold Dodge styling’ according to Ralph Gilles, Chrysler’s design vice president.
Dodge’s all electric motor will whisk you from 0-60mph in under 5sec, have the quarter mile covered in under 13sec and onto its 120mph top speed. These figures are very respectable indeed, especially considering the environment will be unharmed as the Circuit EV uses zero amounts of fuel and consequently produces zero emissions. In the current quest for sports cars that are attractive to the consumer and ‘green’ the Dodge is looking very strong.
The Dodge Circuit EV uses a 268bhp electric motor to drive the wheels, an advanced lithium-ion battery system to power the electric-drive motor and has a driving range of 150-200 miles between charges.
As an alternative, Tesla offers the Roadster sport. It seems the Lotus connection continues, as Tesla uses Lotus parts in the production of its Roadster. Priced perhaps outside the reach of many at 112,000 Euros (plus VAT) this electric vehicle shows a clean pair of heels to the Dodge with 288bhp and 0-60mph arriving in 3.7sec.
Competition between manufacturers can only be healthy and advantageous for the consumers, who are demanding zero emission, fast and attractive sports cars. Dodge and Tesla have just given us a couple, as has Fisker with its Karma and Karma S.
Read more about the stars of the Detroit motor show.
