The yellow splitter guards Dodge Charger and Challenger owners drive around with were never meant to be fashionable, as Dodge intended them as shipping protection to be removed by dealers. But they are, to the point that Dodge’s head designer said in October that a colour change was under consideration.
That colour change seems to have happened, via a recent story by Car and Driver. And oh shit, y’all, these bitches are now pink.
While Autotrader listings are still full of yellow splitter guards, even for 2020 models, Car and Driver spotted a photo of a pink one on Facebook and asked Fiat Chrysler about it. An FCA spokesperson sent the outlet a long statement about the guards, saying, emphasis ours, that they’re now pink and could shift to black in the future:
“The splitter guards on Dodge Charger and Challenger have taken on a life of their own. They originally made their debut in the 2015 model year to protect the performance fascias on SRT models during shipment from the manufacturing facility to the dealer, and, yes, they are designed to be removed before delivery. But today, they have their own Facebook page, and many of our performance enthusiasts have active debates on whether to keep or remove them. Some owners say they are even selling them in the aftermarket.
“Obviously, they weren’t part of the original design, so we started with yellow guards and shifted to pink, but they are still so popular that we may shift them yet again to black. Wherever we land, this is another example of how our customers are passionate about every part of their Dodge muscle cars.”
The guards, more formally called “air dam shipping covers,” have become the hottest—and most debated—mod on the Charger and Challenger scene despite not being a mod at all. They feature a “To Be Removed By Dealer” message, but a lot of people keep them on because they like the way they look.
Dodge’s head designer, Mark Trostle, said around the launch of the Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody in October that Dodge would change the guards to purple, and that he hoped the new colour wouldn’t take off. Trostle also had strong feelings about people who have chosen to keep the yellow ones on, saying: “I wish they would take them off. You’re just ruining the paint. They say ‘To Be Removed by Dealer.’ They’re there to ship the vehicle. To me, as a designer, it ruins the lines of the car.”
Perhaps the switch to pink has the same underlying intent as the plan for the purple guards did: to get people to take them off. This is the Brotherhood of Muscle, after all, and we can’t have any pink in here!
Just kidding. The pink is even better. May it reign eternal.