Farewell to the mighty Hellcat V8
Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Dodge’s muscle car future has already been confirmed to be a largely electric one, but it will also be a Hellcat-less one after 2023, with Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis telling Motor Authority 'I will have this car, this platform, this powertrain as we know it through the end of '23. There's two more years to buy a Hellcat, then it's history.'
Since it was launched in 2015, the mighty 6.2-litre supercharged Hellcat V8 has been fitted to a variety of Dodges, including the Challenger SRT, Charger SRT and Durango SRT, as well as the Ram 1500 TRX pick-up and Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.
The Jeep was the only vehicle fitted with the Hellcat engine to officially be sold in New Zealand (although the Ram is rumoured to be coming), where it packed a hefty 522kW of power and 868Nm of torque.
The absolute top-dog, however, was the drag-tuned Dodge Challenger SRT Demon that belted out a remarkable 626kW and 1043Nm to the rear wheels and had a 0-60mph (97kmh) sprint time of just 2.4 seconds (which is roughly the same as a Formula 1 car), and is the only road-legal production car that could lift its front wheels from a standing start…
**READ MORE:
* Dodge will drag muscle cars into the electric age
* Meet 'Hellacious', a mid-engined Dodge that is both fast and furious
* From V8s to volts: How do American muscle brands transition to EVs?
* How fast does a Jeep really need to go?
**
Kuniskis told Motor Authority that getting the supercharged V8 to meet emission regulations wasn’t a problem yet, but that the brand needed to draw a line in the sand, saying 'You can still meet emissions with these cars. You're going to pay a lot of compliance fines”, so starting in 2024, the brand is moving on from the Hellcat era with “new platforms, new cars, and electrification.”
While Dodge has already said it will show a concept version of a new electric muscle car due in 2024 (which we can now assume is the replacement for the Charger or Challenger Hellcat), Kuniskis revealed that the concept EV will be a full-on working model “capable of high performance driving.”
Kuniskis said Dodge plans to 'do electrification different than everybody else. That's why I'm waiting, until I have all my patents done.”
In an earlier interview with Automotive News, Kuniskis said Dodge had the capability to launch an EV with 1,200 hp (882kW) but it wouldn't make the car any quicker than what it already offers, as there would be “too much wheelspin”. The video the company released to tease the electric muscle car shows that it will be AWD, complete with lots of wheelspin.
Dodge will also introduce a plug-in hybrid in 2022 that Kuniskis confirmed will be a “new, new car” and not an electrified version of a current car, while a third big reveal will also occur in 2022, with Kuniskis only saying 'You're going to be excited about it.”