Dodge to replace V8 with turbocharged straight six?

Wednesday, 15 December 2021

The Challenger looks to be sticking around for another few years at least, but don’t expect its V8 soundtrack to last the same distance.

One way or the other, big gas-guzzling engines will go the way of the dodo. The expiry date is different all around the world, but it’s coming, and sooner rather than later.

Stellantis has pledged to electrify a huge amount of its vehicles, wanting more than 70 of its sales in Europe to come from low-emission vehicles (plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles) by 2030. The electrification goal extends to the US as well, although with a 40 per cent goal.

Dodge has teased its forthcoming first-ever electric muscle car. Yes, really.

Beyond that, European emissions regulations require all car manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions for private vehicles to an average of 95 grams per kilometre, taken as an average across an entire range.

That means carmakers are looking to smaller capacity engines with forced inductions, electrification, or both. And, for Dodge, that means the Hellcat engine will be put to pasture. We already knew that, though, as it set a death date of 2023 back in November.

**READ MORE:

The supercharged Hellcat is entering its final years.

* Farewell to the mighty Hellcat V8

* Dodge will drag muscle cars into the electric age

Should Dodge produce a new turbocharged straight-six, it will be going against the best in the business.

* From V8s to volts: How do American muscle brands transition to EVs?

But what will replace it? Dodge is working on an all-electric muscle car that will likely replace the 527kW/881 Hellcat, but there’s a good chance the carmaker won’t just offer the one version of the future Challenger.

Other versions will arrive, and to line up with Stellantis’ emissions and electrification goals, they will likely use smaller combustion engines, with a new rumour coming from StellPower suggesting that engine could be a brand new 2.9-litre inline-six.

It will almost certainly be turbocharged to beat the standard 5.7-litre V8’s output of around 280kW/556Nm (not to mention the V6) and could also be electrified to further reduce emissions and boost power.

It would be awesome to see a naturally aspirated version replace the V6 and a turbocharged/electrified version replace the V8 though… Could it be the next dream tuner’s engine?

And don’t say Dodge never built a straight-six, because the Hemi engine was built in straight-six form. Valiant Charger owners and fans know how good that engine was.

The unofficial source said that the Challenger will debut the new engine, before it makes its way to the Charger and next-gen Jeep Grand Cherokee.

This isn’t official, and neither Dodge nor Stellantis is saying anything just yet, which means it’s probably still at least a year away.