America's Hottest Sedan Reveals Its Price

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Beneath the Dodge Charger, you’ll find evidence of America’s oldest sedan, but it’s what’s up front that counts. Traditionally stuffed with as much muscle as Fiat Chrysler (and its predecessors) can muster, the aging Charger gets a testosterone injection for 2021 with the SRT Hellcat Redeye.

Familiar to Challenger aficionados, Redeye guise takes the already overly potent Hellcat and dials up the output — and also the price. If you can be swayed away from the “power dollars” offered on remaining 2020 models, the most powerful of these LX-platform sedans has what it takes to win shallow bragging rights for the buyer.

FCA thanks them for their contribution.

You’ve surely already read about the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye, so we’ll only mention that its Demon-ized 6.2-liter V8 gains a hardware upgrade that’s good for 797 horsepower and 707 lb-ft of torque. That’s a decent yet completely impractical climb from the stock Hellcat (which gains 10 ponies for 2021, taking it to 717 hp and 650 lb-ft), ensuring that no buyer’s teenage offspring will ever have to catch a lobbed fob ahead of their big date.

As expected, this exclusive level of power comes backed up with price. With destination fee factored in, the Charger Redeye clears the $80k mark by 90 bucks, placing it $9,000 north of the SRT Hellcat.

It’s worth noting that the base SXT rear-drive sedan starts at $29,995 before destination, making this variant more than two-and-a-half times pricier. Worth it? That’s for consumers to decide. The weaker, one-year-only 2021 Durango Hellcat starts $1,500 above than the Charger Redeye, so choosing the sedan seems like the economical choice for fast families, if you want to look at it that way. The 702 hp Ram TRX is $9k cheaper, but that bouncy off-road rig only generates 702 hp. You’ll be laughed out of the PTA meeting.

If you’re reading this from Canada, prepare to emit a short, sharp cry. Up north, the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye carries an after-destination sticker of $106,140. Good thing the economy’s doing well!

Stuffing aging models with gas-swilling power monsters has never been more popular at FCA, with the automaker no doubt hoping to wring as much cash as possible from the Greenpeace-offending gambit while it can. With next-generation full-sizers looming on a distant (and still hazy) horizon and environmental regulations only growing stricter, customers know that there might not be much time left for throwbacks like these. Make hay, and all that.

[Images: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Allen Fischer It all started with the 1973 Arab oil embargo. High gas prices made people look to the Japanese for fuel efficiency, then realized the other benefits, like longevity. The Toyota Camry has many times been seen as "the most Ameican made car" in the U.S. I own one and question why "the big three" have not been duplicate this, its just a car. Toyota and Honda have lean business models and know how to "trim the fat". May the lean survive!
  • SCE to AUX If Pontiac died by 1000 cuts, this had to be at least 10 of them.
  • Bd2 Another excellent article Murilee, I have always admired the engineering, quality and styling of these vehicles and credit their inspiration with the legendary Hyundai Tiburon which can fetch low six figures these days at private auctions.
  • Ravenuer Looking forward to it!
  • Daniel J I love my mazda 6. It's getting harder and harder to drive it around where I live as municipalities fail to repair roads. SUVs are just easier to drive with all of the potholes.
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