Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat: Meet America's Next Top Muscle Car

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Mopar fans, this is the one you’ve been waiting for. Dodge has officially announced the 6.2L Supercharged SRT Hellcat Challenger with “more than 600 horsepower”. Now that the Shelby GT500 is gone, this is officially America’s most powerful muscle car.

While Dodge announced a whole new Challenger lineup at this year’s New York Auto Show, the Hellcat was notably absent – perhaps due to the reorganization of FCA’s brands, and the suspicion surrounding the Hellcat’s place in either the SRT or Dodge brand.

But now that SRT is no longer a standalone brand, the Hellcat remains a dodge, and the 6.4L Supercharged engine will make its way into other SRT vehicles. The Challenger Hellcat will get a choice of either a 6-speed manual or an 8-speed automatic, and buyers will get two key fobs. A red one unlocks full power, while a black one limits the engine’s power, while also allowing for a valet mode to disable launch control, lock out first gear and impose a lower redline.


Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Burgersandbeer Burgersandbeer on May 21, 2014

    Too big, too heavy, too ostentatious. I'm starting to really like it though. RWD, manual transmission, great sounding V8, excellent interior (2015) that can even carry people and luggage, and a quiet cruiser. They even have a brown interior now! Do you have to spring for the Hellcat to get the brown seats? My practical side will likely win, but Dodge is doing everything in their power to tempt me with the Challenger.

    • See 1 previous
    • Burgersandbeer Burgersandbeer on May 22, 2014

      @nrd515 Brown for the interior, as pictured in this story. Definitely not for the exterior on a Challenger (or most any car).

  • Luvmyv8 Luvmyv8 on May 21, 2014

    This is cool and all, but having the Charger with this and a manual transmission..... now that thought makes me giddy.

  • TheEndlessEnigma These cars were bought and hooned. This is a bomb waiting to go off in an owner's driveway.
  • Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Thankfully I don't have to deal with GDI issues in my Frontier. These cleaners should do well for me if I win.
  • Theflyersfan Serious answer time...Honda used to stand for excellence in auto engineering. Their first main claim to fame was the CVCC (we don't need a catalytic converter!) engine and it sent from there. Their suspensions, their VTEC engines, slick manual transmissions, even a stowing minivan seat, all theirs. But I think they've been coasting a bit lately. Yes, the Civic Type-R has a powerful small engine, but the Honda of old would have found a way to get more revs out of it and make it feel like an i-VTEC engine of old instead of any old turbo engine that can be found in a multitude of performance small cars. Their 1.5L turbo-4...well...have they ever figured out the oil dilution problems? Very un-Honda-like. Paint issues that still linger. Cheaper feeling interior trim. All things that fly in the face of what Honda once was. The only thing that they seem to have kept have been the sales staff that treat you with utter contempt for daring to walk into their inner sanctum and wanting a deal on something that isn't a bare-bones CR-V. So Honda, beat the rest of your Japanese and Korean rivals, and plug-in hybridize everything. If you want a relatively (in an engineering way) easy way to get ahead of the curve, raise the CAFE score, and have a major point to advertise, and be able to sell to those who can't plug in easily, sell them on something that will get, for example, 35% better mileage, plug in when you get a chance, and drives like a Honda. Bring back some of the engineering skills that Honda once stood for. And then start introducing a portfolio of EVs once people are more comfortable with the idea of plugging in. People seeing that they can easily use an EV for their daily errands with the gas engine never starting will eventually sell them on a future EV because that range anxiety will be lessened. The all EV leap is still a bridge too far, especially as recent sales numbers have shown. Baby steps. That's how you win people over.
  • Theflyersfan If this saves (or delays) an expensive carbon brushing off of the valves down the road, I'll take a case. I understand that can be a very expensive bit of scheduled maintenance.
  • Zipper69 A Mini should have 2 doors and 4 cylinders and tires the size of dinner plates.All else is puffery.
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