Dodge Challenger and Charger Hellcat won't be removed from the lineup before 2024
Dodge Challenger and Charger Hellcat won't be removed from the lineup before 2024
Publié 26 août 2021
Unlike most endangered species, environmentalists won't protect the Hellcat. Still, it seems Dodge was able to save his beloved engine for another 3 years since the American manufacturer recently confirmed the Challenger and The Charger Hellcat will still be around up until 2024. Why 2024, you say? This is also related to another Dodge story since the brand is going to launch its first all-electric muscle car for 2024. Everything makes sense when you bring these 2 news together. Dodge is planning on replacing the Hellcat with a new, mighty electric motor, or is it? There is no official report saying the Hellcat engine will be killed after 2024, so at the end of the day, this unique engine might stick with Stellantis for a couple more years. I'm not the one who's going to complain about that for sure!
As you might know, the Charger, the Challenger, and the Chrysler 300 are all based on the same ancient platform. Most new car stays on the market for 5 or 6 years before getting a complete makeover where the youngest of the 3 American muscle car is already 13 years old. Think about it, 13 years ago, Tesla was this little company that made some weird electric car based on a Lotus platform, and the Nissan Leaf was about the best electric car you could get on the market. Things have changed since then, but the Charger, the Challenger, and the 300 are still there, and they are selling better than ever. I don't think there is any logical reason for that other than the fact that most customers prefer big old V8 over smaller and more efficient engines. Don't get me wrong here; innovation is essential, but it's also expensive, but this makes newer cars less fun to drive for the price where you can buy astonishing and raw power American muscle car for cheap.
A New Platform for 2024
Even if the Charger and the Challenger have been sold under Chrysler, FCA, and Stellantis, they never really changed from their base concept. Of Course, they've gotten better and more powerful with time, but the thing is, they remained the same underneath. Tim Kuniskis, the current Dodge brand boss, stated a new platform will be coming in 2024 in a recent interview with Muscle Cars and Trucks. He also clearly mentioned the « current car won't necessarily die in 2024 .» Dodge CEO was clear about the fact « new and old model could be offered at the same time in Dodge lineup .»
If you read between the lines here, what Tim Kuniskis is saying is basically they don't have a plan yet to end the Charger and the Challenger Hellcat because they sell so well. If their popularity continues to grow after 2024, why would they remove them from their lineup? Right now, the Hellcat sales are so lucrative that Stellantis can buy green credit from Tesla and still make a profit out of every sale. In my opinion, as long electric vehicles will remain this expensive to be manufactured, and American muscle cars with V8 will stay so popular, manufactured ones won't let them go away for the sake of saving the environment, which is basically a political argument.
What about the other models?
The Charger and the Challenger aren't the only models that offer the Hellcat engine in their lineup. The Dodge Durango, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the RAM TRX also benefit from the 700+ hp 6.2L supercharged V8.
I think we live in a perfect era for car enthusiasts right now since you can get everything from a 700 hp muscle car with a V8 to an all-electric hypercar with 2000 hp or even a really fun to drive hybrid car with average horsepower.
Like many of you, I don't want to see V8's goes away. There's nothing like driving a muscle car. Anyways, we can't expect things to stay like that forever. However, looking at the past can be reassuring since there is a huge market for old muscle cars and even cars before that era. So even if we are unable to buy a new V8's muscle car after 2030, let's say there will still be plenty of options on the used car market for at least the next 60 years.
Jean-Sébastien Poudrier