Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

Challenger SRT Hellcat at a glance

The Hellcat is a version of the Dodge Challenger; its four-door twin is the Charger SRT Hellcat, and its drag-racing relative is the Challenger SRT Demon.

The launch in 2014

Dodge announced the output on 1 July 2014 at Auburn Hills, Michigan: 527 kW (707 hp) and 881 Nm (650 lb-ft). The press release described the engine as the first factory supercharged Hemi and the car as Dodge's most powerful V8, the most powerful Challenger and the most powerful muscle car ever. Cars reached dealers in the third quarter of 2014 as 2015 models.

The Hellcat sat at the top of a revised range. The SXT used a 224 kW (300 hp) Pentastar V6, the R/T a 5.7-litre Hemi, and the Scat Pack a 6.4-litre Hemi with 362 kW (485 hp) and 644 Nm (475 lb-ft). The 2015 model year also brought an interior inspired by the 1971 Challenger and the new TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic.

Inside the Hellcat Hemi

EngineLabs described the engine in detail when it was announced. Dodge said 91 % of its parts were new compared with the 392 (6.4-litre) Hemi.

The car came with two key fobs. With the black fob the engine was limited to about 373 kW (500 hp); only the red fob released the full output.

Hellcat, Redeye and Super Stock

The Redeye of 2019 added 66 kW (90 hp) over the standard Hellcat of the same year. The Widebody package arrived in 2019 for the Scat Pack, the Hellcat and the Redeye. The Jailbreak option was added for the Redeye Widebody in 2022 and extended to all SRT Challengers for 2023. Of the related Demon, only 3,300 were built.

Performance figures

Wikipedia gives these figures for the Challenger SRT Hellcat:

• 0–60 mph in 3.6 seconds;
• a quarter mile in 11.2 seconds on street-legal drag tyres, or 11.6 seconds at 125 mph on the standard tyres;
• braking from 60 mph to a stop in 109 ft (33 m);
• a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph).

For the European specification it quotes 0–62 mph (0–100 km/h) in 3.9 seconds and 0–200 km/h in 10.7 seconds. The Challenger was sold in Europe in small numbers: Wikipedia counts 3,868 Challengers delivered there in total, with a peak of 706 in 2018.

Gearboxes over the years

The Hellcat was offered with a six-speed Tremec manual and an eight-speed automatic. For 2021 the manual was removed while it was recalibrated, and it returned as the standard gearbox for 2023, according to Wikipedia.

The Hellcat in the Challenger family

The third-generation Challenger rode on Chrysler's LC platform, a shortened version of the LX architecture that also carried the Charger, the Magnum and the Chrysler 300; its wheelbase was 2,950 mm. The car had started in 2008 as an SRT8 only: production began on 8 May 2008, and all 7,119 cars of that first model year were SRT8s with the 6.1-litre Hemi and a five-speed automatic. Seven years later the Hellcat put a supercharger on top of the line, and from 2019 the Widebody body made the most powerful versions wider as well.

The end of the Challenger

Dodge announced the end of the Challenger and Charger with a series of seven "Last Call" models with special paint and trim. Production ended at Brampton on 22 December 2023; the final car was a Pitch-Black Demon 170. Wikipedia counts 806,925 Challengers of the third generation sold in total, 772,584 of them in the US.

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