#Challenger

Today we offer up a 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T for your perusal.

We've slowly been saying goodbye to the Dodge Charger, Chrysler 300, and Dodge Challenger -- now we can officially wave goodbye to the platform, including the Hemi.

If there’s one thing at which Stellantis excels, besides stuffing the largest engine they can find into most of their models, it’s the creation of endless special editions to create a bit of buzz. This time, the subjects need no further promotion – but they’re getting it anyway.

Today's used car of the day is barely used. A Michigan-based seller has simply decided it's already time to move on to the next thing -- this seller claims not to be a flipper.

Sometimes, when a long-serving person with a great record retires from a company, the place will throw one helluva party. Dodge has been doing the same for its Charger and Challenger, the aggro cousins that are departing at the end of this calendar year.

The final iteration of this beast? The outrageous Challenger SRT Demon 170 will be one for the history books – and we won’t even make ya click the jump to find out why. Here’s the key stat: 1,025 horsepower and 945 lb-ft of torque.

The sixth of seven Last Call editions crafted by the speed freaks at Dodge has been unveiled, showing up for duty as one which makes reference to a muscle car that haunted Woodward Avenue in the 1970s. And, yes, it even has a vinyl roof – kind of.

The speed freaks at Dodge pulled a two-fer yesterday with what are technically the third and fourth of seven Dodge special-edition "Last Call" models. Called the Swinger, they’re based on the R/T Scat Pack trim and are both Widebody models – but no word if there’s a pineapple included to display in the windshield when parked.

You may have heard that this is the last model year for the Charger and Challenger as we know them today. As a send-off, Dodge is creating a yaffle of special editions based on past packages or trims – along with allocating the entire year’s run at once. The latter is surely causing dealer principals to talk into their morning hit of cocaine caffeine. 

Here’s the first – a Dodge Challenger Shakedown.

Dodge recently announced that the iconic Charger and Challenger models would be sacrificed in the name of electrification next year — releasing the battery-powered, two-door Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept to show the public what might be on offer in the near future. But the language used felt somewhat noncommittal, as if the company was really just testing the waters to see what V8-obsessed Mopar fans were willing to tolerate. Meanwhile, Stellantis has opted to eliminate the brand’s high-performance SRT (Street and Racing Technology) division. 

Executives have attempted to spin this as good for the company, suggesting that integrating Dodge’s performance-focused engineering team into the broader pool will mean better cars across the board. But I’m worried about my favorite American brand and am wondering if anyone else on the road feels similarly. 

In the face of an inevitable EV onslaught, Dodge is determined not to go quietly into that good night. Yesterday, they showed plans for a half-dozen Charger/Challenger special editions for its final model year in 2023, tag-teamed a shop in Florida to make Chally convertibles, and heralded the return of the Durango Hellcat.

Dodge decided to nix the six-speed manual for Challenger Hellcat models last November, indicating that it would be a temporary issue. The automaker allegedly planned to deliver an updated version and said it was actively calibrating the powertrain to see what worked ahead of pulling the old version from the assembly line. It was minor news and everyone following the industry promptly forgot about it, assuming three-pedal Challengers would be back in action before anyone noticed.

It’s now four months later and the option is still nowhere in sight.

For the first time since American muscle returned to the assembly line in earnest, Dodge’s Challenger has managed to outsell both the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro inside the United States. Though Mopar fans might point out that Dodge would win every year if we bothered to include Charger sales in the headcount or were more precise when making determinations about what constitutes a muscle vs pony car.

Regardless of semantics, the Big Three have their performance icons and the Challenger has taken the two-door sales crown for the first time in modern history. Sadly, it was less about Dodge making inroads with new customers than it was about the other brands flubbing things. Performance vehicles aimed at the middle class are presently experiencing a rough patch, with the Challenger having lost the least amount of ground in the last decade.

Pop quiz, hotshot: What job combines a Challenger Hellcat, wrestling champ Bill Goldberg, and a $150,000 paycheck? If you answered with something along the lines of Vince McMahon’s assistant or slightly-above-board import/export professional, we totally understand.

In reality, that’s the job description for Chief Donut Maker at Dodge. Yep – you read that correctly.

Few car companies on this planet do special editions with the vigor (and frequency) of the American brands at Stellantis. Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and – to a lesser extent – Chrysler all return to their respective wells in search of a way to quench their thirst for profits.

This time, the retro-inspired Charger and Challenger brothers have once again been enrolled in Special Ed(itions) class. Specifically called the Jailbreak models, these Hellcat Redeye Widebody machines will permit customers to unlock color combination ordering restrictions while layering on new factory-custom options.

Following the PSA-FCA merger that resulted in Stellantis, Dodge has been promising that it would reinvent muscle cars to become all-electric vehicles. This rattled many Mopar fans, with the hardest day being when the automaker teased what was undoubtedly an EV concept inspired by the original Dodge Charger in July. In an act of true sacrilege, it even carried the Fratzog logo worn by many Chrysler products from the era.

This week, Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis provided a loose timeline for the company’s planned EV offensive and what we might expect. He also acknowledged that the company knows that some fans of the brand are filled to the brim with trepidation at the prospect of an electric muscle car.