It was only a matter of time until cars like Dodge’s Hellcat monsters would be retired. Just a quick glance over the specs of these powerful V8 monsters tells you that there’s no chance they survive the electrified future we’re seeing coming over the horizon. This week, we also got official confirmation from the CEO of the company.
Speaking to Motor Authority on the topic, the current Dodge CEO, Tim Kuniskis said that we will be able to buy a Hellcat until the end of 2023 but after that, the V8 models will be retired. In their stead, the brand is already planning to launch electric muscle cars but it’s too soon to talk about what they will offer.
This retirement in 2023 means that cars like the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat will be rather unique and made in limited numbers. The main reason why these cars will be pulled out of production will be, of course, the hardships the manufacturers have to go through to make them emissions-compliant. Some of them can’t be fixed, no matter how hard they try while other could keep going but there would be a lot of compliance fines to be paid, making them non-profitable.
Moving forward, Dodge will unveil the touted electric muscle car it is already working on. According to the aforementioned interview, a concept of the production car that will arrive in 2024 will be shown in the first quarter of next year. This won’t just be a show car but it will actually work and drive like a normal car, with everything it needs on it. Kuniskis claims that the specs of the EV will also be unveiled at that date, along with all the technology Stellantis is patenting.
Last, but not least, Dodge is also going to launch a plug-in hybrid choice that will be a “new, new car” as opposed to a reinterpretation of an already available model. That would also use Stellantis technology and will have its own place in the line-up.
