On the very day Ford announced order books are open for their all-new 2015 Mustang Dodge showed up to the party and upstaged them with their 2015 Challenger SRT HEMI Hellcat which packs over 600 horsepower.
While the 2015 standard Challenger SRT comes with a more powerful 485 horsepower 6.4 liter HEMI V8, which they call the 392 in cubic inch tradition, there is now a much more powerful option.
The Hellcat is a new 6.2 liter supercharged engine that goes into the history books as the most powerful V8 ever produced by Chrysler. Unlike top options in the Camaro or current Shelby Mustang, the new Hellcat can be had with either a six-speed manual or an 8-speed automatic transmission.
Dodge says over 600 horsepower but final numbers haven’t been released. With a name like Hellcat, 666 might be appropriate no?
In all seriousness though, gear heads out there should know the Hellcat’s 6.2 liter V8 has been beefed up substantially to handle that power. It’s got a forged-steel crankshaft and induction-hardened bearings. It even gets a specially tuned crank damper has been tested to 13,000 rpm.
There’s also forged-alloy pistons, powder-forged connecting rods and unique heat-treated aluminum heads. A look under the hood shows the handsome ribs of the supercharger and die-cast aluminum valve covers in HEMI Orange.
For the parents among us, 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat will come with two key fobs. The red one unlocks the full horsepower and torque of the Hellcat engine, the black one limits drivers to a lower power level.
The Hellcat gets black “Slingshot” design split-seven spoke 20” x 9.5” lightweight aluminum wheels wrapped with P275/40ZR20 Pirelli P Zero Neros. If you don’t like the look you can option them with a “Brass Monkey” and dark bronze finish.
Hellcats also get bigger brakes up front with 15.4” Brembo two-piece rotors and six-piston calipers.
Unique body visuals include an aluminum hood with dual air extractors, standard in body color but is available in a Satin Black finish. Also unique is an air catcher inlet port, which feeds ram-air directly into the engine air box through the driver-side parking lamp.
Up front there’s a larger front splitter and fenders get distinctive “SUPERCHARGED” badges which will help ya spot this cat from across the paddock.
The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is set to arrive in dealerships later this year. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.
