Dodge lets 527kW Charger SRT Hellcat out of the bag
BY RICHARD BERRY | 16th Aug 2014
The name comes from the 6.2-litre supercharged V8 Hemi Hellcat engine under the Charger’s bulging bonnet which produces 527kW and 881Nm to easily be the most powerful engine in the Chrysler Group’s arsenal.
Dodge claims the Hellcat's top speed is 328km/h with a 400-metre drag-strip time of 11.0 seconds, which is only just bettered by the McLaren MP4-12C supercar that covers the same distance in 10.9 seconds.
Shifting gears is a TorqueFlite heavy-duty eight-speed automatic transmission, which can swap cogs and rev match in 160 milliseconds.
The most powerful car in Dodge’s line-up naturally gets the biggest brakes.
Upfront the Charger SRT Hellcat is equipped with huge 390mm Brembo two-piece rotors with six piston calipers.
Based on the 2015 Charger, the SRT Hellcat gets an even tougher exterior with a nostrilled aluminium bonnet and cold-air intake scoop, blacked-out upper and lower grille, plus an integrated front splitter.
At the back is a single-piece spoiler painted in the car’s body colour, while the treatment to the bumper and the meaty four-inch dual exhaust is unique to the SRT Hellcat .
Dodge also says the Charger SRT Hellcat is the world’s only four-door muscle car, but Australians know this is not true. Holden and its performance arm HSV, along with Ford and FPV have been turning out high-performance versions of Falcons and Commodores for years.
The Gen-F HSV GTS arrived last year with a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 making 430kW and 740Nm, and the FPV GT-F Falcon was revealed in June with a 5.8-litre supercharged V8 making 351kW and 570Nm.
Sadly for American muscle car fans Down Under, the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat will not be coming to Australia. Fiat Chrysler Australia told GoAuto the Charger is only made in left-hand drive and at the moment the Dodge line-up would only consist of the Journey people-mover/SUV.
SRT, which stands for Street and Racing Technology, is the Chrysler Group’s high-performance division and the badge appears in Australia on the Chrysler 300 SRT8 and the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT.
