Adding to the many rumors about the replacement to the current Dodge Challenger that have been going around for the past year, is a report from Chrysler enthusiast site Allpar and Autonews, that the next SRT8 will come with a supercharged 6.4-liter HEMI V8 called the “Hellcat”.
While a Chrysler spokesman declined to comment about the existence of the engine, company engineers reportedly confirmed the story to Allpar. The supercharger system is believed to help bring the V8’s output closer to the 640hp of the Viper’s V10, up from 470hp of the current Challenger SRT8.
This new engine, which will be paired to the Chrysler Group’s 8-speed automatic transmission, will help the heavy Challenger better compete with the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.
A Chrysler engineer told Autonews that the “Hellcat” would be something like a “lust hurrah” before tougher corporate average fuel economy standards kick in and begin to kill big-displacement engines and substantially lower output figures – or so the source claims, as we’ve heard that before (think 1973 oil crisis and to a lesser extent, the introduction of unleaded gasoline fuel and catalysts) only to see even higher-output engines today.
Note: 2013 Dodge Challenger SRT8 pictured in gallery
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