Tim Kuniskis, head of Stellantis’ American brands and SRT chief, clarified in an interview with The Drive that the future Dodge Copperhead SRT shares nothing with the Charger. His comments deny the assumptions that started circulating after Stellantis showed the model behind closed doors during Investor Day, where a small group of journalists and analysts saw the car without permission to photograph it or get close to it.
Dodge Copperhead SRT will not share its platform with the Charger
Its aggressive proportions, long hood and American sports-car stance initially suggested a direct link to the Charger. According to Kuniskis, however, the STLA Large architecture used by the current muscle car could not deliver the stance and dimensions of the Copperhead without creating a show car with unrealistic proportions. The multi-energy platform, designed to house the battery pack in electric versions, creates dimensional constraints that also affect combustion variants.
Dodge has not revealed the Copperhead’s actual platform, but Kuniskis said it will come from Stellantis’ global portfolio. He also stressed that SRT can only make financial sense by using investments the group has already made, rather than developing a dedicated architecture from scratch. The car shown at Investor Day already had proportions conceived with production in mind, and it should arrive by 2030.
Kuniskis confirmed the presence of a combustion engine, as the exhaust outlets visible on the displayed car had already suggested. However, he cooled expectations around a V8, explaining that a hybrid solution based on that type of engine could make the model age quickly. He did not confirm the Hellephant 426 Hemi hypothesis either.
A clue about the possible direction comes from previous comments by Dodge CEO Matt McAlear, who said the brand wanted to push the Hurricane inline-six as far as possible. He also confirmed that SRT is working on specific upgrades for the Sixpack, making an engine derived from that family more plausible than a traditional V8 comeback. Kuniskis also hinted that Stellantis is testing new technologies and that something will appear during the summer, before the Roadkill Nights event scheduled for August.
