Dodge is bringing the Hellcat back. According to Mopar Insiders, a source that’s been right enough times to earn a seat at the grown-ups’ table, the next-generation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is on track for the 2028 model year. Same year the muscle car is expected to get its mid-cycle facelift.
The folks at Mopar Insiders claim their intel comes straight from sources close to the matter, which means somewhere between “a guy who definitely works there” and “someone who overheard something at SEMA”. Take it with the appropriate grain of salt. But make it a small grain, because chatter about a Hellcat-powered Charger has been building for a while now. This isn’t some random forum speculation from a guy with a Photoshop habit.
So what are we actually talking about? A supercharged 6.2-liter V8 under the hood of the new Charger, in its SRT Hellcat configuration. In its most basic form, that engine clears 700 HP without breaking a sweat. Upper trims push past 800.
If Dodge decides to go “full power”, and given their track record, why wouldn’t they, the ghost of the Challenger SRT Demon 170 looms large. That car produced 1,025 HP and 944 lb-ft of torque, launching from 0 to 60 mph in 1.66 seconds flat, with a quarter-mile time of 8.91 seconds. It remains, officially, the fastest and most deranged production muscle car ever built. A street-legal drag racer wearing a two-door coupe costume.
Now, nobody at Dodge has confirmed whether a Demon successor is in the pipeline. That’s pure speculation, and even we’re willing to admit it. But here’s the thing. Dodge spent years building a mythology around controlled insanity. They hold the record. They know they hold the record. The temptation to swing even harder with the new platform has to be eating at someone in Auburn Hills right now.
