There’s a rumbling off in the distance, and it seems to be the sound of a V8-powered Dodge Charger, or at least the rumours of one appearing soon.
A planning document seen by Automotive News claims Dodge will begin production of the Charger SRT Hellcat in late 2027.
It’s unclear when exactly the new Hellcat muscle car will go on sale or when it will start arriving in US driveways and showrooms, but the model will be powered by a version of the 6.2-litre supercharged V8 used in the previous-generation Charger sedan and Challenger coupe.
In the previous Hellcat models, the blown V8 made a mammoth 527kW of power and 881Nm of torque in standard trim.
Dodge is reportedly planning to produce around 12,000 Charger Hellcats a year. While that number seems small, it would double Charger sales.
According to Good Car Bad Car, the company shifted just 5165 Chargers in 2025, most of which were electric Daytona variants. This year with petrol-powered Sixpack models in production, sales have risen to 8029 in the first nine months of 2026. According to Automotive News, just 767 electric Chargers have been sold this year.
Even if the Charger Hellcat manages to meet its sales target, it won’t – by itself at least – bring back the model’s glory days. Modern Charger sales peaked in 2019 when Dodge sold 96,936 of the V6 and V8 sedans. The closely related Challenger coupe’s best sales year was 2018 when 66,716 found new homes.
When approached for comment, Stellantis told the trade publication the details were “purely speculation/rumour” and the automaker “will not comment on future product strategy”.
The closest the French-Italian-American automaker has come to an official confirmation so far is its announcement at the 2026 Investor Day in May that it was developing an SRT variant for the Charger range.
While many enthusiasts will be happy the Hellcat is returning to the Charger, there may not be a cheaper V8 option for those with smaller wallets.
At the beginning of the year, Tim Kuniskis, head of SRT, told Motor Trend that if the company “were to put a V8 in the [Charger we] would probably go to Hellcat instead of 5.7”.
The current ‘LB’ Dodge Charger went on sale in early 2025 as a sedan and coupe, with the latter effectively replacing the long-lived Challenger.
For most of 2025 the Charger was sold exclusively in electric Daytona form with either a 370kW/548Nm or 500kW/850Nm drivetrain.
Late last year two Sixpack models with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo Hurricane straight-six engine under the bonnet were added to the range, making 313kW/635Nm in standard output guise or up to 447kW/720Nm in high-output form.
The omission of an eight-cylinder option in the latest Charger was part of a drive by former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares to phase out V8 engines in favour of six-cylinder mills and electric drivetrains.
