With Dodge’s announcement that it will debut its “performance halo” Challenger SRT Demon at the New York auto show in April—because obviously the current 707-hp Challenger SRT Hellcat is a bit too, um, civil—the horsepower wizards at SRT will be taunting Mopar enthusiasts with weekly releases of teaser videos and technical tidbits leading up to the car’s reveal in the Big Apple. Welcome to week two of Dodge’s Demon parade.
While we know the Demon is based on the current Challenger model, we’re not convinced it’s the wide-body Hellcat ADR that we’ve spied prowling around Detroit. That car’s broadened stance appears to be better suited for track-day cornering, whereas the Demon should be a quarter-mile specialist given the initial video’s depiction of a caged beast and the brand’s confirmation that the Demon was “conceived, designed, and engineered for a subculture of enthusiasts who know that a tenth is a car [length] and a half-second is your reputation.”
The latest teaser photo offers a vague silhouette of the Demon and an X-ray view of its structure, making it difficult to discern its overall visage. But we doubt the gaping hood scoop would be necessary unless there were more than 707 horses on board, and the wheels appear to be of smaller diameter than the Hellcat’s 20-inchers, which would bode well for thicker-profile drag tires that could deform under extreme loads to improve launch traction.
Dodge’s latest claim is that the Demon will weigh more than 200 pounds less than the Challenger Hellcat—the last one we tested punished our scales with 4493 pounds—and that adjustments have been made to the car’s wheels, steering, suspension, brakes, interior construction, and components. That tells us to expect some chassis reinforcements, lightweight materials and fewer trimmings inside the Demon’s cabin, and all the necessary gear to put an insane amount of power to the ground with great haste.
It’s still too early to speculate on the Demon’s price, performance, or really anything for that matter. But as Dodge drops additional Demon nuggets in the coming weeks, keep an eye on this spot for the latest details.
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