Dodge Ends SRT Challenger Run With 1,025-Horsepower Demon 170 Sendoff

Dodge revealed the seventh and final Last Call Challenger muscle car at the Roadkill Nights event in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday. The 2024 Challenger Demon 170 is the pinnacle of what the now scattered-to-the-winds SRT team can do, and the end of an era.

Six Dodge Last Call models have already been introduced: the Dodge Challenger Shakedown, Dodge Charger Super Bee, Dodge Challenger and Charger Scat Pack Swinger, Dodge Charger King Daytona and Dodge Challenger Black Ghost.

"Brick and mortar can't contain crazy, it can't SRT. It is in our DNA. And we can still do crazy, better than anybody. So we're going to celebrate the end with what is now going to be the new plateau. The new pinnacle of the factory crazy," Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis told Newsweek.

"Yes, number seven is a Demon. And I'm begging you, like when we did the first Demon, I said please do not call this a modified Hellcat. It's not. This is not even a modified Demon. This is a brand-new car. It didn't start out that way. But we ended that way."

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The craziness, as usual with Dodge, starts under the hood. The 6.2-liter supercharged V8 now makes a jaw-dropping 1,025 horsepower (hp) on E85 fuel. That goes along with 930 pound-feet (lb-ft) of torque. The Challenger Demon is meant for the dragstrip and Dodge says it can launch at 2 gs (two times the force of gravity), and get to 60 mph in 1.66 seconds (on a prepared surface with the right tires). It only offers an automatic transmission and power is only sent to the rear wheels.

On premium fuel the Demon's output drops to 900 hp and 810 lb-ft. It automatically senses the grade and mix of the fuel and tunes everything automatically for the best power delivery.

It can hit more than 150 mph in the quarter mile with a time of 8.9 seconds, meaning it can't race at the strip without a parachute to slow it down after the stopwatch clicks. So, Dodge will sell customers one from its performance parts arm called Direct Connections.

It comes with 315-mm wide, 17-inch Mickey Thompson ET Street R drag radials, never previously offered on a production car, and skinnier but still safe Mickey Thompson 245-mm, 18-inch ET Street front tires. The optional carbon fiber wheels are the same size and save almost 12 pounds in the rear compared to the standard Challenger Redeye Widebody configuration. Front wheels save a total of 20.12 pounds off the front.

The carbon fiber wheels lower un-sprung vehicle mass, which improves handing, acceleration and braking. Other weight reductions include lightweight front brakes, hollow sway bars, passenger and rear seat delete, trunk trim and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) pad delete and lightweight interior carpet with a minimal audio system. Removal of the front flares generates a weight savings of 16 pounds. Overall, about 157 pounds can be taken out.

The Challenger Demon 170 has three drive modes including Auto, Custom and Drag, all of which change parameters for the transmission, shift paddles, traction control, suspension and steering. Drag mode enables full power based on ethanol content, fastest shifts from the steering wheel paddles, while the traction control, steering and suspension are set for racing.

SRT Performance Pages on the infotainment screen show the driver data on reaction times and 0-60 times, gauge information, g-force numbers, engine performance information and dynamometer horsepower and torque stats.

The crazy Demon 170 was an unofficial project. A team of 40 met outside during Covid for the planning stages in 2021. The meeting was in the SRT parking lot. Dodge had a budget for the special project and this was the recruiting session. Kuniskis told the team that this was an optional assignment, and would be in addition to their current jobs.

"Not one person that was at that meeting walked away. Not one person said they didn't want to be involved in it. And the reason they didn't is because this was a very personal project. It fit perfectly with our brand positioning and everything that we were trying to do. This wasn't just a stunt. This was about who we are. Because if you think about our positioning, really was never born out of necessity, current or past, it was born probably done more out of spite than anything else," said Kuniskis.

The team came away with the quickest vehicle Dodge has ever built, and the thirstiest. At full flow its fuel injectors can pump 164 gallons per hour into the engine, thankfully it only runs at wide open throttle for about 9 seconds at a time.

Production of the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 will begin this summer and will be limited to about 3,300 units, with 3,000 for the U.S. and 300 for Canada. Dodge says final unit numbers will be based on production capacity. It costs $96,666 excluding destination and handling.

Orders open on March 27 and close on May 15. Dodge also says dealer orders at the manufacturer's suggested retail price will get priority delivering, in an effort to slow the price gouging that some dealers do with rare vehicles.