Dodge celebrated the final run of gas-powered Challenger and Charger models with seven “Last Call” special edition offerings, the seventh and final one premiering last night: the 1,025-horsepower Challenger SRT Demon 170.
Stellantis’ muscle brand showed off the beast at the Dodge Last Call Powered by Roadkill Nights Vegas performance festival at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With 1,025 hp at 6,500 rpm and 945 lb-ft of torque at 4,200 rpm coming from its production Hemi engine, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 reaches 60 mph in a blazing 1.66 seconds — faster than the speediest Tesla or Lucid models — and features the highest G-force acceleration of any production car at 2.004 gs. The Demon 170 can also reach 900 hp and 810 lb-ft of torque on E10 fuel.
There’s no black key for this car — literally. It’s banned.
“To celebrate the end of the Hemi muscle-car era, we pulled off all the governors to reach a new level, a new benchmark of ‘factory-crazy’ production car performance,” said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge brand chief executive officer — Stellantis.
“In 2015, Dodge shocked the world with the 707-horsepower Hellcat. Then, in 2018, we did it with the 840-horsepower Demon, and now we are doing it again with the 1,025-hp Demon 170, the world’s first sustainable-energy, 8-second, factory-production, street-legal muscle car.”
Where does the power come from?
Dodge engineers have been steadily amping up the power output of the Hemi for years, as Kuniskis pointed out. The latest 185-hp jump required an extensive list up updates, changes and tweaks to the engine, suspension and driveline, including:
- Improved Supercharger: Modified 3.0-liter supercharger upgraded with a larger snout with 105mm throttle body, and 3.02-inch pulley increases boost pressure 40% over the Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody.
- Fueling Horsepower: Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 achieves full horsepower output through high ethanol fuel blends: horsepower levels are determined by sensing the percentage of ethanol fuel content.
- Driveline Upgrades: All-new driveline with 240mm ring gear, 53% stronger differential housing using aerospace-grade metals, rear prop shaft 30% stronger and stronger half shafts.
- Massive Drag Radials: 315/50R17 Mickey Thompson ET Street R drag radials — never offered before on a production car — and Mickey Thompson 245/55R18 ET Street front tires deliver extra force on the strip or street.
- TransBrake 2.0: Patent-pending TransBrake 2.0 provides torque-shaping capability and easier driver interaction to dial-in preset torque limits.
- Unique Drag Mode Suspension: Uniquely tuned valves in adaptive-damping shocks provide maximum weight transfer and custom race settings for drag calibrations.
- Staggered Widebody Design: First-ever factory production car built with staggered drag radial tires and fender flares.
The new model features a lot of firsts, and production is slated to begin this summer. The company is targeting 3,300 units — 3,000 for the U.S. and 300 in Canada, where its built — but given recently legal entanglements, officials were quick to note the final count will be based on production capacity.
Other “Last Call” vehicles
The brand is making the switch to electric muscle cars and the Challenger and Charger have been largely unchanged for a decade so to commemorate the move, Dodge officials created a set of special edition vehicles that are the “last call” for the gas-powered muscle cars it’ll put out.
Six Dodge “Last Call” models were previously 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.
In addition to the seven “Last Call” special-edition models, Dodge is also celebrating its 2023 model lineup by bringing back three beloved heritage exterior colors, B5 Blue, Plum Crazy purple and Sublime green, plus one popular modern color, Destroyer Grey.
The 2023 Charger and Challenger R/T models will also feature new “345” fender badging, a callout to the 345-cubic-inch HEMI engine under the hood, and all 2023 Dodge Charger and Challenger models will carry a special commemorative “Last Call” underhood plaque.
Special car means special pricing
The new Challenger SRT Demon 170 comes with big power, which means it also comes with a big price tag — $96,666 not including any additional destination or other fees.
New owners get a commemorative Demon decanter set, serializes to the owner and vehicle, which includes a custom “Demon-styled” decanter with the owners name and the car’s VIN engraved on the backs, Demon-badge coasters and whiskey cubes, rocks glasses, a Demon 170 supercharger badge cover, and a unique Demon 170 illustration on the inside top of the set cover.
Looking to forge some ties to the previous models, Dodge says current owners of the original 2018 Challenger SRT Demon who secure a dealer allocation for the new 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 will also be given the unique opportunity to match the same vehicle identification number as their original Demon when finalizing their order.
The company will begin accepting orders March 27 and the books will close May 15. Available dealer allocations for the new Challenger SRT Demon 170 can be viewed starting today via the Dodge Horsepower Locator tool at DodgeGarage.com.