(By Tom Lohnes) – Well folks, after many races won, dozens of fast, fun models made, and a total of five vehicles with a 700-horsepower V8 shoehorned into them, SRT is dead.
With the recent merger of FCA and PSA, things have been shaky in the Stellantis office. With Chrysler set to produce rebodied Peugeots, Peugeot themselves not coming to America in the near future, the cancellation of SRT is strike three. Sure, they aren’t completely dead, but the SRT name sure is, and with a recent interview with the head of Dodge, the Hemi V8 may meet its demise very soon too. Out of all companies, you would expect Dodge to keep it’s screaming, whiny Hellcat motor over electrified performance, but with rather poor sales last year, they need to make money.
Sadly, electric cars are the hot ticket currently, so Dodge must adapt to their environment. Even though these beasts are dying, we must remember the uncontrollable smile you got when you first experienced a hellcat, the shock of a pull in a Jeep Trackhawk, and that loud supercharger whine the Hellcat is known for.
So, if Dodge is your current favorite car brand, go ahead and show them some love, because the mighty Hellcat’s days are numbered. Long live SRT.
Hemi’s in cars only will die or all Hemi’s??…trucks still make up a majority of the Hemi sales.
And here’s my giant MIDDLE FINGER
The Challenger is stagnated. Time to bring out the ‘Cuda body. Sales will pick up again.
NOTHING is selling right now, so I don’t think that is a good barormeter. The economy stinks, and no one has or is willing to spend money. And, although the hoopla is on electric vehicles, there are still so many questions about them and so much to perfect, they are such a small percentage of new car sales and it will be a while before they replace gasoline engines. I know they have restructured the SRT Division, but I really don’t see anything changing much real soon.
Ask Texans how those E cars are doing today?
Heard a joke today,
how do you pronounce the new Pugeot Chrysler merger name?
easy, the Chrysler is silent
Sales are going to fall off the cliff. No halo car for people to aspire to, no sales. This is not France. Americans will not eat the depreciation that comes from buying an American car if the cool/retro/hotrod/bad boy factor doesn’t exist. Without the cool factor folks will just go with an Accord or Camry with their much higher resale and reliability.
This is what happens when the two worst car manufacturers in the world buy out an American car company. Ain’t neither Fiat or Peugeot worth taking to the junkyard. And they’re ruining Chrysler.
Lots of talk about gas cars dying, but really only 4% of new car sales are electric, and half of those are in California. I have a hard time believing Hellcats and Hemis aren’t money makers. I’d hope they wouldn’t see the axe soon.