Over the last decade, electric vehicles have gone from the butt of a bad joke to some of the highest-performance production cars that money can buy. But the old guard isn’t going to go out without a bang, or in the case of Fiat Chrysler’s latest vehicle, an enormous gas bill.
The company unveiled a a new special edition of the classic Dodge Challenger this week, and it’s the most American of American muscle cars. The 2019 Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye comes with a supercharged Hemi Demon 6.2-liter V-8 that produces 797 horsepower, 707-pound-feet of torque, and a noise that sounds eerily like a Bruce Springsteen guitar solo.
“I like to say it’s a Hellcat that’s been possessed by a Demon,” said Steve Beahm, head of US passenger car brands for Fiat Chrysler. The design was heavily inspired by the Demon, a highly limited 2018 special edition of the Challenger. Although the Demon is no more, its engine (and other components) are trickling down to editions that are going to be more widely available.
The most terrifying statistic about the car might just be the fuel consumption. At maximum speed, the Hellcat Redeye uses 1.4 gallons of gas — a little over $3 at current average prices — and will drain the fuel tank in just 11 minutes. At regular highway speeds, Fiat Chrysler is claiming a much more reasonable 22mpg, however.
The car will be on sale in the fourth quarter of 2018 for around $70,000, and unlike last year’s Demon, Beahm is promising that it will be much more widely available. “We’re going to make them available to everyone rather than a select few,” Beahm said.
