Dodge is phasing out its high-powered Hellcat line but has decided to continue producing the Durango version into the 2024 model year.
September 05, 2023 03:04 PM
The Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat isn’t done roaring.
The 710-hp Durango is coming back for the 2024 model year, even as the brand phases out the rest of its Hellcat line.
The Durango Hellcat was introduced for the 2021 model year and was supposed to have a one-year run. But after a hiatus, Dodge revived the Hellcat variant for the 2023 model year in response to enthusiast demand — a move that prompted seven customers to file a lawsuit accusing the automaker of deceiving consumers by saying the 2021 Durango Hellcat would be offered for just one year.
A Stellantis spokesperson confirmed the return of the spry SUV on Tuesday. The company listed the model on its 2024 “What’s New” product site for media.
The company didn’t say how many it plans to produce. The 2023 Durango Hellcat starts at $95,200 including shipping.
Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis said in August that Dodge has carved out its own space in the utility segment with its focus on performance. After the Hellcat model that tops the lineup, the vehicle offers a 475-hp SRT trim along with the R/T and Citadel trims that get 360 hp from the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8.
Kuniskis said the brand calls the Durango the “three-row Charger.”
With the Durango, Dodge has been “leaning into the performance and the attitude of that [and] making it different in that segment,” Kuniskis told Automotive News during the Roadkill Nights drag racing event in Pontiac, Mich. “It does two things: No. 1, it separates us in the showroom, which is very important, and two, it separates us from everything else in the marketplace.
“We’re not competing on what I call the spreadsheet,” he said. “We’re not competing on price, value, fuel economy, things like that. It’s ‘I want a Durango or I don’t,’ and that’s really how you carve out a unique space in the segment.”
