Why Dodge Killed the Hellcat
The 6.2-litre supercharged Hemi V8 — the engine that powered the Challenger Hellcat, the Charger Hellcat, the Redeye, and the Demon 170 — was phased out after the 2023 model year.
Two forces drove the decision.
Emissions regulations. The EPA has been tightening vehicle emissions standards for decades, but the rules that landed in the early 2020s were the strictest yet. Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis was blunt about the problem: “You can still meet emissions with these cars. You’re [just] going to pay a lot of compliance fines”. Stellantis, Dodge’s parent company, was already bleeding money — a $235.5 million penalty for 2018 and 2019 models was a warning shot.
A CEO who wanted electric. Former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares pushed aggressively for electrification across the company’s brands. Under his leadership, the Hemi V8 was killed across the most popular model lines, and Dodge was repositioned around an all-electric future.
The result was “Last Call” — a farewell tour of seven special-edition Challengers and Chargers, each carrying a commemorative plaque, culminating in the end of production in December 2023. The Hellcat era was over.
What Was Supposed to Replace It: The Charger Daytona SRT
The replacement was the all-new Dodge Charger, launched for the 2024 model year on Stellantis’s STLA Large platform. It was designed to support multiple powertrains — and it was supposed to offer something the Hellcat never could: silent, instant, brutal electric torque.
The halo model was the Charger Daytona SRT Banshee — a tri-motor EV with an 800-volt electrical system and at least 800 horsepower, positioned explicitly as the “all-electric successor to the previous-generation Charger SRT Hellcat”.
The Banshee was supposed to be Dodge’s answer to everything the Hellcat represented: outrageous power, drag-strip dominance, and a middle finger to convention. It would have been the most powerful Charger ever built.
Then Dodge cancelled it.
In September 2025, reports confirmed that the Banshee had been shelved before it ever reached production. Stellantis suppliers were told to stop developing the car’s unique systems. The electric halo was dead on arrival.
What remained was the Charger Daytona Scat Pack — a 670-horsepower dual-motor EV that hits 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, actually quicker than the old Hellcat Redeye. But it wasn’t the Banshee. And it wasn’t a V8.
The Electric Charger Isn’t Working
The Scat Pack is the only electric vehicle Dodge currently offers. The base Daytona R/T — a 496-horsepower entry-level EV — was “postponed,” which in corporate language means it failed to generate demand.
The problem is simple: Dodge buyers didn’t want an electric muscle car. The Charger Daytona’s sales have been underwhelming, and the market for high-performance EVs in the United States has cooled considerably since the Banshee was first announced.
Meanwhile, the Charger lineup has quietly pivoted back to gas. The Hurricane twin-turbo straight-six is now available, and Dodge CEO Matt McAlear has confirmed the Hemi V8 fits under the hood of the new Charger.
The Hellcat Is Coming Back
The most surprising twist in this story is that the Hellcat V8 — the engine Dodge spent two years saying goodbye to — is reportedly returning.
According to insider reports, a new Charger Hellcat has been green-lit for development, potentially launching in 2027 as a 2028 model year vehicle. The supercharged 6.2-litre V8 would find its way into the new-generation Charger, which is already available as both a two-door (replacing the Challenger) and a four-door.
Tim Kuniskis, now head of Stellantis North America and the man leading the reborn SRT division, explained why only the Hellcat makes sense: “The only way it makes sense to charge for [an optional Hemi] now is I have to go all the way up to a Hellcat. If you were to put a V8 in the car you would probably go to Hellcat instead of 5.7. The reality is when you get into that rare air, the take rate is pretty small”.
The about-face was enabled by a change in leadership. Carlos Tavares, the CEO who pushed electrification hardest, departed Stellantis. His replacement, Antonio Filosa, has been instrumental in bringing the Hemi V8 back — first in the Ram 1500, then the Jeep Wrangler, and now potentially the Charger.
Stellantis has even restarted production of the supercharged 6.2-litre V8 after bringing back the Ram 1500 TRX pickup.
What About the Banshee?
The Banshee isn’t officially dead. McAlear has said the model is “never completely dead” and that “everything is about timing”. The company is reportedly considering selling a gas-powered Charger Hellcat and a 900-horsepower electric Charger Banshee side by side — letting buyers compare them back-to-back on the showroom floor.
But that’s a future scenario, not a current one. For now, the Hellcat V8 is the real comeback story, and the electric halo remains indefinitely delayed.
Dodge killed
the Challenger Hellcat because the math stopped working. Emissions fines were piling up, Stellantis’s leadership wanted electric, and the compliance costs outweighed the profits from a 707-horsepower supercharged V8.
The plan was to replace it with an electric Charger — a Banshee that would be faster, quieter, and more modern. That plan failed. The Banshee was cancelled, the electric Charger isn’t selling, and the V8 is reportedly on its way back.
Three years after “Last Call,” the Hellcat’s replacement doesn’t exist. What exists instead is a Charger that can be ordered with a twin-turbo six, a Charger that might get a Hellcat V8 in 2028, and an electric halo model that’s “never completely dead” but also never in production.
Dodge didn’t replace the Hellcat. It tried to, failed, and is now quietly bringing it back.
