Dodge's 710-horsepower 2021 Durango SRT Hellcat is sold out

By Ronan Glon - Jan 22, 2021

2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Image Credit: Dodge

2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Image Credit: Dodge

 

Production will be capped at 2,000 units

 

In the summer of 2020, Dodge announced it would only build the 710-horsepower Durango SRT Hellcat for six months, but it didn't tell us how many examples it would make in that time. We now know that production will be limited to 2,000 units, and they're all spoken for in spite of a base price pegged deep into luxury car territory.

It took about three months for the company to fill every available build slot. It stopped taking customer orders in January 2021, but it pointed out that a handful of dealer-allocated units will be available for a limited time. In other words, if you haven't reserved a Durango SRT Hellcat yet, you might get lucky and find one in a store's inventory.

Markups seem inevitable in this context, however. Pricing starts at $82,490 including a $1,495 destination charge, but we expect that the few dealer-allocated units still available will end up costing significantly more.

In exchange, enthusiasts will receive one of the most powerful SUVs ever built. Dodge stuffed its vaunted 6.2-liter Hellcat V8 behind the Durango's grille and supercharged it to 710 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque. The Hemi channels its output to the four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. Hitting 60 mph from a stop takes merely 3.5 seconds; alternatively, the Durango SRT Hellcat is capable of towing up to 8,700 pounds.

Deliveries are scheduled to start by the summer of 2021, and Dodge is including a day's worth of high-speed driving instruction at the Bondurant High Performance Driving School in Chandler, Arizona. Even without this bonus, the company evidently had no trouble convincing enthusiasts to pay big dollars for big horsepower. Its sister companies have mastered this marketing tactic as well. Ram charged $90,265 for the 1500 TRX Launch Edition, which is also Hellcat-powered, and it filled the 702 available builds slots in just three hours.

Don't expect to see the Durango SRT Hellcat return for 2022. Dodge boss Tim Kuniskis explained that emissions regulations will keep the supercharged V8 away from the Durango after the 2021 model year.

"When we switch to the 2022 model year, there are new evaporative emission requirements that come in that the Hellcat engine does not meet in that platform," he said in 2020. Fear not, horsepower aficionados: The mighty V8 will continue to be available in the Charger, in the Challenger, and in the aforementioned 1500 TRX.

 

SOURCE: autoblog