Dodge Is Bringing Back The Charger Hellcat With A V8 Next Year
With sales of the Charger EV floundering, Dodge has elected to resurrect the Hellcat supercharged V8
We can't blame Dodge for trying something different with the current Charger. When it was being developed, high-powered EVs were all the rage, and it made sense for the carmaker to downsize from a gas-guzzling V8 to a smaller inline-6 with the Charger Sixpack, selling both EV and six-cylinder models. Dodge has now realized the error of its ways.
As recently as two years ago, Dodge said the there was no shot of the Charger seeing a Hemi V8, but work on a new Charger with a 6.2-liter engine is now underway. It's understood that Dodge is planning to revive the Charger Hellcat towards the end of 2027 as a 2028 model, bringing back one of the most beloved American muscle cars of this century.
Word about Dodge finally relenting and adding a Hellcat V8 to the Charger first surfaced a few months ago after the release of a mysterious teaser, appearing to show a Charger with a large rear wing. Automotive News now reports that Dodge is planning to build approximately 12,000 Hellcat models each year. To put that into perspective, the automaker sold 8,786 examples of the current Charger through the first three quarters of 2026, so it obviously has high hopes for the V8 model.
Dodge's Hellcat V8 lives on as the EV struggles to find homes
While the Charger Hellcat has been gone for a couple of years, its iconic supercharged 6.2-liter V8 has lived on, even as the Charger moved to an EV and an inline-6. This beast of a powertrain continues to power the Ram 1500 SRT TRX and, more recently, was added to Ram's new 777-horsepower Rumble Bee SRT. Limited technical details are known about the upcoming Charger Hellcat, although it's sure to deliver more than 700 hp. CarScoops also expects it to hit the market with several visual upgrades over the current Charger, including a large hood scoop and perhaps flared fenders.
Power will be sent exclusively through the rear wheels, ensuring this new model is just as good at smoky burnouts as its predecessor. As the V8 returns, the all-electric Charger Daytona seems to be fading into irrelevance. Through the first nine months of 2026, just 767 have been sold. This is a notably poor result, and one has to wonder how long Dodge can justify manufacturing a model that is proving to be so unpopular.