After a particularly lengthy teaser campaign, the new Dodge Challenger SRT Demon has finally been fully revealed, with the US brand billing the tyre-smoking drag monster as “the most powerful muscle car ever”.
Unveiled ahead of its official bow at the New York International Auto Show, the Challenger SRT Demon employs a supercharged 6,2-litre Hemi V8 (mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission) that Dodge says makes more power than any volume production V8 before it.
How much exactly? A whopping 626 kW and 1 044 N.m. That, according to Dodge, is enough for a 0-100 km/h time of a smidgen more than 2,3 seconds and the fastest production car quarter-mile time in the world: 9,65 seconds at 225 km/h.
The automaker also says the Demon serves up the first-ever instance of front-wheel lift in a production car (of some 890 mm), as certified by Guinness World Records, as well as the highest G-force acceleration of any production car (at 1,8 G).
Of course, since the Demon was designed to spend a large chunk of its life pummelling opponents down at the drag strip, weight-saving was a crucial part of its development. And, if you want to take that idea even further (and have no friends), Dodge says it will optionally delete the front passenger seat and the rear seats … for $1 apiece.
Dodge says it plans to build 3 000 units for the United States market and another 300 vehicles for Canada. And the rest of the world? Well, we’ll just have to look on in awe…
