2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat prepares to do battle with Ford’s Shelby GT500

By Stephen Edelstein Published May 10, 2019

2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat blew the automotive world away when it first appeared in 2014, but even this 707-horsepower muscle car seems a bit tame next to Dodge’s own 840-hp, quarter-mile-scorching Challenger SRT Demon. Ford is also preparing a new Shelby GT500 Mustang with at least 700 hp. It’s time for the Hellcat to get an update.

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So far, though, we don’t know how extensive of an update it will be. Teaser photos for the 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat show a new “dual-snorkel” hood, but that’s all Dodge is willing to reveal at this time. The automaker says more information will be released this summer. Dodge loves to dribble out information about new models one teaser at a time, so expect more tidbits between now and then.

The new hood is actually an old design that references the first-generation Challenger from the early 1970s. The current Hellcat hood has a more modern look derived from the now-defunct Dodge Viper sports car. Going retro makes sense, since everything else about the current-generation Challenger is meant to evoke the iconic first-gen model. The scoops aren’t just for show: Dodge said they are functional, and will feed air into the Hellcat’s 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8.

2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s unclear if that Hemi will get a bump in power. Not that 707 hp is anything to sneer at, but much of the Hellcat’s appeal has been predicated upon its unrivaled spec sheet. Dodge can rationalize the more powerful Demon because it’s a more track-focused car than the Hellcat, and thus aimed at a somewhat different market. But the next Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang may give the Challenger Hellcat a run for its money in the bragging-rights game.

Regardless of what the future holds for the Hellcat, it’s still remarkable that the car exists in the first place. In an age where electrification and autonomous driving are major buzzwords, no one expected Dodge to double down on horsepower with an old-school muscle car. The age of the current-generation Challenger platform (the first Chrysler models based on this platform debuted in 2005, and elements of it come from even older Mercedes-Benz models), also means the car is living on borrowed time.

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Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

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“One feedback we’ve heard loud and clear is that customers love [Highway Assist] but they want to use it in more places,” James Philbin, Rivian VP of autonomy, said on the podcast RivianTrackr Hangouts. “So that’s something kind of exciting we’re working on, we’re calling it internally ‘Map Free’, that we’re targeting for later this year.”
The lag between the release of Highway Assist (HWA) and Map Free automated driving gives time for the fleet of Rivian vehicles to gather ‘unique events’. These events are used to train Rivian’s offline model in the cloud before data is distilled back to individual vehicles.
As Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe explained in early March, HWA marked the very beginning of an expanding automated-driving feature set, “going from highways to surface roads, to turn-by-turn.”
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It’s also part of what Rivian calls its “Giving you your time back” philosophy, the first of three pillars supporting Rivian’s vision over the next three to five years. Philbin says that philosophy is focused on “meeting drivers where they are”, as opposed to chasing full automation in the way other automakers, such as Tesla’s robotaxi, might be doing.
“We recognize a lot of people buy Rivians to go on these adventures, to have these amazing trips. They want to drive, and we want to let them drive,” Philbin says. “But there’s a lot of other driving that’s very monotonous, very boring, like on the highway. There, giving you your time back is how we can give the best experience.”
This will also eventually lead to the third pillar of Rivian’s vision, which is delivering Level 4, or high-automation vehicles: Those will offer features such as auto park or auto valet, where you can get out of your Rivian at the office, or at the airport, and it goes off and parks itself.
While not promising anything, Philbin says he believes the current Gen 2 hardware and platforms should be able to support these upcoming features.
The second pillar for Rivian is its focus on active safety features, as the EV-maker rewrote its entire autonomous vehicle (AV) system for its Gen2 models. This focus allowed Rivian’s R1T to be the only large truck in North America to get a Top Safety Pick+ from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
“I believe there’s a lot of innovation in the active safety space, in terms of making those features more capable and preventing more accidents,” Philbin says. “Really the goal, the north star goal, would be to have Rivian be one of the safest vehicles on the road, not only for the occupants but also for other road users.”

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