After announcing that the V8 would no longer be manufactured after 2023, Dodge planned to give it one last hurrah by producing seven unique models of the Challenger and Charger using the engine. Unfortunately, plans to reveal the final V8 model this November are delayed indefinitely as of this week.
Dodge has only given a blanket statement related to the announcement, leaving muscle car enthusiasts with burning questions. What happened to cause the reveal to be put off, and when will we be seeing the last V8 at Dodge dealer locations, if not in November?
What’s Happening to the V8 and the Final Special Edition Model?
When the CEO of Dodge said that V8s were going extinct last year, we didn’t know it would happen so quickly. Fuel economy and emissions regulations being introduced recently have made it near-impossible for the V8 to survive the automotive industry’s move toward electrification.
But Dodge wasn’t willing to give up the V8 just yet, so the automaker planned to create seven new Chargers and Challengers featuring the V8 engine, six of which have already been revealed. But the seventh and last Dodge V8 has hit a snag in production that has caused the company to push back its reveal date from November 2022 to the distant future.
And all Dodge will say about it is that “when product and supply challenges have been resolved, the reveal will be rescheduled.” There’s no other information from Dodge about when we’ll see the last V8 muscle car and when it will reach Dodge dealers.
Supply challenges may refer to the microchip shortage caused by the pandemic that’s slowed new car production for the past two years. But until we get more news from Dodge, it’s hard to tell what issues are facing this unveiled model V8’s production.
What We Do Know About the Last ICE Muscle Models
The six previously released V8 models are the Challenger Shakedown, Charger Super Bee, Challenger and Charger Swingers, Charger King Daytona, and Challenger Black Ghost. That narrows the seventh model down to a Charger or Challenger, with many leaning toward Challenger when speculating.
What’s not speculation is that CEO Tim Kuniskis said this muscle car would “make history.” Previous reports on the model’s production and hints from officials have implied that this special edition model will be more powerful than the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. The Demon has a whopping 800 horsepower and can go 0 to 60 in about 2 seconds with a 6.2-liter HEMI V8 engine.
That creates big shoes to fill for a model that currently doesn’t even have a name, but Dodge was confident they would meet and exceed expectations. Will that change now that it’s been delayed? Or will the delay only increase the hype for the last Dodge V8 muscle car when it reaches your local Dodge dealer?
Keep an eye on Dodge news in the next few weeks for more on the last of the V8 engine vehicles.
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