Dodge has Built Almost 30,000 Hellcats in Three Years
Over the course of the first three model years, Dodge has built 29,387 Hellcat-powered Challengers and Chargers, with a sales spike likely in 2018.
The production numbers for the 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and the 2017 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat have surfaced online, and while they are down compared with 2015-2016, sales of the supercharged Mopar muscle cars were still very strong for the most recent model year. More importantly, 2017 combined with the 2015 and 2016 models lead to a production total of just under 30,000 Hellcats.
Before getting into the year-to-year specifics, we want to point out that these numbers do not come from FCA. Like most automakers, FCA won’t break out the sales numbers for a particular model, nor do they announce production numbers. Instead, companies announce sales by entire model, so we don’t know for sure how many Hellcat cars are sold each year, but thanks to the inside information posted on Hellcat.org, we know how many Hellcat Challengers and Chargers have been built for each of the first three model years.
2017 Hellcat Production
For the 2017 model year, FCA built 2,976 examples of the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, with 735 of those coming with the 6-speed manual transmission while the other 2,241 were equipped with the 8-speed automatic. Also, FCA built 1,889 examples of the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, all of which came standard with the 8-speed automatic. Pitch Black was the most popular color for both Hellcat cars, while Hellcat Challenger owners also went for Destroyer Grey, Yellow Jacket, White Knuckle and Go Mango next as Charger owners who didn’t pick black preferred White Knuckle, Destroyer Grey, Octane Red and Yellow Jacket (that’s 2nd through 5th for each) – so among the 2017 Hellcat cars, the most popular colors were Pitch Black, Destroyer Grey, Yellow Jacket and White Knuckle.
Hellcat production and sales were down significantly from 2015 and 2016, but we have to keep in mind that there is only so much of a market for a $70,000, 707 horsepower muscle car, so even with two of them in their lineup – Dodge had to know that Hellcat sales were eventually going to drop from the unexpectedly high numbers in 2015 and 2016.
Ultimately, Dodge had planned on selling about 5,000 Hellcat cars a year and in 2017, that number was fairly accurate. However, production and sales numbers were much higher in 2015 and 2016, and as a result, Dodge has built just shy of 30,000 Hellcat cars over the first three model years – and the majority of them have been sold.
Total Hellcat Production
In 2015, Dodge built 7,168 examples of the Hellcat Challenger and that number climbed to 11,995 for 2016, for a total of 19,163 supercharged Challengers heading into 2017. With the 2017 production numbers, Dodge has now built 22,139 Hellcat Challengers, about 2/3rds of which were fitted with the 8-speed automatic transmission.
In 2016, Dodge built 1,334 Hellcat Chargers and in 2016, that number jumped way up to 4,025, leading to a two-year total of 5,359 units produced. When you add in the 1,889 from 2017, Dodge has now built 7,248 Hellcat Chargers.
When you add up the three-year totals for the Hellcat Challenger and the Hellcat Charger, Dodge has now built 29,387 Hellcat cars for the first three model years.
More to Come for 2018
While production numbers (and sales volume) were down for the 2017 model year, Dodge is likely to see a spike in both sales and production for the 2018 model year. With the Demon arriving at dealerships across the US and Canada over the new year, Dodge will add 3,300 Challenger units alone, plus the spike in sales which will come with the addition of the new Widebody Hellcat Challenger.
Finally, when you take into account the subtle changes for the 2018 Hellcat Challenger and Charger, they should continue to sell at a solid pace along with the Widebody Hellcat Challenger and the new Demon.
In the end, it seems likely that by the end of the 2018 model year production, FCA will have built and sold more than 35,000 cars with the supercharged Hellcat (or Demon) Hemi. If we assume a very conservative average price of $70,000 across the board for the 32,000 Hellcar cars along with an average price of $84,000 for the 3,300 Demons, these supercharged Mopar muscle cars will be brought in well over $2.5 billion US dollars in cash receipts…and that doesn’t count the new Jeep Trackhawk.
Needless to say, the Hellcat Hemi architecture was a gamble that has paid off in a big way for FCA.
