Unleashed in March 2023, the most powerful muscle car of all time offers up to 1,025 horsepower and 945 pound-feet (1,281 Nm) on E85 corn brew for the relatively sensible recommended price of $96,666. However, you've missed your chance of placing an order on the ultimate incarnation of the Challenger.
Only 3,300 units of the Demon 170 were produced, with emphasis on "were" because the final example of the breed was finished on December 22nd at the Brampton Assembly Plant. It's been a week since that fateful day, and the best estimate so far indicates that most customers opted for Pitch Black. An estimated 671 units were finished in this color, including 28 of the Jailbreak special edition. The invite-only program was originally intended to conclude after 40 units.
The second most popular Demon 170 paint color was Sublime, with 416 vehicles, an eye-popping color that harks back to the original from the 1970 model year. Chassis number 2C3CDZL99PH102049 – the 2,049th of 3,300 cars ever produced – is one of the 416 vehicles finished in Sublime. It also happens to be listed on Bring a Trailer with delivery miles, which is both good news and bad news. For starters, you could get your hands on a brand-new Demon 170.
The downside is that said vehicle sits on a high bid of $180,000 with less than two days of bidding left at the moment of reporting. The seller has also provided a window sticker, which indicates a total price of $116,641 (including gas guzzler tax and the destination fee). Optioned with the satin black hood ($1,995) and the full cloth interior ($1,995), this Demon 170 is currently located in New Jersey.
Offered with a clean title in the seller's name, a similarly clean Carfax report, two keys, the aforementioned window sticker, and manufacturer's literature, chassis number 2C3CDZL99PH102049 will soon become the third Demon 170 auctioned on Bring a Trailer. Its peers hammered for $240,000 and $210,000, respectively, earlier in December 2023.
Photo: Duff99Vette on Bring a Trailer
Both sellers made tidy profits, for sure! It's not clear whether Demon 170 will ever come down. If you ask me, that would be a big fat no because increasingly stringent fuel economy and emission regulations hinder automakers from going crazy with mass-market engines like the Hellcat supercharged V8.
The Challenger's demise is joined by the bitter end of the Hellcat as well. The 6.2-liter V8's only applications for 2024 are the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat and Ram 1500. Next year, the Ram 1500 TRX will be discontinued in favor of the inline-six Ram 1500 RHO, an off-road truck with 540 horsepower and 521 pound-feet (706 Nm) of twist.
The 5.7- and 6.4-liter versions of the third-gen HEMI are going the way of the dodo in 2024 as well, although certain peeps believe that Ram will keep the 6.4er alive for a few more years for the heavy-duty line. In any case, a turbo diesel such as the Cummins inline-six is better suited to a heavy-duty truck, especially if you intend to tow on a regular basis.
It's not known whether the Challenger will come back by the end of this decade, but the Charger will (as a three-door liftback rather than a four-door sedan) in 2024 as a 2025 model with both electric and inline-six powertrain choices. The Chrysler 300 is also returning. Both the Charger and 300 are underpinned by the STLA Large platform, a vehicle architecture confirmed for production at the Windsor Assembly Plant. The Brampton Assembly Plant, on the other hand, gears up for the next-generation Jeep Compass on the STLA Medium architecture in late 2025.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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