Dodge made one hell of a vehicle when they put the Hellcat performance version on top of the already impressive Challenger. But I think they didn’t exactly have in mind one particular segment of the car market spectrum – the dark realm of stolen cars.
Dodge tops the unwanted charts of “most likely to be stolen car brand,” with the Hellcat among the hot picks of the thieves. A video emerged on Instagram a few days ago showing how one such Challenger parts ways with its legal owner. It’s at the bottom of this story, but viewer discretion is highly recommended, as the footage is hugely expletive.
The security cameras outside a nightclub in Chicago recorded the stealing of a Hellcat parked outside the entrance. While the event occurred on August 16 – according to the date displayed on the recorder – the video surfaced three days ago.
Thieves are a very inventive category – not for the best of purposes, unfortunately – and they retort to an arsenal of methods when it comes to grand theft auto. It’s a tricky affair, with the police constantly on their tail and outlaws keeping the police busy with routine criminal activity.
A dog-eat-dog world. Or, in our case, a Dodge-eat-Dodge. The Challenger is pushed away by a larger Durango. Pushed as in head-butted. The video shows the big SUV stopping right by the parked Challenger. A man gets out and then, after some work with the Hellcat door, enters the muscle car and unlocks the steering wheel (see the right front wheel turn).
The accomplices in the Durango maneuver behind the Challenger and proceed to push it away, using their vehicle as a motorized – and improvised – ram (pun not intended). End of the story, but not of controversy.
“How does the Hellcat surrender so quickly?” is the question that sparked a debate among viewers. Some suggested the Durango-Challenger pushcart-style method is a means to bump-start the big V8 (which, in that case, would probably have a manual gearbox).
Why there appears to be no functional alarm on the car is another curious issue of this intriguing criminal episode of Chicago night-time (notice the hazard lights don’t turn on, as they would if the alarm were triggered).
The second video shows one method of unlocking the door of a Hellcat without using the key or damaging the vehicle. As for unlocking the steering wheel, it’s not as hard as it may seem at first glance.
Speculation aside, the Hellcat dodged out of the cameras’ shot pretty fast. This ease of the hit-and-go technique is one reason this Dodge model (together with the Charger member of the Mopar family) is among thieves’ top targets in the U.S.
In 2021, for example, a Michigan police department ended up with some one thousand Charger thefts that occurred the previous year. That’s for Southeast Michigan alone, but it gets worse when looking over a broader study.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gathered data covering the 2016-2018 period, and statistics are worrying for Charger/Challenger owners. Their big sedans are five times more likely to turn to the dark side of car ownership. In case you’re curious, on the opposite spectrum, the least suitable victim for car theft is the BMW 3-series.
*WARNING! Excessively profane language is used in the video!*
After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
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