As the automotive world continues to move its slow axis toward electric vehicles, the future prospects for large, high-power internal combustion engines have diminished. But instead of lamenting the loss of what has been one of the company’s most successful marketing measures, Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis doesn’t seem at all worried that the Hellcat V8 is a dying race.
“The days of a 6.2-liter V-8 supercharged iron block are numbered,” Kuniskis said CNBC during a recent video interview. “They are absolutely numbered due to all the compliance costs. But the performance generated by these vehicles is not numbered.
It is the last part that is the most fascinating: the days of Hellcat are numbered, not because consumers do not want them, but it will be reduced to the regulation of these engines.
In fact, Kuniskis notes that Hellcat has exceeded expectations.
“What Hellcat has done is far beyond our initial expectations, because it goes far beyond what a high-end traditional embellishment does,” Kuniskis said. “In the last five years or so, we have sold more than 50,000 Hellcats. There are a lot of Hellcats in five years if you think you know the price of this car.
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Kuniskis compares this situation to the late 1970s, where The Powers That Be began regulating muscle cars out of existence, but hopes it won’t take decades to recover this time around.
Part of that will come down to reinventing what the Hellcat name means, largely initiating a transition away from particular combustion engines and emphasizing overall performance. It’s a bold concept, as most car enthusiasts will have trouble separating “Hellcat” from the “big, sturdy engine”. But I have to admit that highlighting performance in some cases and not just the economy will be an important factor in getting these same enthusiasts to join the electric vehicles.
There’s no hard timeline yet, but when the Hellcat name ends up in an EV, don’t say Kuniskis didn’t tell you.