If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Go ahead and shake your money maker.
Or not.
After reports surfaced at Automotive News earlier this week that the 707-horsepower supercharged 6.2-liter V8 from the Dodge Charger Hellcat, Dodge Challenger Hellcat, and Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk would appear in a Chrysler 300 next year, Motor Authority has heard from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on the subject.
It’s not going to happen.
As the lone passenger car remaining in Chrysler’s lineup, the insertion of a Hellcat engine into the Chrysler 300 would certainly drum up some attention for a brand that has received most of its recent press from a minivan introduction and the 200’s demise. Yet FCA hasn’t felt it necessary to offer even a regular performance iteration of the 300 since the 2014 model year.
Whether that 300 SRT8 was not in keeping with the Chrysler brand’s image, or unprofitable, or simply an unnecessary competitor for the SRTified Dodge Charger, or all three, it would be a major leap from the comfort-oriented Chrysler 300C to a 707-horsepower 300 that would require a host of performance upgrades.
The Chrysler 300 has taken a turn for the value-oriented corner of the full-size sedan market in the 2018 model year, however. There’s a new Chrysler 300 Touring trim that drops the car’s base price from $33,435 in 2017 to $30,090 in 2018.
Meanwhile, Automotive News suggests there will be no major Chrysler 300 overhaul in the near future, though a “major freshening” in 2019 should result in a weight loss program. Expect FCA to hop on the 2.0T bandwagon at some point, as well. Automotive News also reports that the Chrysler lineup will see vital expansion with an Illinois-built Jeep Cherokee-related crossover in 2019 and a reborn Chrysler Aspen built off the Pacifica’s platform in 2021.
But a 300 Hellcat? According to an FCA spokesperson, Motor Authority says “the automaker has no plans for a supercharged V-8 Hemi Hellcat engine in the Chrysler 300.”
[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.
Too bad, it would be an even better car with the hellcat engine. I’d even prefer it if they de-tuned it down to ~600-650hp.
…Chrysler says it has a crossover coming for 2019?
Funny, the 2019 model year starts in about a year, and I haven’t seen any concept cars, spy shots, test mules, or anything else to indicate this car is actually in development. Am I missing something, or is Chrysler able to gin up a new car in less than a year these days?
At this point, Chrysler might as well do a Hellcat 300 and kick out its’ remaining jams in style.
Good point. Might just be another Fiat model rebadge those missing components need not show up until six months prior to launch.
Step 1:
Rebadge the 500X. Call it a Chrysler Cordoba.
Step 2:
Profit.
(Seriously, if there’s some Chrysler CUV in development, why haven’t we seen a concept car or test mules? I think they’re bullsh!tting.)
I will only allow this if it comes with Rich Corinthian Leather.
You don’t need test mules to rebadge a Grand Cherokee, just a few different creases in the sheet metal. If they they can turn 500L’s into Jeeps, they can piut out a luxe model GC. In fact, just jack up a 200 and put a wagon roofline on it, and you have a use for all that tooling.
It would have to be a 500XXXL to be a Cordoba. You could play tennis on the hood of the old cars.
2019 is supposed to just be a refresh of the current car. The only way I can realistically see them reducing weight would be to change the suspension components from steel to aluminum. If that’s so, you could be driving next to a refreshed model right now and not even know it.
Perhaps, and maybe do some aluminium bodywork. I’d say what the 300 really needs is an updated interior.
But in the end, it’s the same old same old for a brand and segment that are both dying.
I’d sure love to see proof that all this new Chrysler product they’re talking about is actually in the pipeline. So would the money men in China.
China isn’t going to bail out Sergio. They’ll wait for him to part out the company, but then they’ll have to compete with others for the choice parts.
If I never hear the name “Hellcat” again, it’ll be too soon. You won’t find a bigger car guy than me, but who cares about another 700+ horsepower FCA antique? A company that can’t field a competitive passenger car and has just given up on that segment. A company whose Jeep cash cow is now flailing. A company consistently at the bottom of every quality metric. A company that can’t attract even desperate Chinese suitors looking to break into the US market. It’s Ram that keep that place afloat and barely.
The 300 with V6 or V8 engine is a very competitive highway cruiser. It just has parts made to a price, that make the car take a reliability/durability hit.
The 300’s old, plus it can’t be the only sedan to carry your entire product line. Getting rid of the Dart and 200 was a clear sign of FCA throwing in the towel.
Thank God.
When you name a development division “Street and Racing Technology” (SRT) you ought to produce something more interesting that power-plant transplants into every single model that has a big enough engine bay.
The most innovative part of the process is tweaking and modifying the components that interface with the engine.
Any aftermarket Joe Schmo with a lift and $40000 could outfit a (insert car here) with a big displacement and big brembos…
True, but proles don’t have the $40K liquid cash to do so while they can get a $40K “loan” with juice to purchase one built by an OEM from your local bankster cartel affiliate. Funny that.
I’ll join the chorus of those who would be happier to see a naturally aspirated 6.4 ltr Hemi 300.
That would make me recall the days when the top of the line sedans could be had with 400+ cubic inch big blocks.
But they did not deny they might do a 300 Demon right?
The obvious engineering investment for FCA would be to reduce the weight of the normally aspirated Hemi V8 engines, probably by switching to an aluminum block. That weight reduction would apply across the high profit Jeep Grand Cherokee, RAM 1500, and the Chrysler 300. They’ll probably waste money on low-profit small cars from Fiat instead.
I read a story on the Engine Swap Depot web site about a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a Hellcat engine swapped into it, and there have been other Hellcat engine swap projects, so perhaps someone will perform a similar swap with a Chrysler 300?
I’d like to see a re-boot of the owner driven limousine in the spirit of the 1960’s Imperials. Take a stretched 300 chassis, drop the Hellcat in there, but make it subtle. No Hellcat badging, very restrained styling updates, no donk wheels, etc. A vinyl roof, some chrome trim on the wheel openings and maybe fender skirts, too.
Came here to say this. Dial up the opulence, stitch in the rich Corinthian leather, drop the big motor in, maybe stretch the chassis a little, and you’ve got a true American luxobarge. They wouldn’t sell many of them, but they could clear $15,000 in profit on each one. And the Chinese market would love it.
Given the Chinese import taxes on cars, FCA would have to make it in China, like a number of GM models available there, but not here. We’d be left out, or have to accept Chinese-made Chryslers.
They sell SRT 300’s outside of the US but wont sell them here? Sergio is a turd.
The pictures were of a widebody 300. The spokesperson only said they were not putting the supercharged engine in. So, it could be they are developing a widebody 300 with the 6.4 (or rumored 450hp forced induction V6) or one of the Cryco engineers was having some fun with his own car.