Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 Introduced In North America As Fastest Muscle Car In History

• Dodge SRT Demon 170 is the quickest, fastest and most powerful series-production muscle car. 

• Powered by a 1025PS HEMI V8 engine good for nought to 100kmph in a record-breaking 1.66 seconds (rolling start). 

• Extreme muscle car gets drag mode suspension, staggered drag-racing radial tyres and optional carbon fibre wheels. 

• Only 3,300 units will be produced, limited to North American (US, Canada) markets.

Even though EVs threaten to take over and make our driving experience completely silent, it’s a shining moment for ICE engines that are better, more efficient and more powerful than ever. To hammer that in, Dodge has come up with its most extreme Challenger yet – the fastest production muscle car to ever exist on the planet. 

Called the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, it’s the final edition of the “Last Call” series that bodes the end of the line for the Challenger, and indeed Charger nameplates. As the last of the finest muscle cars, the Challenger SRT Demon 170 is an apt tribute to its name. 

How fast is the Challenger SRT Demon 170? 

Powered by a souped-up HEMI V8 engine, the final Challenger is a true guzzler. We’re not talking about its fuel economy, which ought to be horrific on the drag strip, but its massive 3-litre supercharger that feeds air to the HEMI engine. 

The engine itself is a 6.2-litre V8 unit that features a commemorative “Last Call” badge. It’s tuned for a mammoth 1025PS and 1281Nm output, easily ten times higher than a regular car, when run on E85 racing-spec fuel. On standard E10 fuel, the output drops to a still-bonkers 900PS!  

But apart from its engine, the Challenger is a regular car (sort of) with not too many premium features weighing it down. It gets Houndstooth cloth seats as standard and, if you’re intent on saving weight, you can get it without passenger or rear seats, carpets and sound insulation. 

As a result, it’s capable of putting down a nought to 100kmph time of 1.66 seconds (rolling start), quicker than some of the most extreme supercars and hypercars in the world like the Rimac Nevera. It runs on staggered wheels that are bigger and much, much wider in the rear. The widebody Challenger SRT Demon 170 comes with Mickey Thompson ET Street R drag radials and Bilstein shock absorbers at the front and rear. Until now we’ve only talked about straight-line performance, but the Demon 170 should also be grippy on a twisty stretch of road or track with its impressive cornering g’s. 

Sleeper looks 

We’ve seen some zany designs from Dodge in recent years, but the Challenger SRT Demon 170 looks pretty ordinary on the outside. Yes, there’s a wide bonnet vent and the splitter sticks out far ahead of the bumper, but the overall design is quite sedate, which should make this muscle car less of a cop magnet. In other words, a sleeper. There isn’t even a huge wing at the rear! 

We did say you can get the Challenger with a minimalist (sans passenger seats and premium audio) setup, but the optional premium leather pack makes more sense for everyday use. It gets you black Alcantara and leather seats with Demon 170 logos and creature comforts such as a heated steering wheel (for cold climates), heated and ventilated seats and an 18-speaker Harman Kardon audio system. 

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Alas, the world’s fastest muscle car will be limited to US and Canada markets with a total production of 3,300 cars planned. That said, Dodge is providing bespoke modifications inspired by the “Last Call” series for existing muscle cars via the Dodge Garage. 

The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 is peerless as the fastest, most powerful ICE muscle car to ever reach production. That should stay unchanged for the foreseeable future, since other American carmakers are moving to EVs and even Dodge has an electric muscle car in the works based on the Charger Daytona concept.