Going, going, gone. If you wanted a 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat and haven’t already secured your order, you’re too late. Set to be built in relatively limited numbers, the Durango SRT Hellcat’s order books are full. If this were pretty much any other SUV we’d just say “well, there’s always next year,” but unfortunately for prospective buyers who haven’t already gotten their hands on one, there won’t be a next year. Durang-nooo!
Dodge was only ever going to build 2,000 examples of the hellcat-powered three-row SUV during its only model year—2021—after which the powerful model would cease to exist. The supercharged Hellcat V-8 engine won’t pass new emissions regulations that come into effect for the 2022 model year, thus killing the possibility that the most powerful SUV to have ever roamed out of a dealership and onto the streets will be more than just a one-year special.
Dodge hasn’t discussed what it would have to do to the Hellcat engine to make it compliant with the new rules and regs, but it’s safe to assume the engine would have to be neutered in some form (likely killing off some of its headline-grabbing 710 horses). We don’t know whether the clear demand for the Durango SRT H-E-double-hockey-sticks-cat will change Dodge executives’ minds on the matter, either. Fortunately, the new emissions regulations don’t doom the entire Hellcat-powered Dodge range (namely the Challenger and Charger), only the Durango.
When the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat first broke cover, Tim Kuniskis, global head of Alfa Romeo and head of passenger cars for FCA North America, said that demand might keep the production number under 2,000 units. Clearly he underestimated America’s appetite for SUVs with more horsepower than most Ferraris despite the hefty (yet, kind of value-packed) $82,490 asking price.
