Dodge Launches Challenger SRT Hellcat Configurator, Tries To Curb Markups

At $59,995, the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is one of the performance bargains of our era. For the price of an optioned-up six-cylinder sedan from one of the established luxury marques, Dodge will supply you with the world’s most powerful muscle car, a 707-horsepower tire-shredding beast that gives us just a little hope for the future of back-to-basics performance cars.

Well, it’s a bargain when dealers aren’t slapping enormous markups on the price anyway. What is a bargain at sixty grand can appear less so with ten or twenty thousand extra on the sticker, but Dodge itself is stepping to the rescue in an attempt to curb this behavior. The longer a Hellcat sits on the lot, Automotive News (subscription required) reports, the fewer Hellcats a dealer will receive in the future.

“I think it’s the right thing to do” said brand boss Tim Kuniskis, and while he says that dealers are within their rights to carry out market pricing, the move should dissuade them from squeezing every penny from customers. He adds that dealers going gangbusters on regular models like Darts and Journeys will be rewarded with extra Hellcat allocation.

If you’ve not quite got to the dealer yet, it’s worth having a look at Dodge’s online Hellcat configurator. Sixty grand is out of the reach of many, but a spin on the configurator is free and still pretty satisfying. It also gives you a good idea of how much you’ll really pay for the car: While desirable options like Sublime green or TorRed paintwork won’t cost a penny, you can now finally discover the price of the TorqueFlite eight-speed auto gearbox ($1,995), a set of summer tires ($395) or red seat belts ($95). Click here to access the configurator.

Source: Motor Authority

By: Antony Ingram