Final Dodge Challenger Special Edition Can't Stop Blowing Up Engines

Nov. 01, 2022 9:50 AM ET byChase Bierenkoven SEMA 2022 /3 Comments

Dodge's final Last Call special edition will be a true monster.

With the electrified future of Dodge on the horizon, a series ofDodge Challengerand Charger"Last Call" special editionshave been announced. So far, we've seen six of them in total, with the seventh scheduled to be unveiled at this year's SEMA event. As we now know,that's not going to happen.

"It'll be a funny story later," insists the head of Dodge brand Tim Kuniskis. Kuniskis was speaking at a background briefing to outline Dodge's plans for SEMA.

Plans that used to include the seventh and final, Last Call special edition. "But we ran into some problems," said Kuniskis. "The seventh car can't stop blowing up engines."

Dodge

Dodge is clearly pushing the limits of its V8. Already, one of the Last Call editions ispushing 807 horsepower.

Evidently, Dodge's "best-for-last" idea with the seventh car is proving to be an issue.The Detroit Bureaureports that these engines have been blowing up. Dodge isn't embellishing, and neither are we. These cars are popping motors.

As Kuniskis revealed at the briefing, the plan was to build something so utterly insane it would make the Hellcat turn fluffed tail and run. With the Challenger/Charger's 800+ horsepower in Redeye guise, it's a tall order. So, in light of that, the car has been delayed until Dodge has a fix.

Dodge

"I think we've got it figured out - if we don't blow up any more engines," he said. "We think we got it fixed, but I'm still holding my breath." The CEO says that the last model could be unveiled before the year is out if all goes well.

However, Dodge's engineers have to be confident in its motor- which must run for hundreds of hours at full tilt on an engine dyno before sale.

The seven Last Call editions are split among Dodge's 500 best-selling dealers, the top 200 of which get a few extra order allocations. The Final Calls will not be cheap, however.Dodge released the official pricing last week, and two of them are already over $100k. We can only imagine how much the seventh will be.