08/02/2026
Every manufacturer in Detroit was building smaller, more efficient, more responsible engines in 2015. Ford had the EcoBoost. Chevy had cylinder deactivation. Ram was promoting diesel fuel economy. Dodge walked into that conversation with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 making 707 HP and said: no. The Hellcat wasn't a response to market demand. It was a rejection of market demand. Nobody asked for 707 HP in a four-door Charger sedan or a two-door Challenger coupe. Nobody at Dodge ran a focus group that concluded American buyers needed more horsepower than a Lamborghini Aventador for less than $65,000. The engineers at SRT built it because they could, because the Gen III Hemi architecture could handle it, and because somebody at Dodge understood that the company's entire identity depended on not being reasonable.
The Hellcat engine shares its bore (103.9 mm / 4.09 inches) with the 6.4-liter 392 Hemi and its stroke (90.9 mm / 3.58 inches) with the 5.7-liter Hemi. Displacement: 376 cubic inches (6,166 cc). Cast-iron block with four-bolt powder-metal main caps. Forged steel crankshaft. Forged connecting rods with diamond-like carbon coating on the floating pins. Forged aluminum pistons at 9.5:1 compression. Aluminum hemispherical heads with 54.3 mm intake valves and 42 mm exhaust valves. A 2.4-liter IHI twin-screw supercharger spinning at up to 14,600 RPM and producing 11.6 psi of boost. Intercooled with a low-temperature coolant circuit running through a heat exchanger in the front bumper. The result: 707 HP at 6,000 RPM and 650 lb-ft at 4,800 RPM. On 91-octane pump gas. With a factory warranty. With air conditioning. With a back seat.
Then Dodge kept going. The 2018 Demon: 2.7-liter supercharger replacing the 2.4, 840 HP on 100-octane race fuel (808 on 91), a TransBrake launch system, front wheels that lifted off the ground at launch, and a 9.65-second quarter-mile from the factory. The 2019 Redeye: the Demon's 2.7-liter supercharger detuned to 797 HP for street-car duty with improved drivability. The 2020 Super Stock: 807 HP, drag-optimized suspension, Nitto drag radials. The 2023 Demon 170: 1,025 HP on E85 ethanol, the most powerful production car engine ever built by any manufacturer anywhere in the world. From 707 to 1,025 HP in eight years. Same basic block. Same bore. Same stroke. Same cast-iron architecture. Dodge didn't replace the engine. They kept adding boost until the tires couldn't hold the road.
Mopar sells the Hellcrate Redeye as a complete crate engine for $21,807. Eight hundred seven horsepower. A supercharged Hemi V8. With an ECU, wiring harness, and front accessory drive included. Ready to install in anything with enough room under the hood and enough tire on the ground. People have swapped Hellcat engines into classic Chargers, Jeep Wranglers, Ram trucks, and things that were never designed to handle 700+ HP. The Hellcrate costs less than a loaded Honda Accord. It makes more power than a Ferrari 812 Superfast. That's the entire Dodge philosophy in one number: 807 HP for $21,807. The muscle car era didn't die in 1973. It was just waiting for a supercharger big enough to bring it back.
