Hellcat Charger Top Speed Record Challenged by BMW

The new Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is the quickest and fastest 4-door production sedan in the world, but when the newest Alpina version of the BMW M5 arrives later this year with 591 horsepower and 590lb-ft of torque, it will have a top speed that will challenge that of the 707 horsepower Charger.

When the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat was first introduced last August at a pre-event media gathering ahead of the Woodward Dream Cruise, Dodge brand CEO Tim Kuniskis stated that it was the fastest 4-door production sedan in the world, with an official top speed of 204 miles per hour. It is also the quickest sedan with a stock quarter mile time of 11 seconds flat and a 0-60 time of just 3.7 seconds, but with 707 horsepower, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it is the quickest and fastest production sedan in the world. There is even a video showing the Charger defending its title against some of the best performance sedans in the world, including the BMW M5. Click here for a closer look at that video.

However, when the new Alpina B5 Bi-Turbo arrives later this year, its twin turbo 4.4L V8 will offer far less power, but BMW expects that the limited edition sedan will have the same top speed as the Hellcat Charger.

The Alpina B5 Bi Turbo Edition 50
The BMW M5 is one of the most powerful and most respected sport sedans in the world with a twin turbo, 4.4L V8 delivering 560 horsepower and 500lb-ft of torque. The standard M5 will dash from 0-60 in 4.2 seconds en route to an electronically limited top speed of 155 miles per hour. The M5 is awesome, but in stock form, it falls a little short of the 707hp Charger.

Fortunately, BMW’s tuning partners at Alpina have rolled out their new B5 Bi Turbo Edition 50, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the BMW/Alpina performance models in the best way possible.

By adding power, performance and creating one of the fastest BMW sedans ever.

The new Alpina B5 Bi Turbo has a specially tuned version of the M5 engine that delivers 591 horsepower and 590lb-ft of torque. This bump in power allows the Alpina sedan to sprint from 0-62 in just 4.2 seconds, so it is a little slower on the low end when compared to the Hellcat Charger, but more importantly, the special edition Alpina B7 is expected to have a top speed of 328 kilometers per hour. That is 203.81 miles per hour and when rounded up, you get an official top speed of 204 miles per hour.

2015 Charger Galleries:
Live images of the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat debut
My 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Test Car
The first images of the 2015 Dodge Charger R/T

Of course it should be stressed that the Hellcat Charger’s official top speed was measured by taking an average of two runs on the same surface whereas the Alpina B5 Bi Turbo Edition 50 top speed may just be a manufacturer’s claim. This means that Alpina (or BMW) will need to prove that it can average 204 miles per hour to officially challenge the 707hp Charger, but this is the closest we have seen to any other 4-door sedan posing a real threat to Dodge’s world’s fastest sedan claims.

The Big Difference
The new Alpina B5 Bi Turbo Edition 50 is a high end luxury car with serious power while the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is an American muscle car in sedan form. The interior of the Hellcat Charger is very nice, but it cannot compete with the Alpina layout. Also, the Edition 50 is limited to just 50 units, so it will be very hard to get (and impossible to get in the US). Not surprisingly, this exclusivity and high level of luxury leads to a big price - 86,850 British Pounds or $128,468 in US dollars.

So the Alpina B5 Bi Turbo Edition 50 costs $128,468 while the Hellcat Charger starts under $65,000. The 707 horsepower Charger isn’t available in Europe right now and the Alpina super sedan may not available in the United States, so while the two are unlikely to ever meet on the street, it looks like Dodge could finally have a real challenge at their claim for the fastest sedan in the world.