Hellcat Owners Polled on All Wheel Drive Challenger Interest

After all of the talk about the All-Wheel Drive Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat in the past two weeks, I polled the folks on the large Hellcat Group and asked if they would have gotten an AWD Hellcat when they purchased their cars, and the results were pretty evenly split between the “yes” and “no” camps.

First, before getting into the results of my poll on the Hellcat Group Facebook page, I want to remind everyone that the reports that Dodge was working on an all-wheel drive Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat have been debunked by Automotive News. Several outlets misunderstood AN’s original report about the future of the Challenger, stating that there was an AWD Challenger Hellcat with a new widebody design on the way, when in reality, we will soon see an All-Wheel Drive V6 Challenger and a new widebody design for the Hellcat. Automotive News later clarified their report and from there, the discussion of the all-wheel drive Hellcat Challenger were put to rest. You can read more about that by clicking here.

However, with so much discussion online about a Hellcat Challenger that would spin all four wheels, I tapped the Hellcat Group Facebook page and I asked owners the following question:
If an all-wheel drive system that added $3,000 and 500lbs had been available when you bought your Hellcat, would you have gotten it?

Basically, this theoretical all-wheel drive Hellcat Challenger would have a starting price right around $69,000 and a curb weight around 4,950 pounds. I used pricing for other Dodge AWD systems and the weight of an average AWD setup for those numbers.

The Results Show Mixed Emotions
The Hellcat Challenger and Charger owners were given the simple options of “yes” and “no”, but I left the poll open to new options, and two more were added by members – “Yes, As long as it was still a Hellcat motor” and “Yes, if the AWD could be turned off”.
57% of owners polled quickly answered “no” and one Hellcat Challenger owner pointed out that in his muscle car, he wants rear wheel drive and “tail out fun”. I tend to agree.

Next, 23% answered picked “yes”, and while the difference of 59% to 22% might make you think that the result of the poll was an overwhelming thumbs down – we have to look at the two owner-added poll options.

Since we are talking specifically about the Hellcat Challenger and Hellcat Charger, the imaginary cars being discussed here would still have the supercharged Hellcat Hemi, so we can add the 11% of owners who picked that into the “yes” group, bringing that number up to 34%.

Finally, 9% of Hellcat Challenger and Charger owners polled said that they would have purchased an all-wheel drive system for the muscle car is that system gave them the ability to turn off the AWD. Essentially, the option to select rear wheel drive or all-wheel drive at the push of a button would give the driver the ability to enjoy “tail out fun”, but they could also engage the AWD and get incredible traction – in theory.

To sum up those numbers, if the all-wheel drive Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat had a system where the driver could select rear-drive only, the poll would have 57% no and 43% yes. If the Hellcat Challenger was all-wheel drive all of the time, we would have results of 66% no and 34% yes.

So, while the interest is not overwhelmingly high, around a third of current Hellcat Challenger and Charger owners would have considered an AWD package when they purchased their car. A third might be a good enough number for the FCA team to put real thought into a high performance, all-wheel drive muscle car in a future generation.