Smaller, Lighter Dodge Challenger and Charger Could Come at Late as 2021

Over the past few months, we have talked a great deal about the next generation Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger. It has long been expected that the next generation of the Mopar muscle car and the closely related super sedan will soon enter a new era during which they will be built on a new Alfa-based chassis platform. When that happens, it is expected that both of the popular Dodge performance cars will get a little smaller and a little lighter, thus improving their performance capabilities and their efficiency.

Some folks in the muscle car world are not pleased about the rumors of the smaller, lighter Challenger and Charger while others embrace the possibility of a pair of better-performing Dodge cars. Well, based on a new bit of information from Allpar, there is some good news for those folks who prefer the construction of the current Challenger and Charger – and some bad news for those waiting to buy the Alfa-based Mopar muscle cars.

Refresh in 2018/2019, No New Platform
The new insider information from Allpar explains that the Dodge Challenger and the Dodge Charger will be freshened up for 2018, but it will not be the vast change to a new platform that we had expected. We should see some basic exterior re-touches and some powertrain changes, but these cars will continue to be built on the same basic architecture as the current cars.

After this 2018 refresh, those “new” Challengers and Chargers will continue on through the 2020 model year. If this proves to be true, we won’t be seeing the actual next generation Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger with the new platform until the 2021 model year. This would be bad news for those folks who are looking forward to the smaller, lighter Challenger and Charger, but it would be good news for those folks who prefer the current look of the large, powerful Dodge cars.

The other good news – which is also purely based on my own speculation – is that an extension of the current architecture for the Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger likely means that we will see a similar engine lineup offered over the course of the next few years. There is a possibility that we will see slight revisions in the engine lineup, but we should still be able to buy a Pentastar V6 and an array of Hemi V8s – including the mighty Hellcat.

Again, this information is based on information from an unnamed insider and there has been no official word on the next generation Dodge Challenger and Dodge Charger from the Chrysler Group management, but the Allpar insiders are generally on the mark – so this could prove to be true over the next few years. Of course, there could also be changes between then and now which lead to variations in the company product plans, but for the moment, it seems like the Challenger and Charger could remain relatively unchanged through the 2020 model year.

Source: Allpar