Update: Dodge Challenger Special Edition Redeye with 855hp was Inaccurate

Yesterday afternoon, we discussed a series of Instagram posts by drift champion Samuel Hubinette, where he had referenced a special edition Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye with 855 horsepower. He was shooting a video for the Dodge Horsepower Challenger trivia contest with Bill Goldberg and on his Instagram account, he mentioned that it was a special edition model with 855 horsepower. He also used the hashtag “#855hp” in another post, along with confirming to commenters that the car did, indeed, have 855 horsepower.

Needless to say, that got many people in the muscle car world very excited, as the prospect of a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye with 855 horsepower – 58 more than the current Redeye – would be the next in a series of awesome supercharged machines. Unfortunately, our hopes for an 855 horsepower Challenger may be dashed, as we have been information by an FCA representative that those comments were inaccurate. As a result, that portion of those Instagram posts have been removed, making it seem far less likely that an even hotter Hellcat Redeye is on the way.

Too Good to Be True?
AS you might imagine, the news of a possible Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye with 855 horsepower was big news even before we talked about it. Many Mopar enthusiasts who follow Hubinette on Instagram were excited by his comments and when we published the information, scores of commenters were looking forward to this stronger muscle car.

However, some people were quick to question the validity of his posts. One person questioned whether such vital information could be so casually announced, and by someone who doesn’t work for the company. Then again, the first time that the world saw the Dodge Challenger Demon, it was in an Instagram post by Vin Diesel. It was verified back then that Vin Diesel was not part of some unique plan to introduce the 840-horsepower Challenger, so it seemed possible that a similar mistake could have happened again.

Maybe Hubinette unknowingly let the cat out of the bag, similar to what Vin Diesel did back in 2017. Maybe Hubinette, who is a former FCA-backed factory racer in the drift world, was part of a plan to quietly announce plans for a new, stronger Challenger Redeye with help from the Mayor of Muscleville, Bill Goldberg. Or maybe Hubinette made a mistake in stating the power numbers that were not correct.

Sadly, a message that I received earlier this evening points towards this final, least-exciting option.

Inaccurate Numbers
The message that I received an FCA representative explained that the information posted on Samuel Hubinette’s Instagram account was “inaccurate”, and that it had been removed. Of course, we ran over to IG to check and sure enough, his references to the power levels including the hashtags are gone. Even the comments from fans asking about the power numbers are gone.

Provided that Hubinette was simply mistaken about the power output, the odds of a Challenger was more than 800 horsepower have gotten substantially worse. There is still a chance that there is some sort of stronger, special edition Challenger Redeye on the way, but we have to remind everyone that he was filming a video for the Dodge Horsepower Challenge. The prizes for that contest are several special edition Challengers painted a unique color, which is what makes them special edition. Hubinette’s comments on Instagram gave many of us hope that the special edition package also added 58 extra horsepower, but that appears to not be the case.

Fortunately, the 797-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye is still readily available and with fairly simple upgrades, 855 horsepower is easily obtained. That being said, this information from FCA suggests that we shouldn’t hold our breath while waiting for a factory-issued Challenger with 855 horsepower, but we can all continue hoping for such a machine.