The Dodge Demon is both the world’s fastest production car, and a gauntlet thrown down by Dodge, allowing the company to declare itself as the home of the “Muscle Brotherhood.” It’s a new tagline inspired by the Fast and the Furious franchise and Dodge’s new pitchman, Vin Diesel — the actor was onstage tonight at a noisy, tire smoke-filled press event to launch the Demon ahead of the start of the New York Auto Show tomorrow.
To hear Dodge’s Tim Kuniskis describe it, the Demon is meant to show that Dodge isn’t like other car companies. I’ve long said that the 707-horsepower Hellcat, launched by Dodge a few years ago, would have gotten killed off at most automakers — who needs a car with more than 700 horsepower? That’s crazy. No one should have bought it. But they kept it alive, brought it to market, and buyers flocked to Dodge showrooms. And now, they’ve done it again.
Look up “more” in the dictionary and you’ll find a picture of the new Demon. It has the most powerful V8 ever fit to a production car, making 840 horsepower and 770 pound-feet of torque. Dodge says it has the hardest launch of any production car, pulling 1.8g off the line. Thanks to some trick suspension that shifts half a ton of weight to the back wheels for the launch, the Demon even lifts the front wheels off the ground for a Guinness-certified 2.92 feet at takeoff — another first for a production car.
You can buy the Demon without a passenger or rear seat — to save weight, and drop that quarter-mile time a little further. It also comes with barely legal, ultra-sticky 315/40R18 drag radials. Dodge calls it the world’s only “purpose-built street legal production drag car” and “a lady in the streets, but a freak in the sheets.” Really. (It’s a reference to the drag racing log sheets that drivers use to keep track of their race times.)
It runs the 0 to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds, and then onto 100 mph in a total of 5.1 seconds. Both are tops for a production car, says Dodge. And with a nod to a famous line from the first Fast and the Furious film, the Demon does the quarter mile in 9.65 seconds — here’s your 10-second car, Dom.
Perhaps the most incredible thing about the Demon is that it includes a three-year / 36,000 mile limited warranty, with five-year / 60,000-mile limited powertrain coverage. Unlike the Hellcat, the Demon is production limited, with 3,000 destined for the US and another 300 for Canada. They’ll begin hitting dealers this fall.
Pricing was not disclosed.
Photography by Jordan Golson / The Verge
Comments
Still a Dodge
By Qwdrty12345 on 04.11.17 9:02pm
Not a fan of dodge. But this is awesome in principal alone.
By eschwiz on 04.11.17 9:19pm
Is this based on the Dodge Challenger platform?
By llort on 04.11.17 9:20pm
Yes. It’s a Challenger body with the engine of… well, a demon.
By lancelott on 04.11.17 10:09pm
Also, damn does that interior look cheap! But I guess no one buys it for the aesthetics anyways…
By llort on 04.11.17 9:21pm
No, they buy it because they really need to drive perfectly straight line to work a quarter mile away in less than 10 seconds. Yes, people buy it for the aesthetics – the performance is just part of the aesthetic.
By sing_electric on 04.12.17 8:55am
It’s the fastest production car ever. I’d drive this in a heartbeat. Of course you’re right tho, that interior reminds me of my first car, a 2000 ford focus.
By Stone Cold Dan Quinn on 04.12.17 10:12am
It’s the little things too; like that badge under the AC vent in a pic above. I love the idea of making a car more special by giving it a personalized plaque with your name and the cars build number. But could they have made it look any cheaper and tackier? It literally looks like a sticker from a cereal box.
By Chamlaw on 04.12.17 7:20pm
I think based on the way drag racers refer to times, a 1/4 mile time between 9.0 and 9.999 seconds is a "9-second car".
By itsjustlogical on 04.11.17 9:28pm
It’s about clearing the 10-sec-"bar", finishing within the tenth second. 9.001 seconds is more than 9 seconds, meaning no 9 sec car.
By Heavy_Verger on 04.12.17 12:44am
Oh, I know what you’re saying from a technical standpoint. But that’s not how drag racers refer to it. Otherwise, we’d need to let actual automotive publications like Car and Driver and Hotrod Network know they got it wrong.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/every-detail-9-second-dodge-srt-demon/
http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2018-dodge-challenger-srt-demon-photos-and-info-news
By itsjustlogical on 04.12.17 8:44am
Drag racers refer to any car that can run any time between XX.000 and XX.999 as an XX-second car. It has nothing to do with being exactly precise, in this case, to exactly 9.00 seconds. You’re talking about drag racing parlance, which you apparently are not exposed to. Terminology like this is used in order to quickly describe the overall capability of a car based on how it is built, as it sits, and anything within a time range of the number to the left of the decimal, is what the car is capable of.
For example, a "regular" Dodge Hellcat Challenger is a "low 11-second car" if it runs an 11.21, but if you reduce weight a bit and throw drag radials on it (as drag racers are wont to do to improve speed) will be a "high 10-second car" if it runs a 10.82.
Because the speed with which fuel is converted into forward energy in an engine, the power of the engine in a drag car is often associated with the best possible time it can run in the 1/4. Thus, a 1000hp car would probably be an 8.XX-second car. The faster you want to go, the more your horsepower has to go up an order of magnitude to be able to do it. Weight is another variable factor, as is aero, though aerodynamics is less of an issue because top speed is not what is being sought.
By SurelyYewJest on 04.12.17 2:44pm
Didn’t know how drag racers refer to it, thanks for clarifying.
I just thought it’s quite logical, and my "logic" is just as unprecise as the way drag racers refer to it, right? By my logic, any car that comes in between 9 < x = 10 seconds is a "10 second car", while 8 < x = 9 is a "9 second car". Drag racers instead make it 9 = x < 10 seconds = "9 second car".
I think both logics make their own sense lol
By Heavy_Verger on 04.14.17 1:54pm
Still going to be an awful thing to drive. Lot’s of power and very little else has always been the American way, while the civilised world understands that a third of that power, utilised properly, will yield ten times the driving satisfaction and infinitely better track performance. The real world includes corners, after all.
By lucas_fster on 04.11.17 10:28pm
But they reply to your comment in the 14th pic where they say it is designed to revel in a single objective. This is a pure off the shelf drag machine.
As a drag machine it will be an awesome chequebook racer. That is all it is intended for.
Personally, I revel in threadding apexes but this machine deserves respect just for being as niche as it is. If I had a second or third space in the garage, I might even want one.
By harimura on 04.11.17 10:50pm
You may not be aware, but drag racing remains a thing and some companies build cars strictly for that purpose. This being one of them.
It doesn’t need to go 85 mph around a corner. It was never built for that.
American car companies also build cars that handle well around tracks.
By My Only Name Change on 04.12.17 12:13am
And yet the Viper and C7 both handle themselves exceptionally well around the track, so your entire argument is invalid.
By pete.bellefleur on 04.12.17 8:31am
The Challenger is not a road course car. If anyone is buying it with the intent to autocross it or win track day events, they are crazy unless they plan in modifying the car well beyond its factory build to be able to do those things well.
Chrysler’s racing heritage is heavily focused on drag racing. It’s why they still build and sell crate Hemis based on the 60s versions to drag racers. In fact, newer Chrysler Hemi crate engines pretty much dominate the upper echelons of drag racing. To give you an idea of what I’m saying, there’s a guy with a current model Corvette that ripped the GM engine out and replaced it with a Chrysler Hemi drag power train. Drag racing is still relevant even if you assume it’s not. And Japanese cars are now a regular sight at such events, so the inverse of what you are claiming has been happening for about 15 years now.
Chrysler built this car based on its past and present racing heritage. It may not be a kind of racing you like, but everyone has opinions. The good thing is, nobody is forcing you to buy one.
By SurelyYewJest on 04.12.17 2:50pm
The new ZL1 Camaro is one of the best handling cars road & track has ever tested.
The last two generations of Corvette have been handling dreams.
Dodge is going after max power and the old muscle car classic with their vehicles.
GM is refining their sports cars and defying the tradition of poor handling American cars.
By eschwiz on 04.13.17 9:31am
Just like the Hellcat, if this ever goes on sale, the dealerships will add $50,000 to the MSRP.
By BlownSpeaker on 04.12.17 12:19am
There will only be 3000 of these made, it’s gonna end up pricey regardless. Still worth it tho.
By Stone Cold Dan Quinn on 04.12.17 10:14am
If the price from the dealerships ends up being $120,000. Then no, it’s not worth it.
By BlownSpeaker on 04.12.17 11:20am
Yes, but can it turn?
By blagalag on 04.12.17 2:44am
Yes, you have to rotate the wheel shown in this picture.
By KadanaJ on 04.12.17 2:47am
And a few second later the tail will exit the roadway in front of you
By Dr Strange on 04.12.17 3:51am