If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Go ahead and shake your money maker.
Or not.
After reports surfaced at Automotive News earlier this week that the 707-horsepower supercharged 6.2-liter V8 from the Dodge Charger Hellcat, Dodge Challenger Hellcat, and Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk would appear in a Chrysler 300 next year, Motor Authority has heard from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on the subject.
It’s not going to happen.
As the lone passenger car remaining in Chrysler’s lineup, the insertion of a Hellcat engine into the Chrysler 300 would certainly drum up some attention for a brand that has received most of its recent press from a minivan introduction and the 200’s demise. Yet FCA hasn’t felt it necessary to offer even a regular performance iteration of the 300 since the 2014 model year.
Whether that 300 SRT8 was not in keeping with the Chrysler brand’s image, or unprofitable, or simply an unnecessary competitor for the SRTified Dodge Charger, or all three, it would be a major leap from the comfort-oriented Chrysler 300C to a 707-horsepower 300 that would require a host of performance upgrades.
SEE ALSO: Chrysler 300 Jumping on the Hellcat Bandwagon?
The Chrysler 300 has taken a turn for the value-oriented corner of the full-size sedan market in the 2018 model year, however. There’s a new Chrysler 300 Touring trim that drops the car’s base price from $33,435 in 2017 to $30,090 in 2018.
Meanwhile, Automotive News suggests there will be no major Chrysler 300 overhaul in the near future, though a “major freshening” in 2019 should result in a weight loss program. Expect FCA to hop on the 2.0T bandwagon at some point, as well. Automotive News also reports that the Chrysler lineup will see vital expansion with an Illinois-built Jeep Cherokee-related crossover in 2019 and a reborn Chrysler Aspen built off the Pacifica’s platform in 2021. But a 300 Hellcat? According to an FCA spokesperson, Motor Authority says “the automaker has no plans for a supercharged V-8 Hemi Hellcat engine in the Chrysler 300.”
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