Dodge Pushes New Charger Appeal With Drift Cars - Still No V8

Stellantis has revealed a pair of drift-ready Charger builds, but the twin-turbo inline-six remains the only engine option. The new cars, a coupe called Boost and a sedan named RPM, will debut at Roadkill Nights near Detroit, followed by Gridlife at Laguna Seca and FuelFest in Arizona.

O. 0-liter Hurricane engine, rated at 550 horsepower and 531 pound-feet from the factory. Aftermarket upgrades, including turbos, new intakes, and MoTec engine management, push output to a "conservative estimate" of 750 horsepower. The coupe uses a single-turbo setup and new exhaust, while the sedan gets upgraded intercoolers and cooling hardware for repeated passenger rides.

To make them proper drift cars, both were converted to rear-wheel drive (stock models have all-wheel drive with a front-axle disconnect) and their eight-speed automatics were swapped for manual transmissions. Roll cages, reinforced driveline parts, and widened fenders round out the build.

Dodge has not announced a V8 for the current Charger, which critics say misses what made the previous model popular: affordable rear-wheel drive and V8 power. Sales have been weak, and the company is now gifting cars to content creators and using these drift machines to show the new Charger's tuning potential.

The drift cars will let fans see the Charger doing what they expect, but the missing V8 option remains a sticking point.