Payne: Dodge does the muscle-car mash with these scary packages

Posted by Talbot Payne on October 30, 2021

If 700-plus horsepower isn’t scary enough, Dodge is dressing up its muscle-car monsters for Halloween with Hemi Orange and SRT Black packages.

The sinister wardrobes are available on everything from V6-powered GT models up to blood-sucking Hellcats.

The HEMI Orange appearance package for the 2022 Dodge Challenger and Charger GT RWD and Scat Pack Widebody models includes an orange accent tracer that complements vehicle-length gunmetal striping.

The holiday candy adds to a lineup of Dodge muscle that has captured America’s hearts, vaulting the Auburn Hills-based automaker to the best-selling muscle brand in the country with 130,420 units sold in 2020 between the fire-breathing Challenger coupe and Charger sedan. Including the ridiculous, 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat SUV, Dodge averages more horsepower across its lineup than any other American brand.

“Performance-vehicle owners are unique, and these two packages offer our customers the chance to stand out even more on the street,” said Tim Kuniskis, chief Dodge hell-raiser.

The packages are comparatively subtle for a brand that has offered treats for its current lineup ranging from hood shakers to superchargers that shriek like a coven of witches.

The Hemi Orange package — available on the V6-powered, rear-wheel-drive GT and earth-shaking, 485-horse V-8 Scat Pack Widebody models for Charger and Challenger — is distinguished by a grille-to-tail orange stripe embedded in Gunmetal black. It can be paired with a variety of colors, including Granite Crystal, Smokeshow, Triple Nickel, Pitch Black and White Knuckle.

Like ghouls’ eyes at midnight, other orange accents include grille and fender badging, and — on the Scat Pack Widebody — orange Brembo calipers. The calipers contrast with Carbon Black 20-inch wheels, naturally.

The accents continue inside the crypt — er, cabin — with orange stitching on the instrument panel, upper doors, armrest, console lid, shifter boot, and flat-bottom steering wheel. The seats are highlighted by orange stitching and a Dodge Rhombi logo.

2022 Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock (near) and 2022 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, with SRT Black appearance package.

The SRT Black package is reserved for the insane, 717-horsepower Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcat and 797-horse SRT Hellcat Redeye models — if you can catch them. The costume is distinguished by blacked-out exterior badging for the grille, fender and spoiler for Challenger — grille, fender and decklid for Charger. The Durango SRT 392 also can be outfitted like its muscle car siblings.

The Hemi Orange package will be available for order in the fourth quarter of 2021. Price: $2,995 for the GT RWD and $1,500 for Scat Pack Widebody. The SRT Black appearance package will set customers back $695.

Watch Dodge’s Twitter and Instagram channels on Oct. 31 for additional Halloween-themed content. Better yet, hitch a ride in a Hellcat for a real scream.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

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