Is the best time to buy a brand-new Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat two years after Dodge stopped building them? After seeing a car with just delivery miles on the odometer selling for $25,000 under its MSRP, we’re starting to think it might be. And some recent sales of cars that should be even more valuable support this theory.
Dodge killed off what might be its most amazing vehicles ever in 2023. The Dodge Charger and Challenger, when equipped with any of the various versions of the 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8, could tear up the asphalt like nothing else. Their replacement, a new Charger with electric motors instead of pistons, hasn’t exactly met with a warm reception despite being supremely quick.
If nobody likes the new one, then demand for the old one is probably making those Hellkittys more expensive than ever, right? Nope.
The car pictured here could be the best example of that. This 2023 Challenger Hellcat had just 47 miles on the odometer when it went up on Bring a Trailer. That’s about as new as a car can get without still sitting on the dealer’s lot.
In the final year of the Challenger, Dodge introduced several special editions, including the Jailbreak version. This unlocked certain paint and interior options (plus some other extras) that you couldn’t normally order. You also got a special badge.
The original owner of this one doesn’t seem to have gone wild with the options, though. It’s granite outside and black inside. It has brass monkey wheels, with the bronze almost the only thing setting it apart.
Maybe that’s why it collected such a low price. When the virtual hammer dropped, the Hellcat sold for just $63,500. With a sticker of $87,774, that’s not the collector’s payday that the original owner was hoping for. It’s also the second sale for this car in a month after the last high-bidder didn’t follow through on a winning bid for the same amount.
But a look at other recent sales on BaT shows that this isn’t an outlier. Another 2023 model, this one a Hellcat widebody with beefier fenders, a stiffer suspension, and a six-speed stick, sold for $75,000 earlier this month. That car had 3,600 miles. Another car, with 6,000 miles, sold in late October for $70,000.
Even convertible Hellcats, not factory-done but available through dealers, aren’t commanding large prices. One car with the expensive conversion failed to sell last week at $70,500, another car, with 855 miles, is about to end with bidding at $77,000.
What’s the problem? It looks like there are just too many low-mile cars owned by buyers who probably wanted to flip them. Since June, BaT alone has listed eight cars with fewer than 700 miles. If you don’t mind a few more miles, then the number of possibilities grows while the prices shrink.
At least the range-topping Challengers are holding value a bit better. A 14-mile SRT Demon 170, the even more powerful version of the car with 1,025 horsepower on E85 fuel, was recently bid to $138,000. One with 12 miles sold for $129,000 in September. The latter carried an MSRP for $123,436, though it may have had dealer markup on top of that.
These low prices might continue, but they also might lead owners to wait longer in hopes that supply and demand will eventually tip in their favor.
Source: Bring A Trailer
We want to hear from you! Share your opinions in the thread below and remember to keep it respectful.
Your comment has not been saved
This thread is open for discussion.
Be the first to post your thoughts.
