Dodge Could Still Make Turbo Inline-Six Muscle Cars In Future
Dodge’s upcoming STLA Large platform could still work with an ICE powertrain, with tantalizing possibilities.
There's a slim but non-zero chance that Dodge could make turbo inline-six muscle cars in coming years, according to Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis.
The news comes from a recent Q&A event with press involving the Dodge boss. Kuniskis was asked whether the company's new Hurricane inline-six was considered as a replacement for the Charger and Challenger V8s. "Of course we did," said Kuniskis, adding that "It's a phenomenal engine; it's the reason we're doing crate engines."
The Hurricane is a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six engine. It's set to deliver over 400 horsepower in the standard output version, with the high output model delivering over 500 hp. That's not quite on the level of Dodge's Hellcat V8, but it's certainly up in muscle car territory. It's currently expected to debut in various Ram and Jeep models.
"We said that our next generation cars are built on the STLA Large Car Platform. The STLA Large Car Platform is a multi-energy platform. It has the ability to run an ICE engine," said Kuniskis. "I can take the floor pan out. I can take the battery out. I can put a drive-shaft tunnel in there. The platform is made to be able to do that. It’s modular," he explained.
The STLA Large platform is expected to underpin a whole host of future Stellantis vehicles. This includes Dodge's upcoming EV muscle car as well as various SUVs, too.
Kuniskis demurred, though, noting that "I can put an ICE engine in it. It doesn’t mean we’re going to." Dodge currently has no official plans to use the Hurricane in a muscle car application, and Kuniskis was very clear on that point. "We’re certainly not launching with anything like that. We’re launching full battery electric," he added.
There's only an outside chance that Dodge would do something as cool as building a twin-turbo inline-six muscle car. With that said, all the pieces are there if they suddenly decided to do so. The platform is capable of handling an ICE drivetrain, and Dodge already has a mighty engine raring and ready to go. Here's hoping some crazy black swan event pushes Dodge to build some beautiful, sonorous, six-cylinder nonsense this decade.
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