The Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Charger Hellcat twins are wildly popular. So popular, in fact, that Dodge is more than doubling production to meet all the demand for 2016 models. But that still isn’t enough, so to get the jump on 2016 production, 2015 production is ending. Meaning if you ordered a 2015 car, you’re effectively screwed.
But if you’re one of the 900 or so people who ordered a 707-horsepower 2015 Hellcat, and have been patiently waiting for its sweet, sweet arrival, there’s hope! You’ll be cordially invited to purchase a 2016 car, provided you now get right back to the end of the line.
From Automotive News:
“For the 2016 model year, we’re starting fresh,” Tim Kuniskis, Dodge brand head, told Automotive News. Canceling customer orders “is probably not what they want to hear, but we’re going to do it so that we have a fresh, clean slate going forward with everything that we learned in 2015.”
Which, lets be honest, sucks. But to prevent the same sort of situation in the future, Dodge will be telling dealers exactly how many Hellcats they’ll be getting. Once the dealership sells out of their allocation, they won’t be getting anymore, so they won’t be able to take orders for cars that don’t exist.
The 2016 deal also involves the factory giving you a voucher for a 2015 car if you never received yours, but unfortunately, that’s factory pricing only. If you were effectively price-gouged for your non-existent Hellcat by your dealer, you won’t suddenly be paying MSRP as a result of your zen-inducing wait:
The consumers will be informed that their factory orders are being canceled, but if they are still interested, they will receive a voucher — usable by that individual only — that will hold the 2015 pricing, at least from the factory.
Many Dodge dealers added significant market adjustments to Hellcats, and Kuniskis said the ultimate transaction price still will be reached by the customer and the dealer.
Anyways, if you’re one of the 900 or so, you must be pretty mad right now. But every cloud has a silver lining of course, because hey, you’re still alive. So there’s that!
Photo credit Kurt Bradley
Contact the author at ballaban@jalopnik.com.
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