Wide-open Dodge Widebody

We knew it was just a question of time before the designers and engineers at FCA would apply the widebody treatment to the Charger. Well, at the FCA, during the “What’s New” media event at the Chelsea Proving Grounds, the wraps finally came off.

- David Hakim

The Charger SRT Hellcat already lays claim to be the most powerful and fastest production sedan in the world with a top speed hovering around 200 mph and e.t.’s below 11 seconds. But the new widebody package reinforces Charger’s unanimous title among casual and hardcore enthusiasts for being America’s only four-door muscle car.

The funny thing is we sort of caught a whiff of the Charger widebody over 16 months ago and in plain sight. Unaltered cellphone images began to appear on the internet of a Charger engineering mule vehicle with substantially radiused front fenders, rear quarters, and with no wheel flares, running around FCA’s world headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The unofficial word was that the purpose of the vehicle was to season or heat cycle the massive 315/40R/18 Nitto drag radial tires for testing on Challenger SRT Demon engineering prototypes.