We’ve all been focused on the final production model year for the Dodge Charger and Challenger. But many likely forgot that the end of production would also mean the retirement of the pursuit-rated cop “Car.” Leaving law enforcement with just the trucks and utility vehicles for the future. That is unless the next-generation Hurricane-powered four-door Charger can keep up with its predecessor or even surpass it. We’ll have to wait to see, but we better bid the pursuit-rated LX Dodge Charger a proper farewell for now.
Dodge Charger Pursuit Vehicle: Details
According to American Cars and Racing, since Ford discontinued the Taurus in 2018, the Charger Pursuit has been the only pursuit-rated sedan available to law enforcement. Dodge offered the vehicle with either a 3.6-liter V6 and all-wheel-drive or a 5.7-liter V8 with rear-wheel-drive. Naturally, the Hemi-powered car had better performance on the benchmark Michigan State Police vehicle dynamics track test. That said, it came in second to the all-wheel-drive EcoBoost Ford Explorer-based Police Interceptor SUV by .9 seconds but beat the all-wheel-drive Dodge Durango V8 by 2.4 seconds. GM dropped out of the pursuit sedan segment a year before Ford did with the end of Chevrolet Caprice production in 2017, but it still sells a non-pursuit Malibu for patrol and detective work.
As of right now, Dodge hasn’t indicated any plans to offer a pursuit-rated version of the upcoming Dodge Charger Daytona EV, nor have they teased any four-door successor to the outgoing Charger. There are some teasers and clues about what’s next, however.
Either way, we will have to wait for the gasoline-powered car to be unveiled and released to see if there will be a replacement for the current Dodge Charger Pursuit. Even without the Hemi under the hood, there’s still plenty of potential for the Hurricane engine to do well when tested by the Michigan State Police. Depending on the engine’s configuration, the Inline-6 can produce 540 horsepower, which is still pretty impressive. And straight-sixes sound pretty wicked.
Dodge’s history of offering police packages for its cars started back in the 1950s with the introduction of the Coronet 230 Pursuit, which was advertised as “the most powerful police car on the American Road today,” featuring a whopping 260 horsepower from its Super Red Ram 315-cubic-inch V8. So, if this truly is farewell, we thank the Dodge Charger Pursuit for its service and for keeping American police cars alive and cool.
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