The customers sued Dodge. Once again it offers a strong Durango despite earlier promises – News

When the 2020 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat came out, it was the world’s most powerful mass-produced SUV with a combustion engine, and the automaker said it would only be available for the 2021 model year. it sold relatively quickly.

But now it’s coming back for the 2023 model year – and some of the customers who bought the car two years ago think they bought a rarity strongly disagree. So strict that they decided to take the car company to court, reports the American website Jalopnik.

Together, the seven owners of the sharpest older Durango, who paid up to $114,225 for it (2.46 million crowns, converted to January 2021 exchange rates, when the car was still available), filed a lawsuit in the district court of the state . Delaware. They claim that the reintroduction of the Durango SRT Hellcat reduced the value of the cars.

In addition to monetary damages, they are asking the court to prevent Dodge from selling the Durango SRT Hellcat beyond the 2023 model year. And they want the court to treat the lawsuit as a class action to include all owners of the original Durango SRT Hellcat. .

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, March 8, but the backlash appeared immediately after the sharp SUV’s return was announced last year. “We have justified the price with exclusivity and potential collection value,” the site quoted in August last year Drive of one of the indignant owners. “I have to do something just out of principle,” added the owner.

As a reminder, the renewed production series Durango SRT Hellcat is in no way different from the original. Once again, it offers a 6.2-liter eight-cylinder, from which the compressor extracts 720 horsepower and 875 Nm. Thanks to it, the car accelerates to 60 kilometers per hour (97 km / h) in 3.5 seconds, can manage the quarter-mile sprint in 11.5 seconds, and stops at a speed of 290 km / h. So it is still the most powerful mass-produced SUV in the world, at least among cars with combustion engines.

“The Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat has generated crazy fan enthusiasm and demand since we launched it in 2020. We even expanded the original production range. So it felt right to re-offer the most powerful SUV as part of the lineup 2023,” said Tim Kuniskis, head of Dodge, after the launch last August.

He was referring to the fact that after the 2023 model year, the automaker plans to drop the 6.2-liter eight-cylinder Hellcat from the lineup. The pinnacle of Dodge’s powerful cars will be electric from next year. The automaker has so far declined to comment on the new lawsuit.