2014 was packed with new car launches, but very few of them were as exciting as the 2015 Challenger and Charger Hellcats. While they're not particularly exciting as far as design goes and they still ride on dated platforms, both Mopars->ke21 pack enough horsepower to send them at the top of the coolest 2015 model year cars you can buy. We're obviously talking about the 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque coming from that monster of a supercharged, 6.2-liter, HEMI V-8 and all the performance credentials that come with it.

But as if supercar->ke177-like horsepower wasn't enough, both Hellcats come with top speeds that blow past the 200-mph mark and quarter-mile times that make them the quickest factory-built muscle cars->ke507 ever produced, not counting drag racers like the COPO Camaro or the Mustang Cobra Jet. Granted, both the Challenger and Charger Hellcat are unique in their respective segments, but it seems there's even more to be expected when it comes to the latter.

According to TorqueNews' Patrick Rall, who recently attended a small gathering at the Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills for an in-depth look at the Hellcat's HEMI engine, the sedan can accelerate from naught to 60 mph in as quick as 2.9 seconds. No, that's not a typo, it's the figure revealed by a Hellcat presentation that included the Charger running the quarter-mile. And yes, it's definitely insane for a 4,500-plus-pound sedan to be so quick, even though we're talking about dropping the hammer in a straight line. Heck, the Charger Hellcat is as fast as the 2015 Corvette Z06 and quicker than a handful of sports and supercars, including the Ferrari 458 Italia, Porsche 911 GT3, Pagani Huayra, and the McLaren MP4-12C.

The presentations also shows the Charger Hellcat needs only 7.2 seconds to charge from 0 to 100 mph and a quarter-mile time of only 10.7 seconds with a trap speed of 120 mph. These awesome specs all come with a set of non-production rear wheels wrapped in drag radial tires installed, but it's still a mind-blowing result that puts many sports cars->ke506 to shame.

Click past the jump to read more about the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.

Why It Matters

It's really amazing what Dodge->ke28 and SRT->ke4431 managed to achieve with the Charger Hellcat. The result is that much more enticing considering the sedan rides on a platform Chrysler alone has been using since 2006. It goes to show that you don't have to build a supercar to deliver outstanding performance and that although muscle cars aren't what they used to be, the flame can be kept alive once you put your mind to it. The Charger Hellcat is one helluva sedan->ke142 and for that I tip my hat to Dodge and SRT.

2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

Introduced for the 2015 model year, the Charger SRT Hellcat is based on the facelifted version of seventh-generation sedan, meaning it sports brand-new bodywork, a redesigned interior and an all-new, nine-speed automatic transmission.

The main highlight of the Hellcat, however, is its powerplant. Dodge equipped with with the newly created, 6.2-liter, HEMI, V-8 engine, which comes with a supercharger on top and generates no less than 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. With that much oomph at its disposal, the Charger Hellcat is the most powerful and fastest production sedan, being able to reach speeds in excess of 204 mph and, as reported above, sprint from naught to 60 mph in only 2.9 seconds with drag radials.

Pricing for the beefed-up Charger is likely to start from around $60,000, including the gas-guzzler tax.