Last year, the Dodge Challenger finally managed to outsell the Ford Mustang as America’s best-selling muscle car. Despite being nearly 14 years old now, the Challenger saw a three-percent increase in deliveries to a total of 54,314 sales, leaving the Mustang second with 52,414 sales. It’s too early to tell whether the Challenger will keep its momentum in 2022, but one thing we know for sure is that it has lost one of its very important options.
Road and Track discovered you can no longer configure a 2022 Challenger Hellcat with a manual gearbox if you go to Dodge’s official online configurator. There are countless options for visual enhancements, different equipment packages, and a number of engines, but the three-pedal transmission is not there anymore for the V8-powered Hellcat version. The only available transmission as of this writing is the Torqueflite eight-speed automatic.
We've contacted Dodge representatives to confirm the information and offer clarification if it is true. We will certainly update this article if new information becomes available.
It turns out the manual option for the Challenger Hellcat was removed late in the 2021 model year, a spokesman for the automaker told Road and Track. Apparently, this is a temporary measure and the six-speed manual should return at some point with a revised calibration. Production of Challenger Hellcats with a stick-shift transmission was reportedly halted in November last year and currently, it is not known when this option will return.
Gallery: 2018 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody: First Drive
For the 2022 model year, the cheapest Challenger Hellcat costs $68,320, a significant increase over the 2021 Challenger Hellcat which had a starting price of $61,850. However, this difference reflects the lack of a base version with a manual transmission as there’s now only an automatic available. If you are looking for a V8-powered new Challenger with a three-pedal ‘box, the Challenger R/T models with the 5.7-liter engine and Scat Packs with the 6.2-liter engine are still offered with the six-speed manual.
