The True Story Behind Dodge’s “Leprechaun” Challenger Demon 170 Teasers

During the lead-up to the debut of the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, Dodge showed teasers depicting what appeared to be a pair of leprechauns. Social media’s smoothest-brained users were quick to proclaim that they were ghouls, allegedly confirming the rumor that the Dodge brand was working on a package called the Ghoul, but that was not the case.

Dodge Last Call Leprechaun

Earlier this month, Dodge invited a small group of media to the Auburn Hills headquarters to preview the Challenger SRT Demon 170. Brand boss Tim Kuniskis walked us through the key features and numbers of the newest supercharged muscle car; when he was done, he asked if there were any questions. As you might imagine after the reveal of a thousand-horsepower muscle car, there were plenty of questions about the Demon 170, but a few of us wondered why the teasers featured leprechauns. Kuniskis laughed and asked if we wanted the real story or the story from the marketing people. Of course, we wanted the real story.

Dodge Last Call Leprechaun

Kuniskis explained that one night, after having a few adult beverages, he headed to bed. The team had been struggling to come up with a cool idea for the teaser videos and when he turned in for the evening, they still didn’t have that idea. That night, he had a dream about evil leprechauns and the next morning, he used that dream to develop the premise of the 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 teaser videos. He went on to point out that leprechauns are known to be very fast, very hard to catch, and, at times, fueled by alcohol. He went on to compare the yellow hue of E85 ethanol blend to the leprechaun’s pot of gold, calling it liquid gold.

Dodge Last Call Leprechaun

As for the official explanation of the characters in the teaser videos, the press release states that it is not a leprechaun but a Corn Demon. What is a corn demon, you ask? Well, corn demons are an aspect of German mythology and they come in many forms, but among them are the Anthropomorphic Feldgeisters – a series of spirits that live in corn fields and get into all sorts of unpleasant trouble. Some eat the corn, some hunt children who are playing in the corn fields. E85 is heavily corn-based, so in this case, Dodge’s Corn Demon is fueled by the ethanol made from corn.

Dodge Last Call Teaser

In short, the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 is fueled by alcohol and, to some extent, so was Tim Kuniskis when he came up with the zany idea of using leprechauns to tease the 1,025-horsepower muscle car. It also proved to be a fun way for the Dodge team to effectively troll all of the people spreading nonsensical stories about the existence of a model called the Ghoul, although that aspect may have been unintentional.

Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170


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