Austin Gwin was puzzled by this loaded car carrier heading from Canada to the Detroit area on I-75. As you can see, it has Chargers and Challengers protected by white wrapping—in at least one case, with a hole cut through it for the Hellcat logo to peek out.
One possibility is that they were being stored rather than sold, to avoid higher CAFE fines in 2023-24—or because Stellantis built them on spec, but did not sell them to dealers. Now that automakers being able to violate the fuel econmy law without penalty, Stellantis may have realized it had a number of brand new cars in storage which could be sold in the United States. This begs the question of why they hadn’t been sold in other countries over the past year, though.
There’s the possibility that an assembly line has started up to make old Hellcat Challengers and Chargers again, but how would that happen with Brampton still shut down and reportedly stopped in the process of retooling for the STLA Medium Compass? In theory they could be made in Windsor, on the New Charger line, but that would seem to take a great deal of investment, training, and forethought. How could this happen with no leaks at all?
One theory was that the cars had been stored, possibly in Windsor, for the next Fast and Furious movie, and are now being hauled out for their moment on the big screen. The best theory, though, may be from Reddit’s Kickenz: that Dodge stored these cars at the factory or in some other area in Canada, and is bringing them out for the Woodward Dream Cruise and possibly other future events.
At least one of the cars had an information sheet on the window, but it was not a Monroney sticker.
On Facebook, one person pointed out that the cling film was not what the factory applied, suggesting they were stored somewhere after production. He also said that the final Hellcats were overbuilt—that they made more than they had orders for. Paul Balze commented that a few Hellcats or Scat Pack wide-bodies were sitting in holding lots, white clings and all, at the Baltimore port “as recently as last month.” This suggests that the cars were on their way to dealers or individual buyers (or Stellantis executives), if they are not film cars or corporate fleet cars, given the lack of penalties for violating CAFE. (CAFE itself was not repealed, only the penalties, though it’s unlikely they will come back.)
The photos were taken on August 8, which is a bit early for the Woodward Cruise. That said, on Reddit, JeffJeep88 said he saw three 2023 Demons with factory shipping protection. Forward-Wather4845 suggest the next Fast and Furious movie, due 2026-27.
Can you figure this out? If so, reply on our comment form below, or visit Allpar and post in that thread, or use our contact form.
David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest Mopar site (Allpar) in 1994. After a chemo-induced 2007-2010 break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales (Chrysler history and “permanent” car and truck pages). He most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the marque.
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