Dodge Charger Widebody concept makes debut

FCA gave Chrysler and Dodge fans a treat at the 2019 Spring Festival in Southern California where it rolled out a Dodge Charger Widebody concept.

Though plastered from nose to tail in an SRT livery, there was little in the way of distracting its audience from the concept’s swollen wheel arches, which are suitably filled by wider wheels similar to those fitted to the Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody, and a new front bumper sporting a subtle opening beneath the front grille.

Aside from its exterior treatment, FCA hasn’t revealed any details of what sort of hardware the concept is packing beneath its pumped-up body, as it was primarily built as a design concept for FCA’s Drive for Design program to gauge public feedback.

Dodge’s “Widebody” treatment was first offered on the 2018MY Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat as a new variant for Hellcat customers to cop the extra wide 305/35ZR20 tyre setup from its aggro-sibling, the Challenger Demon.

The extra rubber afforded with the Widebody variant not only allows the Hellcat to better utilise its supercharged V8’s 527kW, giving it a quicker 0-100km/h time of 3.4sec over the standard Hellcat’s 3.5sec and squeezing a 0.3sec advantage on the quarter-mile, it also delivers better lateral grip – as tested in our Hellcat Widebody review – with a peak of 0.97G over the narrow-bodied Hellcat’s 0.93G.

While the Widebody variant was carried forward to the facelifted Challenger range last year and offered for the 594kW Hellcat Redeye and the 527kW Hellcat, there was no similarly widened package for the updated Charger range, despite the range-topping variant sporting the Challenger Hellcat’s 527KW supercharged V8.

As a design concept, there isn’t any mention of any production plans for the Widebody concepts at this stage, though considering the market for performance sedans, it won’t be surprising if Dodge follows the concept up with a proper Widebody variant for the Charger.