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The muscle car market for 2024 is dwindling, as many perennial favorites didn’t make the cut for the new year.
Muscle cars have a simple formula for many fans: big V8 power up front, raucous rear-wheel drive (RWD), and unapologetic apathy regarding refinement. While those car enthusiasts who skew pretentious reject them, the muscle car is a time-honored addition to automotive culture. Unfortunately, some of the most beloved modern Mopar and Blue Oval muscle machines won’t make it to 2024, like the Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack and Ford Mustang Mach 1.
Three modern muscle car favorites won’t make it to 2024
The industry is changing, and the space that once featured snarling, high-horsepower muscle cars is shrinking. As a result, a handful of muscle-bound favorites won’t make it in 2024. These three popular V8-powered rides won’t be welcome in the new year.
- Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack
- Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
- Ford Mustang Mach 1
When was the last Scat Pack made?
The Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack, Mopar’s most potent naturally aspirated muscle car, will cease production after the 2023 model year. What’s more, Dodge hasn’t announced the car’s return for another generation.
It’s sad news, too. Anyone who has logged seat time in the R/T Scat Pack will recognize it as one of the most true-to-form modern renditions of the classic muscle car formula. Anytime I reached for a dose of throttle, the 485-horsepower 6.4L HEMI V8 responded eagerly. Sure, it earns its popular “land yacht” moniker, but it will be missed. Fair winds and following seas, Challenger.
Is the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat discontinued?
Along with the Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack, the SRT Hellcat will not survive for the 2024 model year. In fact, every Dodge Challenger on the Stellantis LA platform is out of production after 2023.
Unfortunately, the demise of the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is a clear indication of the guns falling silent after the horsepower wars. The Hellcat’s 707 horsepower took the industry power proliferation in 2015 and continued to produce the most potent muscle cars on the market.
The Ford Mustang Mach 1 bows out to the Dark Horse for 2024
On top of the dwindling Mopar market, the Ford Mustang is changing for 2024. Fortunately, that means the Mustang, unlike the Challenger, will survive for another generation. However, the seventh-generation Mustang lineup has no room for a recent range-topper: the Ford Mustang Mach 1.
While the 480-horsepower Ford Mustang Mach 1 has a few bragging points over the new Dark Horse, the new Mustang’s aesthetic and engineering updates left the Mach 1 firmly in the S550’s closed chapter.