Dodge's 2027 Charger Super Bee trades the V8 for a 600-horsepower six

Dodge revealed the 2027 Charger Super Bee in early August 2026, one day before Roadkill Nights. The new car is powered by a twin-turbocharged inline-six engine producing 600 horsepower, making it the most powerful six-cylinder version of the gas-powered Sixpack Charger lineup. There is no V8 under the bonnet. The Super Bee name carries real history. The original was a mid-sized muscle car Dodge built for the 1968 through 1971 model years, and a version based on a compact Chrysler platform was sold in Mexico from 1970 until 1980. The Charger itself has been marketed in various forms across eight generations since 1966. The reveal matters because it signals where Dodge is taking its muscle cars. The brand's CEO claims the six-cylinder Super Bee accelerates to 60 mph faster than the old Hellcat Charger, which made 707 horsepower from a supercharged engine. If that claim holds, the era of the V8 as the default answer to speed at Dodge is over.

Dodge pulls the covers off a six-cylinder Super Bee

Dodge unveiled the 2027 Charger Super Bee in early August 2026, timing the reveal to land one day before Roadkill Nights. The car marks a decisive break with muscle-car convention: there is no V8 under the bonnet. Power comes instead from a twin-turbocharged inline-six, a 3.0-liter unit according to reports, producing 600 horsepower.

That output makes the Super Bee the most powerful six-cylinder version of the gas-powered Sixpack Charger lineup. It also, if Dodge's chief executive is to be believed, makes it quicker off the line than the car it nominally sits beneath. The CEO claims the new Super Bee accelerates to 60 mph faster than the Hellcat Charger — a bold assertion given that the previous Hellcat, powered by a supercharged engine, was reported to produce 707 horsepower. Dodge has not published the exact 0-60 time behind the claim.

The reveal did not come entirely out of the blue. Stellantis had previewed a wave of upcoming vehicles at its 2026 Investor Day event roughly three months before the Super Bee's debut, according to reports, signalling that the brand's performance range was due for expansion.

The Super Bee arrives as part of the Charger's eighth generation, a nameplate Dodge has marketed in various forms since 1966. It is offered as a Launch Edition, reports say, though Dodge has yet to confirm pricing, production numbers or an on-sale date.

Six decades of the Super Bee badge

The Super Bee name first appeared in 1968, when Dodge applied it to a mid-sized muscle car sold through the 1971 model year. It was one of the defining products of Detroit's horsepower era, built around big engines and straight-line speed. A second, separate Super Bee followed in Mexico, where Dodge sold a model based on a compact Chrysler platform from 1970 until 1980 — a smaller, more affordable take on the badge tailored to that market.

The Charger itself has an even longer lineage. Dodge has marketed the car in various forms across eight generations since 1966, moving it from muscle car to personal luxury coupe to the four-door sedan of recent years. Through those shifts, the Super Bee badge has carried a consistent meaning for Dodge buyers: accessible performance with a sting, historically delivered by a V8.

That context makes the 2027 revival a genuine break. Bringing the name back on a car powered by a twin-turbocharged inline-six rather than a V8 cuts against six decades of association between the Super Bee and eight-cylinder muscle. Dodge is betting that output matters more than cylinder count — that a 600-horsepower six can wear a badge earned by engines with twice the displacement.

1. 1966

   Dodge began marketing the Charger, which would span eight generations in various forms.

2. 1968–1971

   Dodge produced the original Super Bee, a mid-sized muscle car, for the 1968 through 1971 model years.

3. 1970–1980

   A Super Bee model based on a compact Chrysler platform was sold in Mexico from 1970 until 1980.

4. early August 2026

   Dodge revealed the 2027 Charger Super Bee, one day before Roadkill Nights.

The Hurricane six at its most powerful

At the heart of the 2027 Charger Super Bee sits a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six, producing 600 horsepower. That output makes it the most powerful six-cylinder version of the gas-powered Sixpack Charger lineup, according to Dodge. It also, by several accounts, represents the most powerful application of the Hurricane inline-six engine in a production Stellantis vehicle to date.

The decision to power a Super Bee with six cylinders rather than eight marks a clear break with the badge's muscle-car heritage, but the numbers are intended to do the talking. Reports suggest the Super Bee is offered as a Launch Edition, and that this version carries 100 more horsepower than the previous-generation Super Bee — a substantial step up for a nameplate returning to the Charger range.

Dodge has not disclosed a torque figure for the twin-turbocharged six in this application, leaving horsepower as the headline number for now. What the company has confirmed is the engine's place in the hierarchy: above every other six-cylinder Charger in the Sixpack family, and positioned by Dodge as quick enough to challenge the memory of the supercharged V8 models it replaces. Whether buyers raised on eight-cylinder Super Bees will accept a six in its place is the question the powertrain now has to answer on the road.

Quicker than a Hellcat to 60, says Dodge

Dodge's chief executive has made a striking claim for the 2027 Charger Super Bee: it accelerates to 60 mph faster than the Hellcat Charger. That is notable because the previous Hellcat, according to reports, produced 707 horsepower from a supercharged engine — 107 more than the Super Bee's 600. On paper, the newer car should be the slower one.

The explanation lies in what the claim does not say. Dodge has not published an exact 0-60 figure, and reports suggest the Super Bee's advantage stops at 60 mph. Despite the quicker launch, it does not beat the Hellcat in the quarter-mile, according to those same reports. A strong start off the line, in other words, does not translate into victory over the full drag strip.

The distinction matters for how the car should be understood. Reports indicate the Super Bee is not a Hellcat model, even though its performance approaches that level. It sits below the old supercharged flagship in outright power and, by the quarter-mile measure, in outright speed too.

What Dodge is claiming, then, is narrower than the headline suggests: a six-cylinder car that launches harder than its V8 predecessor, even if it cannot outrun it over distance. How much harder, and by what margin, remains unstated.

Track hardware and a look of its own

Dodge has fitted the Super Bee with hardware aimed squarely at circuit work, according to reports. The car carries 16-inch brakes at all four wheels — six-piston calipers up front, four-piston units at the rear — with both the brakes and the turbochargers said to be larger than those fitted to other versions of the Charger. Reports also describe stiffer spring rates paired with dual-valve adaptive damping, part of a package of track-focused upgrades intended to improve lap times rather than straight-line figures alone.

The visual changes are meant to make the car recognisable at a glance. Reports indicate the Super Bee is distinguished from other Charger variants by unique exterior and interior styling, though full details of the design treatment have been described only in general terms. Together with the chassis revisions, the styling sets the car apart as more than a power upgrade over the standard Sixpack models — it is positioned as a distinct variant with its own identity, much as the badge's earlier iterations were. All of these specifications come from published reports, and Dodge has yet to release complete technical documentation for the car.

Where it sits: Mustang Dark Horse in the crosshairs

Reports position the 2027 Charger Super Bee as a rival to the Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Ford's track-focused flagship, placing Dodge's new model squarely in the fight for buyers who want a serious performance coupe. It is offered as a Launch Edition, which Dodge describes as the most powerful Super Bee ever produced.

The car matters beyond its spec sheet. Dodge built its modern muscle reputation on V8 power, culminating in the 707-horsepower Hellcat, and the Super Bee signals how the brand intends to replace that formula: 600 horsepower from a six-cylinder, paired with track-focused upgrades. As the most powerful six-cylinder version of the gas-powered Sixpack Charger lineup, it sits at the top of the range and sets the template for what a post-V8 Dodge muscle car looks like.

The numbers Dodge has not shared yet

For all the performance claims made at the reveal, Dodge left several key questions unanswered. The company has not stated the exact 0-60 mph time it says beats the Hellcat, nor has it released quarter-mile figures for the new car. Pricing remains undisclosed, both for the standard Super Bee and for the Launch Edition, and Dodge has not said how many Launch Edition units it plans to build, if the run is capped at all. Torque output from the twin-turbocharged inline-six is also unconfirmed. Perhaps most importantly for buyers, Dodge has given no on-sale date, leaving open when the car will actually reach dealers.

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