5 Cars With More Horsepower Than A Dodge Demon

After the 2023 model year, Dodge ceased production of the gasoline-powered Challenger, ending the line that brought the nameplate back to the top of the muscle scene. The Charger was also discontinued, but has since been reimagined into a car that's essentially a blend between the latest Challenger and outgoing Charger. The electric Daytona model is the most powerful at 670 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. A gas-powered version is also available, aptly named the Sixpack.

While the new electric Charger isn't anything to scoff at when it comes to power, it's nothing compared to the send-off that the Challenger got. The Demon nameplate was revived in its most recent guise in 2017 as a drag-focused version of the Challenger SRT, which produced a mighty 840 horsepower. But to give the nameplate a proper send-off, the 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 produces 1,025 horsepower with E85 fuel, remaining the most powerful production car Dodge has ever made. It hits 60 mph in 1.66 seconds thanks to its 6.2L supercharged HEMI V8. Crossing the 1,000-horsepower barrier is a little more commonplace than when the 2017 Demon rolled out of the factory, but there still aren't many cars that can top the Demon 170's output. Here's a closer look at five cars that can overpower the mighty Demon, which are, unsurprisingly, among the most exclusive vehicles on the road today.

When the highly anticipated ZR1X hits the road, Chevrolet will have raised the bar even higher when it comes to sheer performance for the Corvette. But until then, the ZR1 stands head and shoulders above when it comes to American production cars. The front-engine layout that prior generations of the Corvette made competitive power on paper but couldn't quite match the handling of mid-engine and some rear-engine European rivals. The C8 generation took a huge step to rectify that by switching to a mid-engine layout itself. Still, Chevrolet puts raw power at the forefront of the Corvette with the ZR1's hypercar-level specs. 

Powered by a twin-turbocharged 5.5L V8, the ZR1's engine was brand-new instead of being modified from the existing 5.5L engine from the Z06. By also adding turbochargers, the power output for the 2026 Corvette ZR1 comes in at 1,064 horsepower and 828 pound-feet, considerably above the most powerful Dodge Demon. Built for the drag strip rather than a road course, the Demon has the edge for acceleration, but the ZR1 can still get to 60 MPH in just 2.3 seconds. For top speed, the ZR1 claims 233 MPH. If you want to buy the current most powerful American production car, pricing starts at $183,400, with a $1,695 destination charge.

The early 2020s provided us with a real glimpse into the potential of electric powertrains. There were still some pretty impressive EVs released before, but multiple manufacturers began to comfortably cross the 1,000-horsepower barrier. The Tesla Model S Plaid hit 1,020 horsepower on its 2021 release, but that's still just below the Dodge Demon's output. However, one of the main rivals of Tesla and the car that still holds the record within the electric sedan segment, the Lucid Air Sapphire, tops the Demon by a significant margin.

Lucid's first attempt at a road car was first delivered in 2021, with the base Air Pure sedan receiving praise for its serene driving experience. But alongside luxury, Lucid made the Sapphire to show what its powertrains are capable of. Still available to order, the Lucid Air Sapphire produces a monstrous 1,234 horsepower through its tri-motor setup, which receives energy from a 100kWh battery pack. As you might expect, the rest of the spec sheet is just as impressive, going from 0 to 60 MPH in 1.89 seconds and topping out at 205 miles per hour. You'll also be able to travel 427 miles on a single run, but all of these features are worth at least $250,000. SlashGear got behind the wheel of the Sapphire in 2024, and it was incredibly difficult to find low points.

Moving over to some of the most exclusive hypercars in the world, from brands that build cars to break records, which, unsurprisingly, continues to be a wonderful marketing tool for the respective companies. SSC is one that has a history of breaking these said records, holding the title of the world's fastest car with the Ultimate Aero in 2007. Still trying to reclaim that record, the SSC Tuatara is by far one of the most powerful cars produced on American soil.

After a decade of development, the Tuatara made its debut in 2020. The headline feature of the car was the engine, a 5.9L twin-turbocharged V8 capable of producing 1,750 horsepower. This ability comes if you fill the tank with E85 fuel, with 91 Octane still beating the Demon, with an output of 1,350 horsepower. You may have heard about the Tuatara's controversial top speed debacle when the manufacturer claimed the car hit 331 MPH, but the official top speed for the hypercar sits at 295 MPH. Still, it's one of the fastest cars in the world, even if it's not at the very top of the list.

Hennessey is similar to SSC in the sense that becoming the fastest manufacturer on the planet is the primary goal. Like its American competitor, the brand held the title for a period with the Henessey Venom GT in 2014, but Koenigsegg took it away with the Agera RS. In a bid to reclaim the record currently held by the Yangwang U9 Extreme, the Venom F5 is the car that it hopes can do just that. 

Released in 2020, we've seen a few different versions of the Venom F5, all of which blow the Dodge Demon out of the water when it comes to performance. The base model, the Roadster, the F5-M (manual) Roadster, and the Revolution trims all produce 1,817 horsepower and 1,193 pound-feet of torque thanks to the 6.6L twin-turbocharged V8 placed in the middle of the hypercar. The former three are the ones that hope to break the 300 MPH barrier, but the Revolution, which SlashGear got to test, is the aerodynamic monster that broke a production car lap record around the Circuit of the Americas. However, Henessesy unveiled a one-off manual Roadster model with a breathtaking 2,031-horsepower output.

There are now numerous electric cars alongside the Lucid Air Sapphire that redefine what performance can mean, even stretching into the pickup and SUV segments thanks to Rivian and GMC. Keeping on the topic of hypercars, however, the Rimac Nevera has long been a champion of the EV segment for showing just how far these powertrains can be pushed. The original model was released in 2021, which subsequently went on to break 23 records in a single track session, but the Nevera's iconic status hasn't stopped with the base model.

Mate Rimac's dream project comes with four electric motors, one at each wheel, to give the Nevera all-wheel drive and allow for a power output of 1,914 horsepower and 1,726 pound-feet of torque. This is good enough to get the car to 60 MPH in a mere 1.74 seconds, then top out at 256 MPH, but that wasn't enough for the Croatian manufacturer. Enter the Nevera R, with an increased output of 2,107 horsepower and torque equal to the base model.  In the R variant, the Nevera's 0 to 60 MPH time drops to 1.66 seconds, and the top speed increases to 267 MPH, along with an enhanced aero package in a bid to take every record that the base model set all for itself.