Influencer Dodge Challenger Hellcat Great

Influencer Plan

Brand

Dodge Challenger Scat Pack

Brand’s Image

Muscle car for American muscle car lovers. This car was built for one purpose and one purpose only—to satisfy people for whom the average 180 horsepower vehicle is not enough. This car offers 700 horsepower. It takes the naturally aspirated, 8 cylinder engine of the Scat Pack and gives it a supercharger. No turbo lag. No hesitation. You can step on the gas and get around a slow moving minivan on the freeway without any problem whatsoever (Challenger Hellcat Forums, 2020). What crosses the customers’ minds when they come across the brand name is “Holy cow, I have to have one of those, but man oh man does having all that horsepower make me nervous!” It’s a love affair. You either love them and hate them—and people who love power under the hood love them (Hellcat Forum, 2019). They love the Hellcat image, they love the power the car offers, and they love the retro design and simplicity of concept.

Brand’s Target

Hellcat age demographics indicate that the 45-54 year old age group is most likely to be interested in the Hellcat, followed closely behind by the 35-44 year old age group and the 55-64 year old age group. In other words, this is a car that makes people feel young again. Those who just young for the first time might not be drawn to the Hellcat the same way older people are drawn to it. It offers that hint of nostalgia and that one-of-a-kind experience that reminds them of what true muscle cars used to be like.

The lifestyle of the brand’s target isn’t really pegged to anything in particular, as power appeals to all people in all lifestyles: what the target has in common is that everyone who is drawn to the Hellcat is drawn to it for two reasons—it has more power than just about anything else on the street, and it looks retro. So it might be a family man who wants another car other than the family van for weekend cruising or the daily commute to work. It might be a retired person looking for fun. It might be a girl who enjoys the thrill of the track. It might be someone who simply appreciates the addition of the supercharger to the naturally aspirated 6 liters that already made the HEMI so awesome in the first place.

The target of this brand values quality and the Hellcat has it in spades. Windsor is known for producing quality engines, and the Hellcat HEMI comes from the Dodge plant there. They value the past and dismiss the modern eco-friendly hunks of junk made in Asia. They want real power—not some turbo’d-up strumpet packing 4 cylinders and 2 liters under the hood. They value things that don’t mind standing out; boldness, unapologetic power, aggressive but cool styling, and quick as lightning speeds (Hellcat Forum, 2019).

Social Media Endorsement: Blog Post

So I was tired of being stuck trying to climb a hill in the old 6 cylinder minivan. I was tired of getting stuck behind a 4 cylinder eco-friendly two-door golf cart that had less power than my old rust bucket but around which I wasn’t too sure I could actually get in my minivan. I was tired of trying to pass a motorist in the left hand lane only to find that I simply did not have the muscle under the hood to do a convincing job of it. I was tired of not having a pair of wheels that were fun. I missed the power that my old 8 cylinder BMW 540i once gave me before its own ragged out engine disintegrated on me on an I-275 off-ramp and left me rolling to a quiet stop just past the light. I was just tired. I missed that power I’d had and I did not like the lack of power I now commanded.

But what to do?

I’d driven some of these turbo cars—you know, the ones every brand makes now, sacrificing a truly naturally-aspirated engine and offering you tons of turbo lag. I hated them. You hit the gas—nothing happens—and then suddenly and all at once everything happens and the car feels like it’s zipping away from you.

I missed the feel of hitting the gas and going, the immediate response of the 540i.

I missed knowing that when I stomped on the pedal, the car was going to respond right now—not in half-second or second later or whenever the turbo finally got around to spooling up.

I missed being up to jump off the curb from a cold start and thunder into traffic. I couldn’t do that in my minivan.

I couldn’t do that with my turbocharged car.

But when the Challenger came out with its 8 cylinder HEMI and 6.4 liter naturally aspirated engine under the hood, I felt so many pangs of love within me that I had to have it. Then I laid eyes on the Hellcat—and heard it had 700 horsepower thanks to a supercharger addition to that engine (down a bit in size to 6.2 liters). I thought, “That’s a lot of power.” And I knew I would have to have it.

And I got it.

What’s it like being a Hellcat owner?

Well, let’s just say this: all of a sudden you no longer have those feelings of woe-is-me when you’re driving on the road. The only feeling you have now is “I hope that guy gets out of my way before I reach his tale” when someone’s hanging out in the passing lane as though he owned it. Behind the wheel of this monster you feel like you’re riding an unstoppable, ferocious lion with the swagger of an Indian riding an elephant in an exotic land. Everyone you pass stops and looks and stares in wonder. You feel their eyes. Before you never would have gotten a second look from anyone in your beat-down minivan, in your commonplace turbocharged 4 cylinder. But now you get everyone’s attention.

When you fire it up in the morning, the whole street wakes up: those 8 cylinders roaring to life all at once aren’t quiet about what they’re doing. They’re loud and proud and don’t mind announcing themselves for the whole world to hear.

And then you hit the pavement and wheel it up the lane at rip-roaring acceleration. You may be in a 30 mph neighborhood, but you’re getting to 30 faster than anybody else on that street. It gives you a sense of satisfaction and pride unlike anything else can. You smile to yourself and let out a little chuckle.

But what’s the best part? The best part is that you can fit the kids or grandkids in the back—no problem. You can even fit your buddies in the back if you don’t have kids or grandkids—because this car is big and there’s tons of room.

And yet it’s not so big that you feel it in unwelcome ways. It handles surprisingly well. It’s agile. They say it’s made for the straightaway, but in the curves and through the twists and turns of windy roads it holds up better than expected. I find myself comparing it to my old 540i and guess which one I’d take if given the choice between the two today?