When Dodge boss Tim Kuniskis provided the world with the plans for the 2023 model year Challenger and Charger, he mentioned that there would be a new sort of inventory system here on DodgeGarage called the Horsepower Locator, where prospective buyers can check to see which dealerships will have access to specific models and trims. With 2023 being the final year of this generation for the fabled muscle cars, the company wants to make it as easy as possible for buyers all over the country to get the exact car that they want. This system will allow buyers to find out which dealerships around the country have allocations remaining for the given vehicles, but due to the rest of the huge 2023 news, the information on this new availability system got lost in the shuffle.
For many people, the initial reporting on the Horsepower Locator system made it sound very similar to what is already available on Dodge.com, where you can search dealership inventory, but it’s actually far more elaborate than that. Today, we take a closer look at how the Horsepower Locator will help you find your ideal 2023 Dodge Challenger or Charger.
Dealership Allocations, Not Inventory
The most significant aspect of the Horsepower Locator is that it is based on dealership allocations, not dealership inventory.
If you visit Dodge.com today and search inventory for a 2022 Dodge Charger SRT® Hellcat, that system shows you the vehicles currently being built, in transit or on the lots in your area – cars at local dealerships where you can walk in, test drive the car and buy it today. That system allows you to quickly find a car in your area to purchase right away, but since we are talking about cars that are already ordered by the dealership, this system doesn’t offer any means to know how many orders the dealership has available for you to custom order a car exactly how you want it.
On the other hand, let’s say that you are searching for a 2023 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat on the Horsepower Locator. This system shows you every dealership that has remaining allocations for a 2023 Charger SRT Hellcat. Once you locate a dealership that has an allocation for the Charger SRT Hellcat, you can communicate with that dealership to place an order for the exact car that you want. The Horsepower Locator will also help prospective customers check with multiple dealerships for pricing before ordering, so not only will the system help people order their ideal Dodge muscle car, it will also help them find the best price on that new Challenger or Charger.
Also, for those folks who are buying a 2023 Challenger or Charger with plans of adding Direct Connection performance upgrades, the Horsepower Locator will allow you to search specifically for Power Brokers dealerships with allocations for the car in question. So not only is Dodge trying to make it easier for prospective customers to get their dream muscle car in the final year of production, but the brand is even making it easier to add gobs of warranty-friendly power at the dealership. This sounds great for consumers, but it will take a great deal of preparation by the brand to make this all work smoothly.
Preparing for the 2023 Model Year
Before the 2023 Challenger and Charger officially go on sale, the Dodge brand will work with the folks at the Brampton Assembly Plant where both cars are built to forecast exactly how many of each car will be built during the entire model year. This will take a great deal of planning on the side of the brand, the production facility and the suppliers, but as a result, Dodge will know exactly how many 2023 Challengers and 2023 Chargers will be built by the time production ends sometime next year.
While simply knowing how many Challengers and Chargers will be built for the 2023 model year would help with allocations and planning, the brand is taking it one step further. They won’t just know how many Challengers and Chargers will be built – they will know exactly how many cars will be built in each trim line. In other words, Dodge will figure how exactly how many Challengers will be built in SXT, SXT AWD, GT, GT AWD, R/T, R/T Scat Pack, R/T Scat Pack Widebody, SRT Hellcat, SRT Hellcat Widebody, SRT Hellcat Redeye, SRT Hellcat Widebody and SRT Super Stock form; and exactly how many Chargers will be built in SXT, SXT AWD, GT, GT AWD, R/T, Scat Pack, Scat Pack Widebody, SRT Hellcat Widebody and SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody form.
Once the Dodge brand knows exactly how many examples of each trim level will be built for the Challenger and Charger, allocation information will be sent to dealerships across the United States, and that same information will be available to potential customers through the DodgeGarage Horsepower Locator. When that information goes out, every dealership will know exactly how many examples of each 2023 Challenger and Charger they will be able to order for the entire 2023 model year, while hopeful customers will know where they can order their ideal Dodge muscle car.
This information will then be regularly updated on the Horsepower Locator, allowing prospective customers a chance to see how quickly certain models are selling and how close certain models are to selling out nationally, potentially protecting customers from missing out on a specific model.
For example, say that a dealership near you has allocations for 50 Charger SRT Hellcat models for the 2023 model year and during the first week of the order banks being open, that dealership receives three customer orders for a Charger SRT Hellcat along with ordering five cars for inventory. The number of available allocations for that dealership in the Horsepower Locator would go down by eight units, so when the system update is performed, that dealership will then show you they have 42 available orders for the 2023 model year. That process will continue, consistently showing the drop in remaining allocations, until all the vehicles planned for production for the 2023 Challenger and Charger have been converted into orders.
There will also be a specific section for the Last Call Special Edition models, but since those vehicles are all configured a certain way, the Horsepower Locator will simply help buyers find these limited-edition cars from the final run of the current Dodge Challenger and Charger. As has been explained in the past few weeks, the Last Call vehicles will be built at the brand’s discretion and shipped to pre-selected dealerships, so there is no means for a customer to order one in advance.
With all the preparation that went into making sure we’d be able to connect with the dealers who could order exactly what we want in 2023, there’s an additional safeguard planned for as well. There will be a couple months of reserve, just in case 2023 decides we haven’t already seen enough natural disasters or chip shortages that could impact production. While the planning for a new model year is always intense, this planning for the Last Call of Challengers and Chargers is impressive. Couple that with a never-before-attempted level of transparency for customers, and Dodge is truly trying to set us up for success. Stay tuned to DodgeGarage for the launch of the Horsepower Locator in October.
ordered my rt in February. When should i expect it to be made and delivered?