Dodge has unsubtly teased the return of the Super Bee by way of a short viral video posted on social media.
The clip features a swarm of bees at a drag strip as Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" plays in the background. It’s pretty difficult to interpret this as anything other than heralding the return of the Super Bee — which will presumably arrive in the aforementioned color combination.
We’re anticipating the model will be based on the current Charger and equipped with a drag package, some unique graphics, and potentially the most powerful version of the Hurricane engine yet produced.
It’s a car that’s been rumored to be returning to the brand for several months and one with an incredibly storied history. This is likewise a signal that Stellantis has finally started to come to grips with what Americans like in terms of performance vehicles, even if it seems like the Super Bee will still be launching without a V8.
While your author has always preferred sleepers that fly under the radar, Mopar products were given a pass by nature of being unapologetically over the top. During the original era of the muscle car, Dodge and Plymouth were selling vehicles boasting the largest engines and loudest paint jobs.
Many of the performance vehicles being produced by Ford and General Motors were rarely subtle. They likewise offered variants featuring insane paint colors and engines so large that it would actually hamper the vehicle’s performance in a turn. But they usually stopped short of incorporating things like cartoon mascots, which would then be painted onto the vehicle itself.
Chrysler brands were different.
The original Dodge Dart would eventually get the Demon trim, which featured significantly more power and wilder paint schemes that incorporated a little devil character. The Plymouth Duster did the same with a cartoon tornado.
Plymouth was also selling the Road Runner, which adopted the Warner Bros. character of the same name as its spirit animal. The car’s horn was even designed to copy his signature “meep.”
Eventually, the company would build the Superbird (along with the Dodge Daytona). Designed to gamify the automaker’s efforts in NASCAR, production models would also receive its absolutely insane front clip and massive rear wing.
This brings us back to the Super Bee. Originally based on the Dodge Coronet, the Super Bee name would later migrate over to the Charger. The recipe was always the same. The company took a popular B-Body vehicle, issued it with some of the most powerful engines it was currently producing, and slathered the bodywork with the most eye-catching paint jobs possible — which frequently included a cartoon bee wearing a helmet.
Despite losing those vehicles as the United States passed aggressive emissions laws and suffered fuel shortages during the 1970s, many would return several decades later. Dodge was once again selling muscle cars by the mid-2000s and customers could have them in relatively tepid colors or decked out in wild hues that featured decals of cartoon characters — this included the (LX platform) Charger SRT8 Super Bee.
The variant was originally issued with the 6.1-liter Hemi V8 boasting 425 horsepower. But it would only be produced from 2007 through 2009. Production would resume on the LD platform in 2012, this time with the 6.4-liter Hemi V8, and persist until 2014.
A final “Last Call” edition for the car would appear in 2023 as the company decided to pivot away from V8 motors under new management. The plan was to electrify as many vehicles as possible But we know how poorly this went for the brand and how Stellantis ultimately decided to refocus its efforts on understanding what its North American clientele actually wanted.
As a result, we’ve seen V8 production resume and Dodge teasing new muscle cars.
Details on the next Super Bee are scant. Previous rumors suggested that Dodge’s next big reveal will be another all-electric model. But the date of the car’s assumed reveal coincides with the Road Kill Nights event held on Aug. 7. That weekend is also supposed to result in Stellantis showing off the most powerful version of the gasoline-powered Charger Sixpack.
At present, the meanest version of the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six boasts 550 horsepower. We are betting that the upgraded motor sees that number climbing by at least 50 ponies and will be wedged inside the engine bay of the next generation of the Super Bee.
Odds are good that this could become the most expensive variant of the modern Charger once it goes on sale. Historically, Mopar frequently attempted to cut costs by eliminating luxury features on select performance focused models (e.g. Road Runner, Super Bee). But this hasn’t been the case in decades. In the current era, it’s much more common for Dodge to simply incorporate all the bells and whistles — increasing the MSRP.
Based on the Charger current lineup, we don’t expect the Super Bee to start a penny below $65,000 and it could be priced significantly higher depending on how crazy the manufacturer decided to get with the engine.
Expect to hear all about it in August.
[Images: Steve Lagreca/Shutterstock; Kevin Tietz/Shutterstock; Gestalt Imagery/Shutterstock; JoshBryan/Shutterstock; Darren Brode/Shutterstock; Stellantis]
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via Autobuzz Today
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