Correction: HellCat debut in May? by David Zatz on

Some months ago, the plans for the 2015 Dodge Challenger were thought to be clear, based on Ralph Gilles tweets: a reveal at the Southern California LX Club meet (which took place yesterday), then a public reveal at the New York Auto Show on April 16 or 17.

It now appears that the Challenger itself will be shown on April 16 or 17, with SRT chief Ralph Gilles pinpointing the public reveal of the HellCat engine as being two and a half months away.

All three large cars are to be refreshed during calendar-year 2014, for the 2015 model year. Reliable source oh2o wrote that the Challenger would come first, during the summer, followed by Charger and then 300/300C in December.

Of the three, Challenger is likely the one that needs refreshment the most, based on sales and competitive comparisons; it remains the sole large car without an eight-speed automatic, which dramatically increases the V6’s performance and highway mileage. Once the eight-speed is in place in Challenger, comparisons to Mustang and Camaro will come out much more favorably (especially since it is expected to replace the five-speed with the Hemi engines, as well.) Charger and 300 are expected to drop the five-speed entirely, except perhaps for police use.

The spy shot of the 2015 Dodge Challenger above was taken late last week by reader Christopher Vest.