Special-edition cars are often the bearers of seriously expensive options. For instance, the hand-painted stripes on a Ford Mustang GT500 cost $10,000. That’s a lot of money, but some people just need stripes. However, not every expensive option on every car makes sense. If a Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 owner wants their car with a sunroof, they better get ready to fork out an extra $9,995 Why? Well, one reporter quotes Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis as basically saying he doesn’t want people to buy a sunroof. It’s a bit odd, but let’s talk about it.
It seems that Dodge isn’t too thrilled about customers optioning sunroofs on Demons — well, that’s according to CNBC’s Michael Wayland’s tweet, which states: “According to [Dodge CEO Tim] Kuniskis, it was previously $5,000 and in high-demand so they raised the price hopping less people would actually get it, as its not the best accessory for drag racing…”
According to Kuniskis, it was previously $5,000 and in high-demand so they raised the price hopping less people would actually get it, as it’s not the best accessory for drag racing … pic.twitter.com/2rKOyocNbd
— Michael Wayland (@MikeWayland) March 23, 2023
We emailed a Stellantis representative about sunroof pricing on the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, and they responded, “A sunroof goes against the ethos of the vehicle, but we are making it available for customers who truly desire one. For those customers choosing a sunroof, it will not come cheap.”
Dodge pulled something like this with the previous Demon by pricing its sunroof at $4,995. Well, that didn’t deter many owners from checking the fresh air option, so Dodge seems to be quite literally doubling-down on sunroof pricing. So, why is it even an option at this point? Well, the answer is probably money. Just imagine the margins on this option that costs just $1,295 on a Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody Jailbreak. Still, it would’ve been even funnier if Dodge hiked the cost of a sunroof on a Demon 170 up to equal the MSRP of a base Challenger SXT. One $30,545 sunroof for you. Hilariously enough, Canadian Demon 170 customers get a bit of a break when it comes to the sunroof. North of the border, it costs $9,995 in loonies, which converts out to around $7,284 greenbacks.
[Editor’s Note: I’m not sure how much we should read into this tweet; if a company doesn’t want customers to buy something, that company probably wouldn’t offer it. If I had to guess, this is a clever way to reduce the base/advertised price of the car, since so many folks have shown interest in this sunroof option, which will now cost them 10 large. As they’re buying a $100,000 car anyway, they should be able to afford dropping another 10. -DT].
Although collector car pricing can be a funny thing, I’m willing to hazard a guess that the handful of slicktop, stripped-out Demon 170s Dodge will make should carry higher resale values than more loaded-up cars. The extremes Dodge went to develop this car is a huge part of the mythos and hype around the baddest factory muscle car around.
The Demon 170 is purpose-built for drag racing and the last things you want in a track car are less helmet clearance and more weight. While the sunroof components in a Challenger don’t add a massive amount of heft, they still add weight up high on the car, affecting the center of gravity. In addition, while Dodge hasn’t published official figures for headroom with and without the sunroof, firsthand experience tells me that Challengers with sunroofs are noticeably stingier in the headroom department. For taller drivers, it could mean the difference between a proper driving position while wearing a helmet and having to tilt the seat way back. The latter, of course, is a bad move when trying to control 1,025 horsepower of E85-fuelled fury.
So, if you’re ordering a Demon 170, skip the sunroof and put the $9,995 towards the optional $11,495 carbon fiber two-piece wheels. If you’re going for maximum muscle car, you want the maximum version of maximum muscle.
(Photo credits: Dodge)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 Is A 1,025-Horsepower Muscle Car Curtain Call
-
The Fastest Dodge Last Call Special Editions Carry Lofty Six-Figure Price Tags
-
The 2023 Dodge Charger Super Bee Packs Drag Radials To Send Your Child’s Favorite Toy Straight Through The Rear Window
-
You Can Now Buy A Carbon Fiber 1970 Dodge Charger Body Directly From Mopar For The Muscle Car Build Of Your Dreams
-
The Dodge Charger Daytona SRT EV Concept Looks Surprisingly Production-Like
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
“According to [Dodge CEO Tim] Kuniskis, it was previously $5,000 and in high-demand so they raised the price hopping less people would actually get it”
I imagine customers would be hopping mad at an extra $5k for a glass roof. Here’s to hoping no one proofreads the first paragraph, because apparently no one proofreads the first paragraph.
No they do want you buying one. Its a high priced option on a limited run car. People arent going to drive these things. 90 percent of them will be packed away. With that in mind they are going to try to pick the “rarest” options of which this overpriced sunroof seems like a great candidate for. I wouldnt doubt it if more are sold with the sunroof than without trying to secure maximum BaT bucks in 5 years.
To “add weight up high up on the car, affecting the center of gravity” would be what you might want in a car “purpose built for drag racing”, as it would help the car hook harder at the vitally important launch. Maybe the car pulling the wheels in the lead photo has the sunroof, and ten grand would actually get you a couple-hundreths.
Here’s my question: why are Canadians getting a price break on the options? Is this Dodge’s subtle way of subsidizing Canadian gearheads? A secret agreement with the CAW? Inquiring minds want to know.
I mean, if you want a hole in your roof that’ll leak, just buy a convertible.
This is money greed done right: although I wish they pulled the same thing with the seats and the other weight-increasing extra’s.
Nothing screams “WhY iS mY cAr So SlOw” as loudly as some 300-pound Americans who buy a car whose performance records are done with the least amount of weight as possible, and they end up buying every single last option that adds 400+ pounds to the car.
It’s a pretty obvious fact at that too: how many people call the ’18 Demons slow when you see beer guts coming out of a full-seat car whose 9.65 quarter mile time was done in the lowest weight configuration by a NHRA Top Fuel Drag-racer who’s a lightweight herself?
This car isn’t for drag racing. It’s for collecting and Dodge knows this. So, take an option and make it prohibitively expensive. Then all the collectors will “have to have it” because it will be that rare option that makes their car a 1 of 1 on BaT in 30 years. Only it wont, because all the collectors are doing the same thing. And Dodge just gets some extra cash.
Here I’ll fix their explanation:
People paid $5,000 for it which is crazy, so we said ‘hey, if they’ll pay $5k then they’ll pay $10k’ and that’s how we priced it.
I could see the units sold without the sun roof becoming the rare, more valuable cars 30+ years from now.
Imagine if Mitsubishi tried to charge $10k for a sunroof in the Mirage G4. People would riot in the streets.
However, I think that the bigger issue at play here is that Porsche must certainly be watching the situation, thinking to themselves “Ve can sell a sunroof for €9,300? Why didn’t Dieter and Helmut tell me this?!?”
Dodge has a bit of an issue with sunroofs on these and the chargers. they fill the fenders with foam but then do not run the drain tubes all the way to the underside of the car. the 1/4 to as much as 2 inches between the drain channel and the actual drain tube result in water making its way on top of the foam, and the foam seems to hold the moisture close tot he metal. Now this matters little for many of these vehicles as they are often garage queens that rarely see sun, let alone rain, but the ones that do get driven, they seem to rust unexpectedly fast just behind the doors.
If they really wanted to do this, they would charge $32,545 for the sunroof on a Demon 170. That’s the exact list price for a V6 Challenger SXT with a sunroof and no other options.
Maybe they’re trying to reduce the number of jackwagons hanging out of the sunroof for clicks while the car is doing donuts in street takeovers. Good!
Demons usually aren’t at takeovers. That’s sxts, 392s and Hellcats you see at takeovers.
If I knew 90% of my run of cars would have all the option boxes checked and then never be used, I would horribly inflate the price of every option that goes against the car’s intended mission.
Good job, Dodge.
The Demons are made to order, so it’s the customer’s choice.
If it was really against the car’s mission, it wouldn’t even be an option. In fact, I didn’t even know the old Demon was available with a sunroof!
Will this be the modern version of the 1970 (I think) Hemi ‘Cuda convertible, the one that nobody ordered back then so of course is worth gazillions now?
I’m sure that’s the reasoning behind that price. Somebody wants to order a 1-of-1 car to cash out at the Mecum or Barrett-Jackson. Dodge wants a piece of the pie.
I don’t care. I’d fuckin pay it 😀
Also, too bad they don’t have a Charger Demon 170 or better yet, a Durango Demon 170, a Wrangler Demon 170, Wagoneer Demon 170, and a Ram Demon 170
On the dodgegarage site, it appears that bright green is an extra charge ($395) in the US, but no extra charge in Canada. However, purple is only $95 here and $395 up there…
I also wonder if they are concerned that with all that power, torque, vibrating that the sunroof might pull a Tesla and flyoff at some inopportune point?
There are others on here who can address that better than I.
if that was the reason, they wouldn’t even offer it at any price.
Never thought I’d say this but a Dodge Challenger has a certain level of build quality in which sunroof don’t just fly off on them. I’ve watched enough takeover videos to know that the trunk does fly open if you impact a curb hard enough though.
$50 is too much to pay for a sunroof. I never understood the attraction. Pimps and fourteen year old girls disagree with me.
I had a ‘91 Foxbody with the removable sunroof.. yeah I get it. Would I option one on something? Probably not. But was it super cool to run around in a teal-colored, supercharged, 5-speed Foxbody with the windows down and sunroof glass out? Fuck yeah it was!
Huh, never knew I was a pimp. Or, I suppose, a fourteen year old girl. Either way, I’ve always rather enjoyed sunroofs – suppose it helps that I live in the northeast and don’t have to deal with hellsun or morbid humidity.
My children both love spotting things through the panoroof on my wagon. It’s not their fault you’re too sad to see the joy in looking up.
HATER!! 😛
https://media1.tenor.com/images/5aaa3b7a5ee4a63e1ec181621779c5e7/tenor.gif?itemid=14457688