I'm looking forward to owning a Charger Six Pack R/T 4 door by next year. While my one hope is that prices for pre-owned vehicles will be reasonable, my other hope is that both Direct Connection and the aftermarket will be in full swing with upgrades for this car. My real interest is in Direct Connection having a full suite of factory backed upgrades for the 8th Gen Charger for both Standard and High Output powertrains as well as two and four door variants, mainly when it comes to tuning.
To me, here's what really matters. Customization without voiding the warranty. Here's the thing. Pricing alone is going to limit most buyers who are even thinking about this car to the R/T trim level. While I would love to see Direct Connection really take off with this new 8th gen Charger platform, I have a feeling it's really going to be up to the aftermarket to really make this car shine. That's not a bad thing though in the grand scheme of things, especially if the Aftermarket can really make parts that work for the S/O powered R/T cars that would be affordable and not void the factory warranty. To me, that includes a list of full cold air intakes from companies like K&N with the new Gen-4 intake, or companies that offer closed box intakes like Corsa, S&B and AFE. Things like that along with charge pipes and aftermarket intercoolers from AFE or Mishimoto or even Whipple would be nice as well to go along with throttle bodies from BBK along with catch cans and blow off valves like the SSQV from HKS or other options from Turbosmart, a full suite of parts from Burger Motorsports, upgraded ignition coils from MSD or Accel would be nice as well as a dual fuel pump conversion for the Hurricane S/O. Stellantis needs to work on their own Direct Connection piggyback tuners since the aftermarket ones seem to do wonders for this car. From there we need catted aftermarket downpipes and exhaust systems (mostly resonated touring style systems that offer a nice tone without being overly loud). I know AWE is working on systems for the new car and so is American Racing Headers and Borla and possibly Flowmaster, but we really need downpipes and upgrades from other companies like SPD performance, Solo Performance and Stainless Works. Suspension and braking are also huge points as well. Not only do Ridetech and Fox Factory need to jump on board as direct connection options but also eibach, Koni, Bilstein, whiteline, bmr, AAD and others. There also needs to be brake upgrades from Stoptech, Power Stop and Brembo for the 20x9" wheels.
While all of that would take care of the performance upgrades for the Standard Output R/T cars, Styling is a big thing for the Charger as well. Companies such as Vicrez and Cervinis really need to jump in on this clean canvas and really do it big while still being tasteful. A set of scalloped fenders that mimic the door scallops of the 68-70 Charger or even something that mimics the dual scallops of the '71 Charger would be a nice way to add something to the side of the car, while any of the 71-74 B-Body hood designs would work well on this car, especially a modern version of louvered style from the '71 Charger R/T (similar to what Ford has on the GT500 or what Chevy had on the 5th Gen ZL1 hood). But there are other designs like the '73-'74 Roadrunner hood that would work as well. Even a raised version with the 68-70 Scallops would add a lot to this car while still keeping a "Factory Charger" theme. Another cool thing would be just a clean Cervinis cowl hood. Something else that is becoming a popular trend for Chargers is the TRX hood design, which would work well on this car. We do need grill options like the Super Bee style grill for the regular fascias as well as lower grill inserts and DRLs, side skirts, rock guards, side splitters, and diffusers, but also, we need more spoiler options for this car. Cervinis had a very cool spoiler design for the 15-17 Mustang called the Stalker spoiler that looked like a pedestal spoiler but was a flush mount 3-piece spoiler with winglets on the side. That takes care of body upgrades, next would be lighting. Alpha Rex, Oracle, Lighting Trendz, and everyone else needs to jump on board with this car and offer options such as LED marker lights, grill lights, hood scoop lights, and some major headlight and taillight upgrades. A new taillight panel that actually has two separate taillights like the 69-70 design but be completely LED like what Oracle put out for the '69-'70 Charger but obviously a bit more modern and would have options for an LED R/T emblem (or Fratzonic emblem, Scat Pack Bee or Super Bee) in the center that truly pays homage to the '69-'70 Charger. Interior LED lighting kits should be available as well for those cars that didn't come with the factory LED lighting. LED airbag covers are a must with the different emblems. Lastly, the Charger needs a lot more wheel options. Vicrez has been really good to the Mopar community with Replica wheels and so have other companies and it's time to continue that trend. The 8th gen Charger has a bolt pattern similar to the Durango and Jeep so it's time to expand the replicas and colors to this new vehicle. Actually, one wheel design I would love to see would be a slightly updated version of the original Challenger SRT8 5-spoke wheels (the black ones with the silver center so they had almost a Magnum 500 style look to them). One final thing is the stereo system. I know car stereos have improved, and Alpine is doing a lot with Mopar these days, but we need to hear from other companies as well like Kicker, who also used to offer factory speaker, amp and subwoofer packages for the Mopar cars. it's time to bring that back and have options for this car as well.
