2029 Dodge Copperhead Is a Fire-Breathing Hyper-Muscle Car Worth Waiting For

What It Is

After lying mostly dormant for years, Stellantis’ SRT performance brand is roaring back to full strength via a slew of sporty new models planned across the automotive giant’s American brands. At the top of the pile will sit a new sports car from Dodge called the Copperhead, reviving the name of a late 1990’s concept. While Dodge has insisted that this is not a direct replacement for the iconic V-10-powered Viper, the Copperhead will fill a similar role as the halo car for Dodge and the SRT performance division.

Why It Matters

The Copperhead will lend Dodge and SRT more performance legitimacy as a more track-focused machine than the most potent versions of the current Charger, which, while powerful, are also large and heavy and not the most fleet of foot. The Copperhead will instead utilize a slightly smaller footprint and more advanced technology to take Dodge’s performance credentials to new heights, which will be key for maintaining the brand’s reputation as rivals Ford and Chevy continue to crank out even more extreme versions of their sports cars.

Platform

While Dodge has yet to publicly show the Copperhead, we got a glimpse of a full-scale model of the sports car during Stellantis’ Investor Day event earlier this year. Although it looked vaguely related to the current Charger, at least in the roofline, Stellantis’ head of American brands Tim Kuniskis has since stated that it is not based on the Charger. On The Drive’s podcast, Kuniskis said, “you couldn’t get a Charger with those proportions and that stance because of the multi-energy design of where the battery is encapsulated in the bottom of the car,” referring to the STLA Large platform that underpins the Charger in both gas and EV forms.

Although Kuniskis wouldn’t confirm the platform, he did reveal that “there are some synergies built into that car,” since “SRT only works if SRT can take sunken investments from around the globe and leverage those.” He continued, “So there’s stuff in that car that are production-intent in other things that we’ll leverage very heavily.”

That makes us wonder if the Copperhead may end up being related to the Maserati GranTurismo, which rides on a version of the Giorgio platform. The GranTurismo and its GranCabrio convertible counterpart have been slow sellers since the latest generation arrived in 2023, and reworking the Italian grand tourer’s platform for the Copperhead would be a solid way to recoup costs while giving Dodge the ability to create low, sleek proportions. While the Giorgio platform, introduced with the Alfa Romeo Giulia back in 2015, was originally expected to be phased out soon, recent rumors suggest its life could be extended as Alfa Romeo ponders how to best replace the Giulia and Stelvio. Originally supposed to be replaced by new models on the STLA Large platform, Alfa Romeo is reportedly considering sticking with updated Giorgio underpinnings, and the Copperhead could serve as extra justification for keeping the beloved platform around.

Regardless of the bones, the Copperhead will wear aggressive styling, with a blacked-out front end covered in vents. The hood isn’t quite as lengthy as that of a Viper, but it has a unique design that combines the R-wing seen on the Charger Daytona EV—essentially a hole cut out between the headlights that serves as an S-duct, directing air over the hood—with the traditional hood scoop seen on past Charger Hellcats. Aerodynamics appear to play a big role on the Copperhead, with a significant front splitter, vents for brake cooling behind the front wheels, and a large rear wing that looks like a slightly downsized version of the appendage found on the old Viper ACR.

Powertrain

The Copperhead’s powertrain is still a mystery, but the model we saw sported a pair of exhaust pipes, confirming internal-combustion oomph. We would love to see the return of a V-10, but current emissions regulations and Dodge’s insistence that this is not a true Viper replacement suggest the cylinder count will come in the single digits. That leads us to expect some form of Hemi V-8 under the hood, especially after Ram reinserted the V-8 into the 1500 pickup last year and Dodge hinted strongly that the V-8 will return to the Charger.

The Copperhead would therefore likely use an updated version of the supercharged 6.2-liter V-8, which is capable of 777 horsepower in the 2027 Ram 1500 SRT TRX, and could probably be turned up even further given that the old Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye made 797 hp and the Challenger Demon 170 cranked out 900 ponies on pump gas.

But it may not be as simple as that. On The Drive’s podcast, Kuniskis said that in terms of the powertrain, “We have some ideas and some things that we’re kicking around. It could be something that you’re not aware of. It could be something that doesn’t exist today.” Kuniskis even suggested, “There could be another engine coming that nobody’s aware of.”

The Copperhead will revive a name used on this 1997 concept car.

It’s unclear what exactly this will be, but a hybrid V-8 setup seems unlikely, with Kuniskis suggesting that hybridization will age poorly. “Let’s say you put, you know, e-motors in it and lithium-ion batteries. What will that be in 30 years? It’ll be an 8-track. You’re like, ‘Hey, I got this DVD, where can I play it?’ No, you—you can’t. So my goal is to have something that would be timeless and somewhat future-proofed.”

Kuniskis’ comments about global synergies and our theory about the Giorgio platform opens up the possibility for the Copperhead to use some version of Maserati’s Nettuno V-6, or at least its prechamber ignition technology that has since spread to the inline-four found in the Jeep Grand Cherokee. But that is just speculation, and we’ll have to wait before we know for sure what will power the Copperhead.

Competition

While Kuniskis said he’s not trying to target the Corvette, instead dubbing the Copperhead a “hyper-muscle car,” the $123,995, 670-hp Chevy Corvette Z06 will likely still serve as competition, as could the hybridized Corvette Grand Sport X, which will start at $107,245 and pack 721 hp. Chevy is also gearing up to launch a Camaro successor, while over at Ford, the 795-hp Mustang Dark Horse SC seems like the logical rival.

What Might Go Wrong

A lot is riding on Dodge’s choice of engine. The 6.2-liter V-8 would undoubtedly make Dodge fans happy, although without meaningful updates, it could make the Copperhead already feel out of date. Eschewing the V-8 for a more modern engine could be interesting from a technological standpoint, but could alienate Dodge’s customer base.

Estimated Arrival and Price

The Copperhead is due out before 2030, and we think it could arrive as early as the 2029 model year. The Copperhead’s starting price will be at least $100,000, but it could easily creep up even further depending on the powertrain and additional performance-focused options.

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Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.