Hemi-Powered Durango’s Year-Long Farewell Tour Begins Now

Alas, the Dodge Durango’s dalliance with the beloved Hemi V-8 will come to an end this year. In true Dodge fashion, however, the going-away party will be raucous, and very long-lived. Yesterday, Dodge announced the first of a series of “Last Call” edition Durangos that use the Hemi, this one dubbed the Durango SRT 392 AlcHEMI.

“Just as we did with the Dodge Charger and Challenger, it’s time to celebrate the V-8 Hemi engine that has powered Dodge domination of the performance SUV segment,” said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge brand chief executive officer. “Special-edition ‘Last Call’ models of the Durango will roll out during 2024 as we honor the most powerful SUV ever.”

Though the AlcHEMI is not befitting of that “most power SUV ever” tag—that only belongs to Durangos equipped with the 6.2-liter, supercharged Hemi V-8—it’s not a snoozer by any means. The Durango SRT 392 AlcHEMI boasts Dodge’s 6.4-liter version of the Hemi, good for 475 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque and a 4.4-second 0–60 time.

Based on the top-trim Durango SRT 392 premium, the AlcHEMI will add a host of stylistic flourishes including 20-inch satin black forged wheels, yellow SRT Brembo brakes, satin black “392” vinyl fender decals, dual exterior stripes with yellow borders, black exhaust tips, a unique interior with yellow and silver stitching accents, and more.

Atop the SRT 392 premium’s $87,795 price, you’ll add $3595 to get into an AlcHEMI. That is, if you can find one and if dealers don’t decide to slap an additional markup on them, which is a very real possibility. Dodge is planning to build 1000 units, 250 in each of the following four exterior colors: Diamond Black, Destroyer Grey, Vapor Gray, and White Knuckle. (Not the most exciting hues, but each one will make the yellow accents pop.)

Regarding how to locate an allocation: As Dodge did with the “last call” Challengers and Chargers, interested buyers will be able to find one via the Dodge Horsepower Locator at DodgeGarage.com. The allocation searcher will arrive in late February, so you have a few weeks to get your finances in order and make your case for one of these.

While there’s certainly no replacing the Hellcat-powered Durango for pure smiles-per-mile, this author has driven the 6.4-powered Durango quite a bit, and the roar from that engine is still immensely satisfying. Add to that the slight improvement in fuel economy (15 mpg combined for the 6.4-powered Durango vs. 13 mpg combined for the Hellcat-powered one) and I’d reckon the 392 might be the Goldilocks powertrain for this bruiser.

You can also get the Durango with the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, though it’s decidedly the third-fiddle engine in this lineup. That one, too, will cease to exist after this year. No word yet on whether that model will receive any sort of “last call” treatment, but we’d bet it’s a low priority.

And while it’s probably too early to speculate on the future of the aging Durango, don’t be surprised if a certain Hurricane twin-turbo inline-six somehow winds up under the hood eventually. We’ve seen that the Ram pickup’s future will involve versions of this engine, and it’s not a stretch to think that the Durango could enjoy the same fate.

In the meantime, we’ll keep our ear to the ground for news about additional “last call” models that will trickle out throughout the year.

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