Over the course of the past few days, we have been sent many screenshots and links to social media discussions about an advertisement being run by Dodge on Facebook and Instagram. In the ad image, shown below, we see what looks like a 2019 Charger SRT Hellcat, complete with the “grille nostrils”, but the ad reads “turn some heads with every turn with the aggressive styling of the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye”.

Charger Redeye Ad

That’s right, it says Charger Redeye. The 797-horsepower super-sedan that so many people have been hoping to see at their local dealerships, broadcasted across Facebook and Instagram. As this piece is going live, the ad is still available on the Dodge Facebook page, leading to more and more exciting social media discussions about a Hellcat Charger with nearly 800 horsepower. When people first began tagging me on Facebook in these discussions, I was sure that the images had to be fake, but sure enough, I found the images here on the official Dodge Facebook page. Also, while I haven’t personally seen the ad on Instagram, several regular Allpar readers have seen it there as well.

Unfortunately, we don’t think that this really is the official announcement of the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye. We think that this is a mistake by some third-party company that doesn’t know the difference between a Hellcat and a Redeye.

Human Error in Advertising

Upon seeing the ad for the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye on Facebook, we reached out to FCA for official comment. We have not yet heard back from the official channels (it is a holiday, after all), but we were able to get some information from our off-the-record insiders. A trusted source within the company told us that the Charger Redeye ad is a mistake by the advertising agency. Our source pointed out that with such long, similar names, someone at the agency – who likely made ads for the Challenger Redeye as well – mistakenly added “Redeye” at the end of a Charger social media ad post. We were assured that the advertisement in question will be removed, but for those still looking at the images in social media groups, this is not the exciting news that you had hoped. Since this information came through an unofficial channel, we are saying that it is "likely a mistake", but it is all-but-officially a mistake by a third party advertising agency.

Now, even if we set aside the inside information, there are a few hints that this Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye ad isn’t legitimate. First, it is a 2019 model, as Dodge stopped using the “nostrils” for 2020. We suppose that there is a chance that they could go back to that look, but right now, the grille nostrils are gone. Also, this car is not a widebody model and for 2020, the widebody package is standard on the Hellcat Charger. Of course, there is a chance that the narrow-body Hellcat Charger could return for a future model year, but at this point in 2020, these ads are for 2020 models and there is no narrow-body Hellcat Charger currently available for 2020.

Also, if you look through the ads on the Dodge social media pages, there are some other points that appear to be errors. For instance, one ad claims that the SRT Durango is powered by a 6.5-liter Hemi. They probably mean the 6.4-liter Hemi, but in any case, the other questionable information shows that the advertising agency is run by people who can make mistakes like the rest of us.

Durango Ad

Most importantly, if Dodge does introduce a Charger Hellcat Redeye, it will be announced with plenty of fanfare. The company isn’t going to quietly announced it on a subtle social media post. I mean, this IS Dodge. There is a better chance of them doing a burnout on the observation deck of the Empire State Building to introduce a new model than there is of them quietly rolling out another 797-horsepower package on social media.

While the advertisement showing a 2019 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat which referenced a Redeye version got a great many people very excited, we believe that it was nothing more than an error by an employee at an advertising agency.

Mind you, we still believe that we could see a Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye in the future, but if that day comes, Dodge will make sure that no one has to go hunting around on Facebook for the details. In other words, it might still be coming, but this ad announcing its availability or current existence is inaccurate.