What Does “SRT” Mean?

Street & Racing Technology, or SRT, is the automobile group at Fiat Chrysler behind high performing cars like the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. The Challenger SRT Hellcat has 707 horsepower and is one of the fastest and newest SRT cars available. At Team Chrysler in Mississauga we are very proud of the Chrysler Group SRT vehicles we sell, because the SRT group tunes the SRT vehicle line for the highest performance possible after putting only the best parts into them.

At first the high performance division wasn’t called SRT at all, it was called “Team Viper” since it was the first Dodge Viper design that the group was responsible for designing. When the group merged with “Team Prowler” in 2004 which worked on the development of the Plymouth Prowler, they were then known as the SVE Group. SVE was the post-merger name that stood for Specialty Vehicle Engineering. It underwent another name change when it was called PVO or Performance Vehicle Operations. Finally, in 2004 they took on the SRT name, which the group has been known as ever since.

By 2012 the SRT brand was made separate by the Chrysler Group, under its group umbrella company. It was after the launch of this distinctive brand that the Dodge Viper was sold as the SRT Viper, in 2013 and 2014 model years. By May 2014, the Chrysler Group reconsolidated the SRT brand again.

Outstanding speed and power is the hallmark of the SRT brand. The 2010 Dodge Viper SRT-10 series was a production model that completed a ¼ mile distance within 11.7 seconds. The Dodge Caliber SRT-4 did the ¼ mile in 12.8 seconds and the AMG-based Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 completed ¼ mile in 14.6 seconds. In 2011, Chrysler launched the very first 6.4-litre HEMI engine. Newer SRT versions followed like the SRT-8 that had a 392 HEMI engine and delivered 470 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque.

Among the fantastic benefits of the improved engine in the current SRT8 models are improved fuel efficiency and increased speed. The Dodge Charger SRT8, the 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT8, the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 and the Chrysler 300 SRT8 all use the new engine.

The way the SRT naming convention works is that the number following the SRT part of an engine’s name gives a quick indication of how many cylinders that car has. This is a quick way to understand more about a vehicle’s engine type and detail. The Dodge Ram SRT-10 and Dodge Viper SRT-10 both were powered by an 8.3-litre V-10 engine, and the Chrysler 300C SRT8 comes with a 6.1-litre HEMI V8 engine. A HEMI engine is a combustion engine that utilizes a hemispherical cylinder head to enable inline valves, providing a simple airflow path and more efficiency for its vehicle.