2008 Dodge Magnum SRT8: A New Face for a Short Final Year

The 2008 Magnum SRT8 was the final year, and it closed out the run with a genuine facelift rather than a simple carryover: a redesigned hood with a functional scoop, a new grille, front fascia, and headlamps, plus a new instrument panel and console inside. The 425-horsepower 6.1-liter HEMI and five-speed AutoStick automatic carried over unchanged beneath the new sheet metal. Chrysler's own release states production began at Brampton in August 2007, but Stellantis's own Brampton plant history separately says Magnum production ended in late 2007, meaning the 2008 model year was a genuinely short build run rather than a full twelve-month cycle.^1,2

No SRT8-specific production or sales count was published for 2008, only whole-nameplate figures: Chrysler reported 6,912 US Magnum sales for calendar 2008, and just 113 more in 2009 as the model ran out of inventory, with the following December's release showing zero for 2010. The car itself was assembled at Brampton from an engine built in Saltillo, Mexico, and a transmission built in Indianapolis, a three-plant supply chain feeding a single Ontario assembly line in the model's last months of production. Component sourcing this specific was worth recording precisely, since it shows how far a single Magnum SRT8 traveled through the supply chain before reaching a customer, even in a short, final model year that never saw a full sales year of its own.^3,4,1

Two small disagreements run through Chrysler's own 2008 documentation. Its press release describes the rear brake rotors as 350 by 26 millimeters vented, while the separate specification sheet gives 350 by 28 millimeters, 13.8 by 1.10 inches; both are manufacturer documents, and the record shows both rather than assuming a typo in either one. The Steel Blue color carries two different names across the same two documents as well, Steel Blue Metallic Clear Coat in the release and Steel Blue Metallic Pearl Coat on the specification sheet's exterior color list, evidently the same paint described two different ways rather than two different colors.^1,5

Every 2008 Magnum SRT8 came standard with the SRT Track Experience, a one-day driving event held at the Richard Petty Racing School, bundled as one of four equipment packages. New options for the year included an SRT Reconfigurable Display, SIRIUS Backseat TV, Kicker premium surround sound, and 20-inch polished forged-aluminum wheels, and the equipment packages ran from Package 1's automatic dual-zone climate control, heated front seats, automatic headlamps, express-up windows, and remote start, through Package 2's Kicker audio system with a 200-watt subwoofer and 322-watt amplifier plus a security alarm, to Package 3's navigation radio, SIRIUS Satellite Radio, and UConnect hands-free communication.^1,5

Inside, the SRT8 paired Dark and Light Slate Gray trim with power performance sport seats finished in suede inserts and contrasting red stitching, plus a carbon-fiber-look leather steering wheel stitched in agate. Suspension used gas-charged monotube Bilstein dampers front and rear, and the car carried an estimated 0.358 drag coefficient and 4,260-pound curb weight on a 120-inch wheelbase, with a 19-gallon fuel tank and 27.2 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats, expanding to 71.6 cubic feet with those seats folded.⁵