With Dodge coming out with the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon next month, we thought it was time to brush up on our SRT knowledge. We also thought our readers would like to know what’s so special about SRT vehicles anyways. Heck, what does “SRT” even stand for? Well, SRT has some pretty interesting history, and if all goes well, it’ll also have a pretty interesting future.
SRT Origins
Believe it or not, “SRT” wasn’t always called SRT, nor was it always a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). Not a huge surprise, businesses and project teams go through changes, and that’s how SRT started – a high-performance automobile group, now working within FCA. The team was known as “Team Viper,” and wouldn’t you know they were in charge of designing and developing the legendary Dodge Viper. After a merge with “Team Prowler,” the developers of the Plymouth Prowler, they became known as Specialty Vehicle Engineering (SVE), then renamed as “Performance Vehicle Operations” (PVO), and then the group finally settled on the acronym “SRT” for “Street & Racing Technology”.
This acronym is usually in the title of a car that has an SRT engine, as well as in the name of the engine itself – usually. For instance, the Dodge Challenger T/A Plus comes with the SRT 392 engine, but “SRT” is missing from both, the title of the car and the name of the engine. Since its conception, SRT has made many vehicles with the SRT name, and some of them are still around today.