The sinister 707-hp Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat will return 22 miles per gallon on long expressway jaunts if you manage to keep your foot off the throttle. Also, that number is the official EPA figure only with the company’s new eight-speed TorqueFlite automatic transmission. If you get the manual, it’s 21 mpg.

City driving will net you about 13 mpg with either transmission. We’d guess most drivers will probably hit that number in combined driving, considering the Hellcat is in its prime when the throttle is pinned to the floor.

“The new 2015 Dodge Challenger is the perfect street/ strip muscle car,” said Tim Kuniskis, president and CEO, Dodge and SRT brands. “The Challenger Hellcat can run 10-second ETs at the track, and then get 22 miles per gallon on the drive home. With a starting price of $59,995, there’s nothing else that even comes close.”

He’s mostly right. The 700-hp Lamborghini Aventador roadster gets 18 mpg; the 583-hp Mercedes SLS AMG gets 19 mpg; and the 664-hp Ford Mustang GT500, at 24 mpg, only rates two clicks higher than the Hellcat. Of course, these are all highway figures.

Dodge also notes that the Hellcat is designed for durability, which is something we’ve been thinking about lately, especially after having the car in our fleet for a few days. To wit, the Challenger has a forged-steel crankshaft, heat-treated cylinder heads, integral charge coolers and two air/coolant heat exchangers. On the manual, the gearbox gets an internal cooling pump, external oil cooler and a 258-mm heavy-duty clutch.

The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat goes on sale in the first quarter of next year.

2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat burnout

News and pricing on the 707-hp 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat broke yesterday ahead of the company’s July 22 embargo. That means we can talk about everything but the driving experience, which …