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Hellcat-Powered Jeep Grand Cherokee Confirmed for July 2017

Jeep will borrow the Hellcat engine for a production model which will be called Trackhawk.
Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Red Vapor Special Edition 1 photo
Photo: Jeep
The information regarding a performance version of the Grand Cherokee with an engine borrowed from Dodge is not new, as the American off-road specialist had already confirmed the intent of launching a Hellcat-powered SUV in the future.

However, the release date of the performance SUV with the 707 HP supercharged V8 engine had not been specified, but we did know it would come to market before the end of next year.

In an interview with the Australians at Wheels Magazine, the CEO of Jeep, Mike Manley, confirmed the launch date of the Jeep Grand Cherokee TrackHawk for July 2017. The TrackHawk will be the most powerful production SUV ever offered, as long as Lamborghini does not launch its Urus by that time.

The upcoming Jeep Grand Cherokee TrackHawk is expected to have a 0-60 MPH acceleration time of just 3.5 seconds, according to some reports.

The Hellcat engine will make the Jeep TrackHawk the fastest accelerating SUV on the market, but we expect other carmakers, like Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-AMG to come up with faster comparable models shortly after the launch of this model.

Instead of replacing the ongoing Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, the TrackHawk will just be positioned above it. The decision would mean that Jeep will offer two V8-powered Grand Cherokee versions, both with a strong orientation towards on-road performance.

Even with the confirmation of the launch date for the Grand Cherokee TrackHawk, Jeep’s CEO Mike Manley did not detail whether the full 707 HP of the Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger Hellcat versions would be available for this model.

According to earlier reports, the engineers at Jeep are working on adapting the all-wheel-drive system of the Grand Cherokee to handle the massive torque and power delivered by the supercharged V8.

To prevent driveline stress and early failure, Jeep engineers might choose to limit torque for the lower gears of the Jeep Grand Cherokee TrackHawk’s automatic gearbox, a decision that might help keep the 6.2-liter V8’s power and torque figures unchanged from the Hellcat Dodge models.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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