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Jeep CEO Confirms Grand Cherokee Hellcat Is Coming "Before the End of 2017"

Today we've experienced a whole new meaning of "mixed feelings" - when we heard that Jeep's CEO confirmed the automaker would Hellcat the Grand Cherokee, we felt plenty of supercharged thrills and yet, having been so certain the rumors will come true, the news didn't exactly hit us like a 6.2-liter hammer.
Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT 1 photo
Photo: Catalin Garmacea
Still, Mike Manley has confirmed the blown V8 motivating the Dodge Challenger and Charger will find its way under the hood of the Grand Cherokee "before the end of 2017." Now that's what we call great Detroit Auto Show news. The executive dropped the bomb casually on camera, while talking to Vvuzz on the NAIAS floor, as you can see in the footage below.

Since the current Grand Cherokee SRT manages to battle it out with more powerful, faster rivals that come from either Germany (Cayenne Turbo S, X5 M, anybody?) or Great Britain (yep, the Range Rover Sport SVR) thanks to the thoroughbred character of the American SUV, we can only imagine how the fight will be once the 707-pony cavalry arrives.

Forum chat brings forth people who claim they are insiders, with these voices mentioning the Hellcat-ized Grand Cherokee using the Trackhawk name. Since Dodge has trademarked that moniker, we tend to believe such rumors.

Even more rumors

Last time we visited the rumor mill side of the internet, Fiat Chrysler engineers were working overtime to overcome the challenges of having to design an all-wheel-drive system that can cope with the muscle of the supercharged 6.2-liter V8. Nevertheless, we're sure such technical journeys are just part of the job.

There's another rumor out there that claims Dodge will kill both the naturally-aspirated 6.4-liter Hemi and the Hellcat V8 after 2019, all due to emission regulations.

If the Grand Cherokee only gets a Hellcat for two years, expect this vehicle, which was once a Mercedes-Benz ML, to enter the rarefied structures of the collectible SUV world.

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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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