The 2016 Detroit Motor Show was one of the best automotive affairs in recent decades. The car companies surprised us with epic coupes, mighty electric cars and bold promises for the future. Hell, Lexus even brought a concept-like LC 500 in the production form. While we found that the biggest surprise of the show, Jeep CEO Mike Manley, in one of the most relaxed interviews ever, answered a question that steered all the focus from Lexus to the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Journalist Brian Makse politely asked Manley could he put a Hellcat motor in a Grand Cherokee. The answer went something like this – “not only can I put a Hellcat motor in [a Grand Cherokee] for you, I’m going to bring that to market by the end of 2017.”
This is the first official confirmation of the Hellcat-powered Jeep and while the company officials did not comment further on this, it is pretty reasonable to believe the words of the man in charge. Speculations about the Hellcat-powered Grand Cherokee started two days after Dodge released the Challenger and the Charger Hellcat. However, first concrete details emerged at the end of 2014 when Jeep registered the name “Trackhawk”. While we still are not sure what car will eventually get such a powerful name, it was enough for all the gearheads to decide that the Hellcat-powered Grand Cherokee is worthy of it. Then, more than half a year later, at a special FCA dealer gathering, some officials reported that the Grand Cherokee with the most powerful Hellcat engine is in the works.
Back then we learned that the Grand Cherokee Hellcat should be a very fast beast. Apparently, it will need only 3,5 seconds to accelerate to 60 mph which would make it faster than the BMW X5M and any other super SUV of today, including the exceptionally luxurious Bentley Bentayga.
We will have to wait a bit more for it, though. Manely said that the street ready car will arrive at the end of 2017 which is not exactly unexpected considering the sheer amount of work FCA engineers have to do to make strong enough to endure all that power. Bear in mind that the most powerful Grand Cherokee of today is the SRT with a V8, 475 hp and a four wheel drive. The problem with the massively more powerful Hellcat engine is that the four wheel drive and the transmission simply are not rigid enough to transfer the power to the ground without the car falling apart. We reckon that Jeep will have to reinforce the all wheel drive, improve the suspension setup and increase the stiffness of the chassis. It is not easy to improve these features without adding a bit of weight and a price hike we would not feel good about.
Considering that the Challenger Hellcat is about 16 grand more expensive that the next most powerful version, we presume that the New Grand Cherokee Hellcat could be that much more expensive than the SRT. Yet, the price hike may be far more disappointing. 20+ grand premium over the SRT is not something that cannot happen.
Regardless, the new Grand Cherokee with a 707hp engine (if they manage to retain the same power levels) is coming and it may become the most powerful SUV of all time. Now, let’s hope that the gas prices will not go up.