DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: 527kW Jeep Grand Cherokee Hellcat confirmed
SUV brand’s boss announces supercharged 6.2-litre V8 version of Grand Cherokee, will be here end of 2017Jeep CEO Mike Manley has confirmed the US off-road brand will soon offer the same 527kW/800Nm supercharged 6.2-litre V8 from the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat muscle car under the bonnet of its Grand Cherokee and the super SUV will be on sale before the end of 2017.
The announcement, made after his press conference at the Detroit motor show, follows months of speculation that a Hellcat version of the Grand Cherokee was rumoured to be in development.
Now confirmed, the newest Hellcat model is almost certain to be one of -- if not the -- fastest big SUV ever made.
Expected to weigh in at around 2300kg, the new Jeep Hellcat will employ all-wheel drive to help it reach 100km/h from standstill in less than four seconds and top out at more than 300km/h.
This means when it reaches production it will be both quicker and more powerful than hyper-SUVs like Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo S, the BMW X5 and X6 M, and even the upcoming Bentley Bentayga that is claimed to have a top speed of 301km/h.
The good news is the Grand Cherokee Hellcat is expected to be made in both left-hand drive and right-hand drive, and that means there's no reason Jeep’s super-SUV won’t be offered Down Under.
Andrew Chesterton, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia’s Senior Manager of Corporate Communications, was upbeat when asked about the suitability of the vehicle for the Australian market, citing high sales of the SRT variants.
"SRT models already account for 30 per cent of Grand Cherokee sales in Australia, so if a Hellcat version was offered to us, we'd seriously consider it."
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