Dodge reveals world’s most powerful SUV and sedan

Meet the family SUV from hell.

The Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat is an extra-large seven-seat SUV that pumps out more power than the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, making it the most powerful combustion engine SUV in the world.

OK, so it’s only an extra three horsepower, but the 529kW (710hp) delivered by its 6.2-litre supercharged petrol V8 engine is good enough for a top speed of 290km/h.

And despite being longer than an eight-seat Toyota LandCruiser, the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat is claimed to rip to 100km/h spring in just 3.6 seconds.

That matches the Lamborghini Urus and betters the 3.7sec mark claimed by the Jeep Trackhawk, Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q, Audi RS Q8, BMW X5 and X6 M Competition, Mercedes-AMG GLC and GLE, and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid.

What’s more, Dodge says the Durango Hellcat will dispatch the quarter-mile in just 11.5 seconds, in the event you take the family to the drag strip… School runs will never be the same again.

The 6.2-litre Hellcat V8 belts out 529kW of power and 875Nm of torque (even more than the 522kW/868Nm Jeep Trackhawk and the 478kW/850Nm Urus), channeled through a TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission and limited-slip rear diff.

Equipped with sports suspension and adaptive dampers, it can also tow a house. Well, almost – the most powerful Durango ever has a 3946kg (8700lb) towing capacity.

Dodge says all this makes the Durango Hellcat the most powerful SUV ever and that “no SUV in the world can tow more or carry more with a faster quarter-mile time”.

Reining in the 2500kg behemoth from high speeds are big 400mm front and 350mm rear brake discs worked over by Brembo brake callipers – six-piston fronts and twin-piston rears.

Dodge says its new beast is “for muscle people with families” and features a hefty body kit upgrade to not only let the world know it’s an extraordinary SUV, but also to improves aerodynamics.

With bonnet vents and scoop, GT stripes if you want them, 20-inch alloy wheels, restyled front and rear bumpers and a rear spoiler, the Dodge super-SUV certainly looks the part.

Sadly, the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, which hits US showrooms early next year, will only be available for the 2021 model year due to tighter emissions regulations from 2022.

But it will be joined by similarly mad-cap Dodge sedan and coupe scorchers in the form of the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye and Challenger SRT Super Stock.

The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye has a ludicrous 327km/h (203mph) top speed thanks to an even more powerful version of the blowns 6.2-litre Hellcat V8 that bangs out an incredible 594kW and 960Nm, allegedly making it the world’s most powerful sedan.

Meantime, the Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock’s Hellcat V8 pumps out a mammoth 602kW, which is slightly less than the (somehow) street-legal Dodge Demon’s 626kW and is claimed to make it the world’s quickest and most powerful muscle car.

It gets the same super-grippy Nitto drag radial tyres and wide-body kit as the Dodge Demon and will run 10.5sec quarter-miles at 131mph, says Dodge, while dispatching the 0-100km/h sprints in a spleen-popping 3.4sec.

Despite plans by previous local managing directors of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to sell the Charger and Challenger in Australia, where the Dodge brand no longer exists, none of these vehicles are likely to be available Down Under via official channels.

But that won’t stop a range of enterprising independent converters from satisfying what’s certain to be strong Aussie demand for Dodge’s latest Hellcat muscle cars.