World's quickest SUV confirmed for Oz – unofficially

Jeep Australia is now taking expressions of interest for what it claims will be the world's quickest and most powerful SUV: the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.

This is despite the fact it is yet to formally confirm a local release for the mother of all Grand Cherokees, which takes its ballistic 527kW/874Nm 6.2-litre supercharged V8 from the mad Dodge Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcat muscle-cars.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia corporate communications director Glenn Butler said inviting expressions of interest for the Jeep super-SUV was about providing interested Australians with relevant information about the new model.

"This is part of a globally aligned communications strategy launched from the New York motor show," he said.

"We think it's better for Australians interested in the vehicle to get info about it from our website rather than the US website."

However, motoring.com.au understands the hottest ever Grand Cherokee is a done deal for Australia and that an announcement will be made within months, ahead of first deliveries early next year – depending on US demand, which is expected to be strong.

Indeed, as we reported following its world debut at the New York motor show last month, Jeep is already tweaking the Trackhawk's epic Hellcat engine for duty Down Under, where a business case and potential sales numbers are likely to have already been locked in.

The bad news is that, given the hottest current Grand Cherokee -- the 344kW/624Nm 6.4-litre SRT – costs $91,000 plus on-road costs, we expect the Trackhawk to be priced well beyond $120,000.

For less than half the price of a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S ($287,200 plus ORCs), however, the ultimate Grand Cherokee will blow every other SUV except the Tesla Model X into the weeds, with claimed 0-100km/h acceleration of just 3.6 seconds and a 290km/h top speed.