From the things-we’ve-been-telling-you-for-more-than-a-year-and-are-now-pretty-much-confirmed department comes this: Jeep CEO Mike Manley says the long-speculated Hellcat-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk will happen, and it will arrive in 2017.
The news comes from a video uploaded by journalist Brian Makse, who interviewed Manley at the 2016 Detroit auto show. When Makse asked Manley if a 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V-8 could be installed into the Grand Cherokee, Manley responded: “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.”
We include the “pretty much,” disclaimer, however, because no one at Fiat-Chrysler was willing to confirm Manley’s Trackhawk statement. It appears the boss may have jumped the gun on the announcement.
This wouldn’t be the first time Manley dropped some knowledge without first notifying the troops. In an interview with C/D last year, Manley confirmed that the next-generation Wrangler would utilize body-on-frame construction and not be a unibody vehicle, putting to rest a contentious bit of future-Jeep speculation.
The first hint that a Grand Cherokee/Hellcat mashup might be in the works arrived when Fiat-Chrysler registered a trademark for the name “Trackhawk,” in late 2014. The rumors began to take on some serious weight when FCA showed a Jeep Cherokee SRT Trackhawk to a group of Jeep dealers during a meeting in Las Vegas last August. So while the Trackhawk may not be “officially” confirmed, it’s looking more likely than ever that 2017 will bring a circa-700-hp, all-wheel drive SUV with a projected 0-to-60 time of 3.5 seconds and the letters J-E-E-P on the hood.
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