Hellcat-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk to debut at New York Auto Show

The Dodge Challenger Demon won’t be the only 6.2-litre supercharged FCA muscle car to debut at the 2017 New York Auto Show, with the wraps also expected to come off the beastly Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.

Announced at the New York show last year, the Trackhawk is believed to have the same supercharged 527kW 6.2-litre V8 Hellcat engine under the hood as the Dodge, which is expected to propel the most powerful-ever production Jeep from stop to 100km/h in under 4.0sec.

The big V8 will be coupled to an eight-speed auto and is unlikely to come with the Dodge’s manual option.

2

Jeep CEO Mike Manley confirmed that the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk’s Big Apple launch this week, telling journalists it’s going to be “quite a special vehicle” and it’s “very difficult for one not to smile”.

The Trackhawk is expected to go on sale in the US toward the end of the year with Wheels’s sources last year confirming it will be sold in Australia to sit above the Grand Cherokee SRT that is also one of the quickest SUVs on the market with a 0-100km/h time of 4.8sec.

We probably won’t see it until 2018 and, going by the SRT’s $90,000 price tag, expect the Trackhawk to attract a six-figure sum.

The Trackhawk will be the most powerful production vehicle produced by Jeep to date, which is undergoing a renaissance of sorts while in the process of extending its range to include a Wrangler pick-up and the resurrected Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.